Lawyer/Paralegal Ratio: Case Study

There are many Legal culture groups, so when joining or interviewing for a position insure you understand the following:

Partner/Associate or Lawyer/Paralegal Ratio:

For Lawyers law firms are either a Partnership or an Association. A partnership some Lawyers are partners with equal shares and blanket insurance, so if a partner fails a care it reflects on all partners, and associates carry their own insurance and are solely responsible for their failures. In an association, one Lawyer is the owner and has their own insurance, and the associate has their own insurance and failures only reflect on the person handling the case.

In a Lawyer/Paralegal ratio, the Lawyer carries the insurance and is solely responsible for the actions of the Paralegal.

The Paralegal must abide by the States code of conduct and ethics for Lawyers and the Model Standards and Guidelines for Utilization of Paralegals.
Single Lawyer firms are difficult because the Lawyer tends to direct the Paralegal culture in the firm. The firm where I worked was a single Lawyer, a Paralegal (me), and a Receptionist. The Lawyer had her culture, which was it was her way or no way, whether she was right or wrong, she was right. She would often change the procedure for how the Paralegal and Receptionist performed their duties. Such as the Receptionist documents calls one way today and tomorrow she will want a different way, and then next week it changes to something different or back to the original way. The Paralegal would constantly draft motions, briefs, and acceptance/non-acceptance letters, faxes, documents for Lawyers, and while today it is correct, tomorrow it will be wrong. I could actually take a document in for her to ok the document and she would make marks all over the document, I would make the changes, and again she would review it and mark it back to what I originally had (Werner, 2005).
Diversity:
Understanding the diversity of whom you are working with is important. If you have a problem working with anyone, you have to learn to put that stuff aside and do the job (Werner, 2005).
Home v. Satellite Office:
Are you allowed to dial-in and work at home or do you work in a different location from the main headquarters?
Office Location:
Is the office located in an area relevant to the Courthouse and jail (Werner, 2005)?
Clientele:
Some Lawyers do not want to handle Pedophiles, Felons, and Domestic Abuse, they prefer to have clients that want to prepare their estate in case something happens.
I saw this first hand, the Lawyer I worked for put criminals into 2 categories: Felons and Non-Felons. Felons were unable to conform to society and were not rehab able (Werner, 2005).
Firm Governance:
Who ride roughshod over the firm?

Does the Lawyer do this or does the Paralegal, is there a committee? My Lawyer dictated everything, who, how, when, and time limit, thinking that everything should take less time than actually necessary. As I learned working toward my Bachelor’s degree in Paralegal Studies, I discovered there were things and procedures that we were improperly doing. Some were actually criminal, when I brought the areas that we needed to change to her attention. She did not want to hear that, it was her business and anyway I was just a Paralegal and she had a Juris Doctorate degree and a Licensed Lawyer (Werner,

2005).
Word on the Street:
How people feel about a firm says a lot, if there are mistakes who is to blame.

Also how clients see client services such as communication, greeting, making them comfortable, accurate case status’, and the resolution of situations. Actual public opinion is low (Werner, 2005).

The first divorce I ever worked was a couple that was fighting over every little thing. I sat in on the Lawyer interview, so I could learn and do them from now on, and listed everything, bank accounts, guns, house, outstanding payments, child information, and vehicles. Once I had all this information, I was supposed to fill out the divorce complaint, notice of hearing, complainant personal information, divorce agreement, and finial decree of divorce. I drafted everything up and gave it and the interview notes to the Lawyer for review. She had me change a couple of things but they were ready for signatures. She met with the couple, they read it over looking for discrepancies, and signed the documents. Next working day I filed the documents and set the day of hearing. The judge signed the divorce 90 days later and they were

divorced.
About 4 months later, the ex-wife (our client) came in with a problem she had gone to finance a house when she learned that one of the accounts were still in her name and that account was delinquent. Therefore, the Lawyer looked over the documents and asked if the account was on the interview, it was, she then said it was not in the divorce agreement. The client got irate and the Lawyer snapped back, “you went over the papers and you signed, not my fault.” She said she would talk to the bank and see what can be worked out. She called the bank and was told her name cannot be taken off the account without the primary coming in and refinancing her name off the debt. The delinquency was $6000.00, $3000.00 for each side, the Lawyer called me into the office and told me how it was going to cost $3000.00 to fix this and I should pay half. I told her, forget that you reviewed the documents and said it was ready, had them read the documents and then you signed and they signed. She dropped it.
A few days later, I was empting the firm’s car, there was a single piece of paper, the ex-wife/client, and the Lawyer signed it. It dissolved the Lawyer of any wrongdoing that the incident was half the fault of the client, because she reviewed, agreed, and signed the agreement and half was the fault of Michael Breeds, because I typed the agreement and failed to include the account information. Nothing about how she is responsible for adhering to GUIDELINE 1 of the ABA MODEL GUIDELINES for the Utilization of Paralegal Services. Which states: “A LAWYER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THE PROFESSIONAL ACTIONS OF A PARALEGAL PERFORMING SERVICES AT THE LAWYER’S DIRECTION AND SHOULD TAKE REASONABLE MEASURES TO ENSURE THAT THE PARALEGAL’S CONDUCT IS CONSISTENT WITH THE LAWYER’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT OF THE JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE LAWYER PRACTICES.” (American Bar Association Standing Committee on Paralegals, 2004) The Lawyer had to pay the $3000.00 in order to keep the client from posting a complaint against her. I quit, and am living retirement ever since.