Paralegals: Regulations and Licensing

2561 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Paralegal in the legal system

Paralegals are employed in a wide variety of legal settings and play an ever-increasing role in the delivery of affordable and efficient legal services. However, regulation of paralegals has been non-existent or inconsistent, though the topic continues to be a significant issue. Across the country, paralegals advocate bar associations, state legislatures and courts to consider regulatory programs that go beyond merely defining the term "Paralegal." Federally required licensing of paralegals would benefit future growth and development of the career field and address the controversial issues surrounding it. Paralegals are continuing to assume new responsibilities in legal offices and perform many of the same duties as attorneys. Through formal education, training and experience, paralegals have knowledge and expertise regarding the legal system and law procedures, which qualify them to work under the supervision of an attorney. Along with preparing legal documents, contracts and other legal materials, a paralegal can also interview witnesses, and conducting legal research. The most important task a paralegal may have is helping an attorney prepare for hearings, trials, and meetings. Although a paralegal is trained to perform the same tasks as attorneys, they are explicitly prohibited from carrying out duties considered to be within the scope of the practice of law, such as setting legal fees, giving legal advice, submitting signed documents to court, and presenting cases in court. Paralegals are an essential part of today’s legal practice; furthermore, a competent paralegal can improve a law office’s profitability and the delivery of legal services. With these new responsibilities comes a higher level of demand and respect. In turn... ... middle of paper ... ...ttp://www.nhbar.org/publications/archives/display-journal-issue.asp?id=148 Robert E. Mongue, J. A. (2010, July 19). The Empowered Paralegal » Blog Archive » If he smells bad there, he’ll smell bad here.. The Empowered Paralegal. Retrieved April 17, 2011, from http://theempoweredparalegal.com/?p=1202 Durgin, C. R. (n.d.). Getting legal with paralegals: A look at state regulations. American Bar Association. Retrieved April 17, 2011, from http://apps.americanbar.org/buslaw/blt/2007-01-02/durgin.shtml Vicki Voisin, CLAS, P. N. (1998, December 14). Issues Related to Licensure and Governmental Regulations of Paralegals. Issues Related to Licensure. Retrieved April 17, 2011, from www.nala.org/licissues.htm Paralegals ask to be Bar licensed and regulated. (2010, September 13). The Florida Bar News , p. n/a. http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=531868

Show More
Related

  • Sabina Loving V. Internal Revenue Service Case Study

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    The case of Sabina Loving, et al. v. Internal Revenue Service, et al. was originally filed on March 13, 2012 by three independent tax preparers. Sabina Loving of Chicago, IL; John Gambino of Hoboken, NJ; and Elmer Kilian of Eagle, WI. alleged that the IRS had over-stepped its authority when they required tax preparers be licensed. According to Kimberly Stanley J.D., LL.M., “about 40 percent of paid return preparers are attorneys, CPAs, or enrolled agents, the remaining 60 percent have no professional credential or license at all” (Stanley, “Loving v. IRS and Tax Return Preparer Regulations”). Many of these preparers have been in business for decades and had a legitimate dispute against the certification requirements. In 2012, the

    Read More

  • Peter Paralegal 's Legal Arrangements

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    Peter Paralegal is employed by Honest Law Firm and has been instructed by his supervising attorney to prepare and conduct initial interviews with two potential clients to see if a conflict of interest is present. Big Box and Value Mart are competitors and are requesting representation by Honest Law Firm on matters that are unrelated to one another. Peter Paralegal was also asked to perform tasks related to the cases such as; prepare questions and conduct initial interviews, explain legal fees arrangements, establish the attorney-client relations, draft initial pleadings and responses, interview witnesses, draft and sign initial case evaluation letters.

    Read More

  • The Florida Registered Paralegal Bill

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Paralegals have become an essential part of today's legal system, and as the profession becomes one of the leading and fastest growing occupations in the U.S. economy; these individuals perform delegated tasks under the supervision of attorneys. Education has played an important part on this matter; it has facilitated this development by allowing lawyers to use these skills professionals as agents to delegate specific tasks such as legal research, gathering of information and the drafting of specific legal documents under the supervision and final approval of their principals. This has been very significant because now; we can enjoy a speedy process in a cumbersome legal system. From en economic standpoint, it has also been beneficial by decreasing the substantial amount of the legal cost a firm could incur if only lawyers were allowed to perform this kind work.

