Why Are Paralegals Important

A 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 and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible. Paralegals are important because they can either help to make a case or to break case. Paralegals have a long to-do list, depending the kind and size of the firm they work with, which either can be short or long. The to-do list includes making sure the lawyer has everything they need for their day on the job, researching opinions and ideas for the case the lawyer is working on, keeping up the office etiquette, keeping up with important events that occur, and draft legal

This is an important part of not only being a paralegal but for putting a legal case together for the lawyer. Research is the key to finding the right piece of information for a case, whether big or small. The right research of information can either win a case or have the case dismissed from court. Back in the day when legal industry started using paralegals, legal research itself was a long and strenuous process. They would have the go the a library and spend hours upon hours looking for books and reading for hours on end until they found an idea from a previous case already heard in court. In this day and age now, computers can cut the time of looking for the right book and finding the right case in half. Books are still useful to find old cases that haven’t programmed or can’t be programmed into the computer. Legal research can become important to the paralegal because they want to be sure the lawyer knows what to say in court. In order that to be assured; the paralegal has to create the right ideas using the research being found from the case, “While it’s ultimately up to the attorney to decide the case’s direction, what you tell that attorney based on your legal research findings can have a big impact on how things play out over time.” (Web 1). The kind of legal research includes but not limited to interviewing clients and witnesses of a case, gather evidence of any kind to support the client for

All paralegals must practice a high level of office etiquette because no matter communicate with the firm through email, phone call, in person etc. it is part of a business and it would be bad for business if there is no manners or respect. Professional appearance can bring a lot of qualities of confidence, positivity, authenticity, and more. When it comes to determining what business etiquette is needed in a law firm, one thing is certain that practicing etiquette in a law firm is like practicing it in a business. In a law firm, you have the essential business etiquette practiced that is practiced daily at any kind of business, but also legal and ethical etiquette. For paralegals and lawyers, special rules are applied for law firms to follow. In South Carolina, there is a professional code of conduct that lawyers and paralegals must follow in order to keep business moving. For paralegals, they can do everything for the lawyer except practice law and appear in the court room. The South Carolina Bar gives this definite meaning of practice of law, “The practice of law is more than just appearing in court on behalf of a client. Though no concise definition of practice of law exists, certain characteristics make it more likely that the Court will view certain conduct as the practice of law (Web 2).” Paralegals must also have the moral ethics to ensure that the lawyer does break