Legal Careers Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-09-2022

If you’re starting a career as a paralegal, the first thing you need to know is how to conduct legal research, which is a significant portion of your legal job. The next thing you need to know is about the legal resources, legal research materials, and law websites that can help you do your job.

Article / Updated 08-27-2019

As a paralegal, you need to familiarize yourself with all the types of documents that are relevant to the practice of law. When you prepare any documents, including the demand letter and the legal complaint, you should first consult your law firm’s formbooks or document files for samples. After you input a document into your office’s form file database, place a copy of that document into the document files for future reference. The sample documents here follow Colorado rules, which, like those of most states, are similar to the federal rules. As a paralegal, you should consult your state’s rules to find out the precise formats that your state requires. Format of a demand letter You’ll find a wealth of rules, and even whole books, that have been written about proper ways to format a letter. Some paralegals prefer to follow a strict structure to be satisfied that they’re doing the work right, and plenty of material is available in bookstores and libraries to fill this need. For most paralegals, however, following some simple rules, using good judgment, and having pride in appearance will suffice. And spell-check isn’t bad either! A good demand letter should include the following factual information: The facts surrounding the incident for which the plaintiff is demanding settlement A settlement proposal of either a specific dollar amount or specific action The time period in which the defendant must respond Keep the following appearance guidelines in mind when you put together demand letters: Vary the letter’s margin widths depending on its size. Short letters: Give very short letters wide left and right margins (usually 1.75″) with a few extra lines placed before and after the date line. Place the body of the letter (address through signature line) at the page’s optical center, which is slightly above the exact center of the page. Medium-length letters: Give medium-length, one-page letters margins of 1.25″ to 1.5″ and a little less space before the date line. Long letters: Give longer one-page letters 1″ margins left and right. Place the date line two lines below the letterhead, and begin the address line two lines below the date line. Avoid making an orphan of the signature block on the second page of a letter. Often, you can fit the body of a letter nicely on one page, but the signature block sometimes spills over onto a second page. To avoid the orphan signature block, you can make the margins wider and force some of the text (preferably a full paragraph) to the second page. Always put a colon after the salutation line, even if you use only a first name, like this: Dear Ms. Gogetter: Dear Ima: Don’t number the first page but number the second and succeeding pages of any letter. The style and placement of page numbers doesn’t matter, but your office probably has its own procedure, so be sure to ask how they want it done. Begin the complimentary close with a capital letter and end with a comma, like this: Very truly yours, Yours truly, Place about five lines between the complimentary close and the name of the attorney. This gives plenty of room for the signature. Reveal the identity of the letter writer by presenting his initials in the block following the signature block. Capitalize the writer’s initials and leave the word processor’s initials in lowercase. For example, if Pat Paralegal were creating a letter for Ima Gogetter, Pat would type “IG:pp” after the signature block. Follow the initials with a statement of whether there are enclosures and whether copies have been sent to others. Place these revelations underneath the initials and flush with the left margin. Here’s an example of the ending of a letter that contains enclosures with copy information (the cc used to stand for carbon copies back in the olden days before computers and copy machines; now it can stand for courtesy copies): IGG:pp Enclosure cc: Rip U. Awff, Esquire The following figure shows you how all these features come together in a sample demand letter to Worst Deal’s insurance company. (You can find a copy of the demand letter online.) Make your case: the legal complaint The format of a complaint (which, in some states and in certain types of lawsuits, is called a petition), varies from state to state, but all complaints should include a caption, text, and a subscription (the attorney’s signature). Because you personally serve a complaint on the defendant, it doesn’t include a certificate of mailing (a statement certifying that you placed the document on a particular date to a specific address). You also file a certificate of personal service with the court. The caption of a legal complaint The caption states the court in which the action is filed, the case number, the name of the document, and the names of the parties to the action. A line on the document usually separates the caption from the text of the complaint. Each state has a specific format you should follow for the captions of legal documents. Text of a legal complaint The text of a complaint must include the following elements in the form of numbered paragraphs in the order that they’re listed here: An opening paragraph A statement of jurisdiction and venue A statement of the general allegations against the defendant, which include the specific elements of the offense and the resulting damages A prayer for relief The complaint's opening statement The opening statement introduces the complaint and explains its purpose. The legal community is slowly changing its format to include clearer, more precise language that omits unnecessary legalese. Old expressions such as whereas and wherefore don’t appear as often as they used to. Even the time honored introductory phrase, “Comes now the Plaintiff, by and through his attorney …” is giving way to more straightforward wording, “The Defendant, by his attorney… .” Establishing parties and jurisdiction The first numbered paragraph of the text usually identifies the parties with names and addresses and states facts to support the alleged jurisdiction of and venue for the action. For example if the plaintiff brings the lawsuit in a federal district court and relies on diversity of citizenship to give the court jurisdiction, the opening paragraph of the complaint will allege the plaintiff is a citizen of one state, that the defendant is a citizen of another state, and that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. Stating the case The body of the complaint asserts in numbered paragraphs statements that present the case in a logical and sequential order. There’s a difference of opinion on how much detail is needed in alleging the facts on which the plaintiff bases her recovery. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) and most state rules have come a long way from the old days and require very little factual detail. The discovery process usually fleshes out many of the specific facts in the lawsuit. In a negligence action, alleging that on a certain date, at a described place, the plaintiff slipped and fell on the floor of the defendant’s business, which resulted in crushing the plaintiff’s hip, required him to seek medical help and miss work, and which also resulted in incurred expenses of a specified amount is usually sufficient. Each paragraph in the complaint should state the allegations as succinctly as possible. A good guideline for you to follow is to include only one allegation per paragraph. Money matters: the prayer for relief The complaint concludes with a prayer for relief or ad damnum clause, which is a short summary of the plaintiff’s request. This statement may be as simple as, “Wherefore, the plaintiff demands judgment against the defendant in the sum of Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000.00) with interest, attorney’s fees, and costs.” Or it may consist of several pages of demands. The prayer for relief may also be more generally worded like this, “The plaintiff demands judgment against the defendant in an amount to be determined at the time of trial, including interest, attorney’s fees, and costs.” The big finish: The subscription The subscription is the attorney’s signature block. It must contain the attorney’s name, registration number, mailing address, and phone number. Many states also require that the plaintiff’s name and address appear opposite the subscription. In Kelley Klutz’s case, Worst Deal’s insurance company has failed to respond to the demand letter by the designated date, so Ima Gogetter’s paralegal, Pat, drafts a complaint like the one shown in the following figure. (This sample complaint is also included online.) See also, "The Paralegal's Role in Creating the Trial Notebook."

