Obtaining justice in a legal case is the ultimate vision of any person who has experienced being aggrieved by other party. And in accomplishing their goals, most of them even employed the legal services of their trusted lawyers since they have accepted that they have not that much knowledge of the law and they would not dare to go through the complicated court proceedings alone.
But, did you know that paralegals have something to do in most triumphant cases which were handled by professional lawyers?
As regarded in the legal field, paralegals or legal assistants perform a vital role in legal cases which are brought in any law firms or individual practitioners. Apparently, due to their education, experience and trainings, paralegals have the understanding and competence as regards to the legal system and court proceedings which enable them to meet the criteria to do legal works under the guidance and responsibility of certified lawyers. Their primary duty is to assist the lawyers in delivering professional legal services to their clients.
However, they are not authorized by the law to impart any legal advice, accept court representations and most especially take on a client’s case. This task is only given to professional lawyers who have been licensed by the proper authority.
Thus, a paralegal’s works are combined with the work output of his or her supervising lawyer. Meaning, paralegals certainly have their roles and a bit of accountability on the outcome of their clients’ cases.
On the other hand, the idea of employing paralegals arose in the late 1960′s because of the lawyers and law firms’ needs to make such improvements in rendering legal services to their clients. Another reason of their emergence was the increase in public awareness on their civil rights, which resulted to sudden multiplication on their legal workloads.
The legal assistants therefore were given such legal tasks, which were assigned to them by their supervising lawyers. These responsibilities may consist of doing client interviews, ensuring close communications with them and keeping them aware on the status of their cases.
Also, they may be given the task of looking for credible witnesses and obtaining their statements which may give additional merits to their clients’ cases. The legal duties which are appointed to paralegals may also depend on their capacity or capability to accomplish it. For instances, some of them are just being assigned to do legal researches and compose or draft legal documents, pleadings, depositions and testimonies among others.
Henceforth, due to the delicate nature of their works, legal assistants still have to meet certain requirements before being qualified for the job. To name some: passing the Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) exams, graduating to any course or program as approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) and in-house trainings as paralegals.
In addition, legal assistants are obliged to follow the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility. This manual asserts how paralegals should perform their duties and other aspects of their job. To cut it short, the paralegals’ judicial role is greatly dependent on how their supervising lawyers see their potential and competence in performing such works.