 Lawyers
assume ultimate responsibility for legal
work, but 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.
This includes preparing
for hearings and trials, drafting documents,
and searching records. Nevertheless, they are
still explicitly prohibited from carrying
out duties that are considered to be the
practice of law, such as setting legal fees,
giving legal advice, establishing the
attorney-client relationship and
presenting cases in court.
The
mission of the Paralegal Studies program is
to prepare persons who will professionally
and ethically aid the attorney in the
practice of law. Under the supervision of
the attorney, the paralegal will be able to
perform substantive tasks that require
knowledge of legal principles and procedures
and can be carried out most efficiently with
technical skill competence.
Job titles in this
field include:
Abstractor ·
Child support enforcement worker ·
Claim examiner ·
Documents clerk ·
Law office manager ·
Legal assistant ·
Legal technician ·
Paralegal ·
Paralegal manager ·
Patent agent ·
Title examiner ·
Mortgage manager ·
Law librarian · Subrogation specialist
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