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Legal and Paralegal Course Curriculums
The major fields of Legal and Paralegal
While lawyers assume ultimate responsibility for legal work,
they often delegate many of their tasks to paralegals. In
fact, paralegals—also called legal assistants—continue
to assume a growing range of tasks in the Nation's legal offices
and perform many of the same tasks as lawyers. Nevertheless,
they are still explicitly prohibited from carrying out duties
which are considered to be the practice of law, such as setting
legal fees, giving legal advice, and presenting cases in court.
One of a paralegal's most important tasks is helping lawyers
prepare for closings, hearings, trials, and corporate meetings.
Paralegals investigate the facts of cases and ensure that
all relevant information is considered. They also identify
appropriate laws, judicial decisions, legal articles, and
other materials that are relevant to assigned cases. After
they analyze and organize the information, paralegals may
prepare written reports that attorneys use in determining
how cases should be handled. Should attorneys decide to file
lawsuits on behalf of clients, paralegals may help prepare
the legal arguments, draft pleadings and motions to be filed
with the court, obtain affidavits, and assist attorneys during
trials. Paralegals also organize and track files of all important
case documents and make them available and easily accessible
to attorneys.
In addition to this preparatory work, paralegals also perform
a number of other vital functions. For example, they help
draft contracts, mortgages, separation agreements, and trust
instruments. They also may assist in preparing tax returns
and planning estates. Some paralegals coordinate the activities
of other law office employees and maintain financial office
records. Various additional tasks may differ, depending on
the employer.
Paralegals are found in all types of organizations, but most
are employed by law firms, corporate legal departments, and
various government offices. In these organizations, they may
work in all areas of the law, including litigation, personal
injury, corporate law, criminal law, employee benefits, intellectual
property, labor law, bankruptcy, immigration, family law,
and real estate. Within specialties, functions often are broken
down further so that paralegals may deal with a specific area.
For example, paralegals specializing in labor law may deal
exclusively with employee benefits.
The duties of paralegals also differ widely based on the
type of organization in which they are employed. Paralegals
who work for corporations often assist attorneys with employee
contracts, shareholder agreements, stock-option plans, and
employee benefit plans. They also may help prepare and file
annual financial reports, maintain corporate minute books
and resolutions, and secure loans for the corporation. Paralegals
often monitor and review government regulations to ensure
that the corporation operates within the law.
The duties of paralegals who work in the public sector usually
vary within each agency. In general, they analyze legal material
for internal use, maintain reference files, conduct research
for attorneys, and collect and analyze evidence for agency
hearings. They may then prepare informative or explanatory
material on laws, agency regulations, and agency policy for
general use by the agency and the public. Paralegals employed
in community legal-service projects help the poor, the aged,
and others in need of legal assistance. They file forms, conduct
research, prepare documents, and when authorized by law, may
represent clients at administrative hearings.
Paralegals in small and medium-sized law firms usually perform
a variety of duties that require a general knowledge of the
law. For example, they may research judicial decisions on
improper police arrests or help prepare a mortgage contract.
Paralegals employed by large law firms, government agencies,
and corporations, however, are more likely to specialize in
one aspect of the law.
Computer use and technical knowledge has become essential
to paralegal work.. Computer software packages and the Internet
are increasingly used to search legal literature stored in
computer databases and on CD-ROM. In litigation involving
many supporting documents, paralegals may use computer databases
to retrieve, organize, and index various materials. Imaging
software allows paralegals to scan documents directly into
a database, while billing programs help them to track hours
billed to clients. Computer software packages also may be
used to perform tax computations and explore the consequences
of possible tax strategies for clients.
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