    Read More

  • Paralegal Pros And Cons

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Florida Registered Paralegal is a person who is qualified and has gone through training, education and work experience to work under the supervision of a lawyer. He or she is there to help the attorney with drafting documents, legal research, legal investigations, contacting clients, and interviewing clients. The bill says that the requirements of the bill are “the person has to have prescribed education and experience, and have the prescribed certifications”. In order for a person to be eligible to be a Florida Registered Paralegal they have to have met one of the following education and work experience. They have to have a bachelor’s degree in paralegal plus a minimum of one year of paralegal work experience or a person can have an associate degree plus a minimum of two years of paralegal experience. There has been a lot debate over the bill some people think the bill is helping the paralegal while others think it’s just a

    Read More

  • Grocery, Inc. and Uniform Commercial Codes

    1646 Words  | 4 Pages

    Melvin, S. P. (2011). The legal environment of business: A managerial approach: Theory to practice. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

    Read More

  • Discourse Community Analysis

    1891 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although the legal profession is a single discourse community, it is made up of many smaller discourse communities. This is so because while all lawyers share the same broad goals of the legal profession and have a general knowledge and expertise in all areas of the law, most lawyers after graduating from law school and passing the bar exam specialize in a particular area of law. This specialization requires the lawyer to go beyond the broad concepts of law as a whole and to become knowledgeable and proficient in the sometimes minute details of a more specific area of law. Even then, some lawyers will go even further to focus on one aspect or another of that particular area of law. This results in most lawyers being members of many even smal...

    Read More

  • The Paralegal Profession

    1465 Words  | 3 Pages

    The paralegal profession developed as legal secretaries assumed additional duties to help attorneys with their workload. The paralegal performs legal tasks under the supervision of an attorney that maximizes attorneys' productivity and cost efficiency in the delivery of legal services. Paralegals work in many different types of law firms, corporations or government agencies in many areas of law (Hollingshead). All duties performed by a paralegal are under the supervision of an attorney who is responsible for the paralegal’s conduct. In fact, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Paralegals define paralegals or legal assistants [used synonymously] as a person qualified by education, training or work experiences, who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, government agency, or other entity who performs specific delegated legal substantive work for which a lawyer is responsible (ABA). In class, we learne...

    Read More

  • Mandatory Sentencing

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oct 1993. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Vol. 79. 134 pages (Document ID: 0747-0088) Published by American Bar Association

    Read More

  • Public Defenders

    2207 Words  | 5 Pages

    Smith, C. E. (2004). Public defenders. In T. Hall, U.S. Legal System (pp. 567-572-). [Ebscohost]. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook

    Read More

  • Paralegals Duties

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    Behind every good attorney is a great paralegal. They are crucial in the legal system. A paralegal, qualified by education, is retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation or other entities to perform delegated substantive legal work assisting their attorney. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the education needed for an entry level position is an Associate Degree. Paralegals ensure that the office and cases are organized and running smoothly. As an aspiring paralegal I conducted research on the duties and skills of a paralegal. Paralegals must assist their attorneys in preparation for trials, draft of legal documents as well as have communication, writing, and organization skills.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Occupational Licensing

    419 Words  | 1 Pages

    And even though these processes ostensibly offer the at-large public a degree of protection due to licensees having attained some minimal amount of competency, recent years have seen a groundswell of interest in deregulation or de-licensing of at least some professions. Moreover, the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR) in addition to state governmental committee records corroborates de-licensing to have only occurred eight times during the past forty years!

    Read More

  • Paralegals: Legal Assistants

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Paralegal Professional, A reference to the source of legal information chapter 12, pages 434, 446, and 454.

    Read More

  • Inverted Thinking About Law As A Profession Or Business Thomas Morgan Summary

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    This article does not have a bibliography, instead it has footnotes throughout each page. The article goes into further detail in the footnotes about specific references mentioned, which are marked with a number that correspond with its’ explanation. Morgan is referencing important people, events, other articles, and places that pertain to the article’s content. The author neatly separates each topic with headings and subheadings and discusses each aspect of his argument as to whether the practice of law is a business or profession. For example: “III. Problems Lawyers Have Thinking about Professionalism Today” as a heading (Morgan 122). As a subheading: “Increased Number of Practitioners” (Morgan 123). The author uses this form of writing style to organize and clearly display each element of the article for the reader to better understand its’

    Read More

  • General Bar Case Study

    223 Words  | 1 Pages

    Generally speaking, the Florida Bar Exam comprises two assessments: the General Bar and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). The General Bar, a bi-annual examination administered by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, evaluates the candidate’s acumen of general and Florida law after graduating from an ABA-accredited college of law. In contrast, the MPRE from the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), administrated three times per year by the LSAC, assess an applicant’s knowledge and understanding of established standards related to professional conduct. Eligibility for the MPRE, unlike the General Bar, does not require graduation and therefore recommended for third-year law students. Nevertheless, our prospect

    Read More

  • Literature Review

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    The objectives of this journal are; to describe the increase in the cost of American legal education over the past four decades, to explain some of the most important factors that have driven that increase, explore what consequences this increased cost as has had for recent law graduates and current law students, in the context of changing employment market for law school graduates and then finally, consider what sort of immediate and long term challenges are likely to take place a...

    Read More

More about Paralegals: Regulations and Licensing

Open Document