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OPENING STATEMENT:
AS THE EVIDENCE WILL SHOW, PARALEGALS HAVE BECOME A VITAL PART OF TODAY'S LAW OFFICES.
AS A PRACTICING YOUNG ATTORNEY, Thomas Jefferson once said, "A lawyer without books would be like a workman without tools."
There is no doubt that, if Jefferson were practicing law today, he would have added the word paralegals to the word books in that quote. Today's paralegal is an integral part of an efficient and effective law office. Lawyers are realizing that paralegals are essential to their practice and in keeping legal workloads manageable.
It was in the late 1960s, as the demand and costs for legal services began to escalate, that law firms and individual practitioners set out in search of a way to improve their practices' efficiency and provide a more cost-effective method of delivering their services. That goal was accomplished through the employment of paralegals who could take on a wide range of tasks, such as assisting in the preparation of legal procedures, investigating case facts, analyzing and organizing information, drafting contracts and legal documents, and preparing written reports. This lifted the routine, time-consuming, but necessary, tasks off the shoulders of lawyers, resulting in the reduction of some legal fees, an increase in clients, and the ability to focus on the actual practice of law.
Today, paralegals are viewed as vital and respected members of legal teams around the globe.
Exhibit A: The Paralegal Career Track
The American Bar Association defines the interchangeable titles of legal assistant and paralegal as "a person qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible."
Although paralegals may perform many of the same tasks as lawyers, they are explicitly prohibited from carrying out such duties as are considered to be the practice of law, such as setting legal fees, giving legal advice and presenting cases in court.
There are a variety of paths to becoming a paralegal or legal assistant. The most common way would be through a two-year community college paralegal program leading to an associate degree. For those aspiring paralegals who already have a college degree, enrolling in a...