A paralegal is a professional who, either through education or experience, is employed or retained by a lawyer or agency and performs specifically delegated substantive legal work (not clerical or administrative work) which the lawyer is ultimately responsible for.
They may be delegated any task a lawyer can do, as long as they are under the supervision of the lawyer. They do not represent clients in court, take depositions, or sign pleadings, nor may they establish the attorney’s relationship with a client, set client fees, or give legal advice to the client.
They do numerous tasks like organizing client files, conducting research, summarizing depositions, and testimonies, preparing documents for legal transactions, drafting pleadings and discovery notices, interviewing clients and witnesses, and assisting with closings and trials. They are also invaluable resources to helping clients navigate their cases.
Paralegals are irreplaceable backbones of many law firms; however, they cannot perform any duty specifically reserved for licensed attorneys and in communications with clients and the public, the paralegal’s non-lawyer status must be evident.
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