Article / Updated 08-27-2019

Even before you know whether the client’s case is going to trial, your law office should begin to develop a trial notebook (which contains all the information and documents pertinent to a client’s case). Make no mistake about it: The best law firms get the jump on early trial preparation, and the paralegal plays a fundamental role in that process. It’s all about preparation and organization. A good trial notebook provides the tool any attorney needs to be a winning professional. The first thing you do when getting ready to put together a trial notebook is read the client’s file from cover to cover to get a firm grasp on all the facts of the client’s case. As you go through the file, record notes about anything that doesn’t make sense or requires future follow-up. Pay attention to what isn’t in the file, such as medical or other expert witness reports, lab reports, and so on. Keep a sharp eye out for anything that will help you locate witnesses, and make notes of their names, addresses, and other identifying information. When you have a handle on the facts of your client’s case, you organize the information in a logical fashion so your supervising attorney isn’t fumbling through a mass of information to find case details while working on the case in the office or the courtroom. Trial notebooks may be paper based, electronic, or a combination of both. We outline the process for compiling a paper notebook here, but many law offices use trial notebook software programs and apps so that they can access information on a laptop or tablet. Electronic notebooks may integrate online legal research programs and may allow for evidence to appear on courtroom monitors. Even if you rely entirely on electronic data organization, print out a copy of the notebook for trial or mediation just in case you encounter Wi-Fi or Internet connection issues. Arranging the trial notebook is sort of like putting together a binder for the first day of high school when you had to make divisions for all your classes. Here’s how you build it: Get a three-ring binder wide enough to hold the amount of documents you expect to accumulate and organize over the life of the case. Usually, the bigger the case, the bigger the binder. Get dividers with large tabs and label them for the various sections of the trial notebook. These sections roughly follow the order of events in the case as it plays out in court and usually include the following: Civil Pleadings/Criminal Charging Documents Pre-Trial Motions Jury Selection/Voir dire Examination Opening Statement Witnesses (Direct Examination, Cross Examination, Rebuttal) List of Exhibits Jury Instructions Closing Argument Evidence Legal Authority Trial Notes Post-Trial Motions Miscellaneous Include a trial preparation checklist in the front of the notebook. The figure shows a sample trial preparation checklist for a criminal case that you can use to guide the way that you gather evidence and store it in your files. The person responsible for collecting each document initials the sheet when it makes its way into the trial notebook. Insert case documents into the appropriate sections of the notebook. As reports, witness statements, and the like filter into the office, use a highlighter or marker to note the following information for each document: Who: Names, addresses, and phone numbers When: Dates and times What: Discoverable material and physical evidence Where: Locations (for maps, photos, and the like) In anticipation of trial motions and other court procedures, prepare blank documents before the trial starts. If the attorney needs to make a motion or suggest jury instructions in court, the attorney can do so very quickly both verbally and in written form. Having these documents ready at the attorney’s beck and call makes you appear very professional. Trial notebook preparation also includes organizing evidence. As a paralegal, you need to make sure that each and every item is ready for production at trial, accompanied with the necessary supporting documentation. Usually, you complete the evidence organization along with the trial notebook. You can store your side’s evidence electronically or in folders and boxes and gather it in one place for safekeeping. Each item of evidence consists of the original, any necessary copies, and notes on its history, including how and when it was found, how it was handled from its finding to the day of trial, and the names of the individuals involved in each step. You should then index the evidence collection so that at trial the attorney can instantly access any required piece of evidence.

