Law Office Management

[Name of the Institute]Law Office Management

Introduction

Paralegals are perhaps best described as legal assistants that work in law firms to support the work of solicitors; although the definition of 'paralegal' is rather more complicated than that description would suggest. Paralegals have been described as support workers who have some legal knowledge and/or experience but who do not have the requisite qualifications to be members of the solicitors' or barristers' profession; whereas others consider that many paralegals are would-be trainee solicitors who have the legal credentials to become solicitors or barristers but who have yet to find a vocational training place as a trainee solicitor or a pupil barrister. Yet others consider that paralegals make up a separate branch of the legal profession, similar to but not accredited in the same way as legal executives, solicitors, or barristers. A final approach would include legal executives within the term paralegal, but distinguish legal executives as the professionalized subset of paralegals.

Other terms are also used to describe paralegal activity, some of which have been borrowed from the barristers' profession, 'outdoor clerks' and 'general clerks' are terms used in barristers' chambers to describe legal assistants who provide legal support services to barristers and barristers' clerks. These may all be considered to be paralegals, although more usually the term is used in the context of legal support workers in firms of solicitors (Kaplan, Weisberg, 1991). My Jurisdiction is Subject Matter Jurisdiction, which depends on the subject of the case. It enables the court to hear the problems of general class. In this jurisdiction, paralegals are significantly required to provide assistance to the lawyer that helps them to solve presented cases.

Importance of Paralegals

There are more than 136,000 paralegals employed in the United States. Most paralegals work in private law firms, and smaller numbers are employed by corporations and the government. A small but growing number of paralegals are self-employed and work for lawyers on a contract basis. In most states, there are no educational or licensing requirements to be a paralegal. However, most paralegals have graduated from some paralegal educational program. The types of paralegal educational programs range dramatically, varying from certificate programs to two-year associate degree programs and four-year baccalaureate degree programs. A few institutions offer a master's degree. About 800 institutions offer paralegal training of one type or another, of which about 240 are certified by the ABA. A paralegal may obtain certification as a certified legal assistant (CLA) or as a registered paralegal (RP) from voluntary associations of paralegals (King, 1996).

OECS Code of Ethics

OECS Bar Association is composed of nations that are part of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States: Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla and British Virgin Islands. The objective of the OECS Bar Association is to represent, promote and protect the interest in the legal profession within the territories of its members (including the honor and independence of practicing lawyers and the judiciary), ...