Saturday, December 8, 2007

Online Paralegal Course: Who is Paralegal?

Welcome to Online Paralegal Course blog. In this blog I will discuss about online paralegal course. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for paralegals and legal assistants is projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2014. So this means this carrier has a good prospect. Many people want to be a paralegal because of the demand and also it’s a stepping stone before he/she become a lawyer.

Before I go further, let me explain the definition of ‘Paralegal’. In general a paralegal is not a qualified lawyer. He/She is a non-lawyer who performs routine tasks requiring some knowledge of the law and procedure. The paralegal also normally employ by law office or work freelance.

A Paralegal also called “legal assistant”, with special training but has not earned a law degree. A Paralegal is work under supervision of a lawyer. Your attorney may employ a paralegal or legal assistant to perform basic legal tasks and/or facilitate conversation between you and your attorney.

A Paralegal who work in the legal profession, typically responsible for researching, analyzing and managing the daily tasks for cases.

Legal assistants and paralegals are individuals who assist lawyers in the delivery of legal services. Legal assistants and paralegals cannot give legal advice to consumers of legal services. Legal advice may only be relied upon if given by an attorney. All states require attorneys to be licensed and most have statutes imposing penalties for the unauthorized practice of law. The following definition was adopted by the NALA membership in 1986.

A Paralegal also a distinguishable group of persons who assist attorneys in the delivery of legal services. Through formal education, training and experience, legal assistants have knowledge and expertise regarding the legal system and substantive and procedural law which qualify them to do work of a legal nature under the supervision of an attorney.


In recognition of the similarity of the definitions and the need for one clear definition, in July 2001, the NALA membership approved a resolution to adopt the definition of the American Bar Association as well. The ABA definition reads as follows:

A legal assistant or paralegal is 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. (Adopted by the ABA in 1997).