I always see people saying that they’re paralegals and I’m still no where near close to understand who they are or what they do…
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There are lots of tasks that need to be done in a law firm, but a licensed lawyer doesn’t necessarily need to be the one who does them. For example, maybe a client needs to be interviewed to determine the facts of a possible lawsuit. Maybe someone needs to research all the state court cases on a given topic in the past five years to confirm that the legal standard hasn’t changed. Maybe some forms that accompany a court filing have to be filled out.
A paralegal is a person with a greater understanding of the law than an ordinary worker, who has the skills to perform some of these tasks and assist a lawyer. The client is benefited by not having to pay the lawyer’s fee if the lawyer was doing all these tasks themselves.
Although not exact, this analogy probably works for explaining like I’m five…
Paralegal is to a Lawyer as a Nurse is to a Doctor.
Both Paralegals and Nurses have a a great deal of familiarity in their respective professions, but the lack the extra training and licensing of Lawyers and Doctors.
I am a paralegal and basically I do the things the lawyer I work for doesn’t have time to do such as prepare subpoenas, motions, objections, etc. Behind every good lawyer is a great paralegal. We’re their right hand. It’s a stressful job at times, I won’t lie.
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