Among the most considerable factors raising legal expenses is making use of people with seniority (and billing rates) greater than is needed. For example, in case after case, law offices use partners and associates to carry out low-level jobs (and then, naturally, bill for those tasks at partner and associate rates). Sometimes, this is due to the fact that the firm is too busy to have anyone else do the work instead. Other times, it's a blatant attempt to raise profits.
So exactly what can you do about it? You can work with a paralegal!
What Are Paralegals?
Paralegals assist legal representatives in the completion of legal services. The profession started in the late 1960's when law offices and specific professionals sought methods to improve the affordable fulfillment of legal services. Utilization of paralegals in a law practice ultimately decreases the cost to the client and downtime for lawyers.
Paralegals are qualified by education, training or work experience and are employed or kept by an attorney, law workplace, corporation, governmental agency or other entity to perform specifically handed over substantive legal work for which an attorney is responsible. In a law practice setting, a paralegal's time invested in substantive legal work is billed to clients at market rates, similar to other expert personnel, however typically at a lower rate than attorneys. This differentiates paralegals from other non-lawyer team member, who generally only work on clerical or administrative jobs. As a basic rule, paralegal time invested on administrative or clerical functions is not billable.
Only licensed lawyers are allowed to give legal advice to customers of legal services, and paralegals are prohibited from doing so. The work item of the paralegal becomes the attorney's work instrument. Paralegals also are forbidden from accepting a case, setting a charge, or representing a client in court (unless licensed by the court). All states require attorneys to be certified and most have statutes imposing charges for those found to be taking part in the unauthorized practice of law.
Paralegals operate in a variety of legal practice areas, ranging from lawsuits and trial practice to tax, real estate transactions, and estate planning. The terms "legal assistant" and "paralegal" are utilized interchangeably, similar to the terms lawyer and attorney.
What Paralegals Can Do
Family Law & Divorce: Paralegal aid includes preliminary paper files for divorce filings (summons, petition, etc.), disclosure declarations (income & expenditure, schedule of possessions & debts), discovery files & movements, arrears, judgment packages, and so on.
Debt Collection/Bankruptcy: assist clients with conclusion of required credit therapy prior to proper personal bankruptcy petitions, prepare Chapter 7, 11, and 13 personal bankruptcy petitions (consisting of discovering state exemptions and Chapter 13 plans), and so on.
Landlord/Tenant Law: help clients when signing a lease by ensuring it abides by relevant laws to secure your own interests, know and comprehend your rights, secure rights of both occupants and landlords, assistance property managers in the procedure of evicting a renter, and so on.
Civil Law: assist clients in the process of taking cases to court (lawsuits), legal and factual research, searching for background details on involved parties, clarifying facts, manage private info, assist in preparation for trial, preparation and service of subpoenas, summarizing medical records, and setting up depositions, etc.
The most significant benefit of paralegals is cost reduction. The simple math is that the typical internal lawyer makes $78,000-124,000 per year. That is roughly $39-62 per hour. A paralegal on the other hand makes $46,000-70,000 annually, or $23-35 per hour. Internal counsel must consider this extreme distinction in expense when examining the value of paralegals. In lots of circumstances, paralegals can do the job of a lawyer for much less.
About Us
Wall & Wall Legal Solutions is a Salt Lake City divorce attorney that represents clients throughout the entire state of Utah, including
the areas surrounding SLC such as Provo, Ogden, Farmington, Tooele, Park City,
Heber City, Woods Cross, Bountiful and St. George.
