Paralegals: Regulations and Licensing Essay

Courts generally have held that a paralegal and or legal assistant can achieve the objectives of communication and to provide potential clients with information concerning legal fees and representation if instructed by the supervising attorney. However, a paralegal and or legal assistant cannot provide a potential client with legal advices, accept cases, appear in court, and or provide decision(s) to the case(s). Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland v. Morgan Joseph Hallmon, 343 Md. 390; 681 A.2d 510; 1996, a District of Columbia attorney employed his wife, Carole Cloud who is a law school graduate and is not admitted to practice law in any jurisdiction. Carole was hired as Office Manager, Coordinator, and Law Clerk of the firm. She performed legal work for a client of the firm, which mostly were reviewed and approved by the supervising attorneys Morgan Joseph Hallmon and Eric Cloud, her husband. Attorney Hallmon had given Ms. Cloud full responsibility of handling the case in which he has been kept aware and up to date with the proceedings and details of the case. The court stated:

Model Rule 5.5(B)- Attorney Howe, left a new hire, Carl, unattended, while also suggesting that he may conduct interviews in his office without specifying particulars regarding his presence or direct supervisory responsibilities. In hindsight, Attorney Howe could be indirectly contributing to the unauthorized practice of law due to his gross negligence to supervise his paralegal.

Criminal law paralegals provide assistance to defense attorneys and prosecutors. Their duties include drafting documents, doing research, interviewing witnesses, putting together discovery information, communicating with other parties, and assisting attorneys when they are in

In order to complete this assignment we must first recognize what Unauthorized Practice of Law is when it comes to paralegals. There is no set definition on what UPL is but as a paralegal there are guidelines to go by. Some ways they can violate the practice of law would be an individual holding themselves as an attorney when they are paralegals, giving legal advice as an attorney would, or representing clients in a court of law. All of the previous are violations and can be subject to several disciplinary actions [ (Unauthorized Practice of Law, 2010) ]. It has been named illegal due to the damages on may suffer due to bad legal advice. In some states it is considered a criminal offense and could be given a jail sentence.

A paralegal is an individual who is qualified, through training, education or by virtue of the experience and are subsequently under employment or merely retained under a given lawyer or law firm, or an agency; to perform work that is delegated to him or her by the lawyer and for which the lawyer is responsible. Across the United States, paralegals profession is regulated by various certification laws, and this ultimately makes their work different.

Unfortunately, law is not like that anymore - if it ever was - and today's attorneys must juggle a number of different responsibilities all at once. They must act as marketers to attract new

Claudio is okay with that because he can fill out the form without help. However, when he gets to the blank that says “Middle Name” he doesn’t know what to do. Claudio doesn’t have a middle name. When he asks a paralegal at the ABC Legal Clinic what to do with this blank, the paralegal

Since paralegals can only work under the supervision of an attorney, by doing the opposite may be consider an unauthorized practice of law, so paralegals must avoid assisting in the unlicensed practice of

It is a task in itself for one, such as myself, to allow another to fully grasp the principle of why I want to become a paralegal, let alone explain it within three pages without simply stating, “I desire to use the set of skills and passion that I possess in order to help others while working within this specific field of law.” Nevertheless, the reality of the fact is that it is purely the essence and core of why I have the drive and determination to work towards becoming a paralegal.

All training required for judges, public defenders and prosecutors require a law degree and membership in The American Bar Association in which the state they practice law in. The American Bar Association set professional standards for conduct and certification for lawyers starting in the 19th century (Gufaston& McClellon, 2012). A new model code of professional responsibility has mandated conduction of the procedures of trials that must conform to the core requirements of law set with specific standards (Pollock, 2014). For this very reason of non reliability in regards to set training standards of particular types of lawyers and established practice, Burger (1973) contended that how lawyers trained in and after law school, will ultimately dictate their proficiencies as counsel in our adversary criminal justice system. This will eventually decide the virtue and essence of our justice within the system of courts. With hardly any if not non existent live training in the court system, no required or developed standard is set strictly for attorneys’ and judges to complete; reassuring individual rights of citizens are upheld to the highest standards during the legal process, proving these law practitioners’ are truly proficient in conducting their vital positions as expected in the Constitutional performance of protecting people’s rights (Burger, 1973). The general public assumes that every graduate law student, merely through designation from the bar which then

Justice. It is something that everyone wants, something that we strive for, even something that sparks. However, when we think of lawyers, we think of superheroes with an expensive education, walking into the courtroom and serving up justice. What no one thinks of is the person that helped the lawyer get there, the paralegal that prepares the necessary documents, the paralegal that makes sure his or her attorney is at the right place at the right time. A paralegal is crucial and in some cases vital to our justice system yet they are so often over looked.

The typical tasks that a paralegal performs in this area of law are to assist the attorney with the client’s case. The paralegal job is to initiate initial interviews with potential clients, draft legal documents for the attorney, analyze the civil right issue that concerns the client and was presented by the client, to do investigations, do extensive legal research, review documents given by the client and assist with trial preparation ( American). Paralegals are a very important asset to the attorney because they perform a lot of tasks that they would have to typically do. They are in charge of contacting court personnel, interview witnesses that can be a asset to the case. Government paralegals have the same tasks and additional tasks depending on the issue. They usually help identify the solve discrimination complaints that are concentrated on sex, race and age. This claims were made by government employees against the government. Paralegals help government attorneys with discrimination litigation complaints that were brought by citizens against the government other American citizens, companies and other specific business

Acting as a legal practitioner is considered a “great privilege” and “offers the opportunity to serve the community in a profoundly important way.” Lawyer’s roles as officers of the Court and administrators of justice give them a monopoly on the delivery of counselling and representation services. In order to “maintain their capacity to serve the community” , legal practitioners must accept that they are

It is not easy to choose a career that is suitable or relevant to your major today. Some people dream of becoming leaders, politicians and famous stars. There are others who are interested in becoming poets, writers and novelists while most of us generally have a desire of becoming engineers, doctors, and scientists of great repute. Have you ever heard about Paralegal? I am sure that many people know about this word, but how do you really know about this job? According to the American Bar Association (ABA), Paralegal is a person who is qualified by education, training, and work experience is employed by a lawyer, law office, and government agency and performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.

paralegals, as opposed to legal assistants. I am very grateful to have this opportunity to