Article / Updated 08-27-2019

The first step of the actual trial process for a jury trial is jury selection. Jury selection whittles down a large pool of potential jurors to 6 or 12 final jurors and alternates through a question-and-answer process called voir dire. Jury selection plays a crucial role in getting a fair and impartial jury for the trial. As a paralegal, you should assist your supervising attorney in preparing voir dire questions in advance to use with the jury pool, questions that may very well be key to the outcome of the case. Three primary goals of voir dire include the following: Eliciting information about the biases of potential jurors Educating the jury about factual and legal concepts of the case Establishing a rapport with the jury In important cases, your firm may call in a jury selection specialist to investigate the entire pool of potential jurors, which could consist of hundreds of people. The jury consultant advises attorneys on which jurors are likely to be sympathetic to one party or the other. Paralegals with psychology or communication backgrounds often operate freelance businesses that specialize in jury selection consultation. During voir dire, attorneys ask the members of the jury pool questions that address their qualifications to sit as jurors. Given a large jury pool, attorneys usually direct questions to the whole group. Based on the responses they get, the attorneys may then question individuals. Although lawyers never want to intentionally embarrass a potential juror, sometimes they have to delve into someone’s personal life. Personal inquiries help your firm weed out those jurors who might view your client’s case unfavorably. Following is a sample list of voir dire questions directed to the group of potential jurors that you can adapt to fit many criminal or civil cases. Naturally, you alter the questions depending on the subject matter of any particular case. Is there anyone here who hasn’t read the juror’s handbook? Has anyone sat on a jury before? Has anyone heard anything about this case? may be called as witnesses in this case. Does anyone know any of these potential witnesses? Does anyone know the plaintiff, the defendant, the attorneys, or the judge in this case? This event allegedly occurred in . Does anyone live near or is anyone familiar with this area? Has anyone ever been involved in or witness to the types of events surrounding this case? Does anyone have relatives or close friends who have been involved in or witnesses to the types of events surrounding this case? Does anyone have a personal interest in the outcome of a case of this nature? For criminal trials: Is anyone employed in law enforcement or in the justice system? For criminal trials: Has anyone ever had a bad or unpleasant experience with a police officer? Does anyone have religious, personal, or philosophical views that would interfere with sitting as a juror in this particular case? Does anyone have strongly held opinions about the nature of this case that would prevent you from following the law in this case? Is there anyone who cannot agree to follow the law and instructions as given to you by the court, whether you personally agree with them or not? Is there anyone who doesn’t understand that a juror’s job is to weigh the testimony of each witness, which means determining truth in the event that the parties disagree on an account of the facts? This case may involve some complicated facts. Is there anyone who has a problem with the time it may take to sift through testimony and evidence to attempt to sort fact from fiction? Would you refrain from voicing your opinion if it were unpopular with other jurors? Would you listen fairly to the viewpoints of other jurors and give them a chance to persuade you? Is there anything about this trial, as it has been described to you, that makes anyone uncomfortable about sitting as a juror? Can anyone think of any reason why you could not be a fair and impartial juror? After attorneys have questioned prospective jurors about the case, they may exercise challenges to excuse those jurors whose biases would make them least favorable to the client’s position. You can assist the attorney so that she can intelligently challenge jurors for bias or otherwise. State law governs how attorneys may challenge prospective jurors. Challenges to prospective jurors fall into one of three categories: Peremptory challenges require no reason to excuse jurors. Challenges for cause must be made for a specific reason. Challenges to the array involve the removal of the entire panel of jurors. Rebelling without a cause: Peremptory challenges Peremptory challenges, as the name implies, are those that don’t require the lawyer to give a reason for excusing a prospective juror. The juror could be giving the lawyer funny looks or could be overly friendly with the opposing lawyer. Your supervising attorney may exercise the peremptory strike because he has a gut feeling that a juror would be bad news for the client. There are lots of reasons why attorneys may not want a particular juror sitting in judgment of their clients. A lawyer can challenge a juror for reasons ranging from the juror’s wearing too much makeup to the juror’s not being able to converse in complete sentences. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has held in the case of Batson v. Kentucky (1986), that a lawyer can’t exercise a peremptory challenge to a prospective juror based on race, unless there is some other race-neutral reason for excusing that juror. The courts have extended Batson to also apply to challenges based on gender and ethnic background. You don’t get to have as many peremptory challenges as you want — otherwise, there would probably never be enough jurors in the pool to satisfy each side in a lawsuit. Depending on whether you’re involved in a civil or criminal case, each side to the lawsuit gets a certain number of peremptory challenges. For example, some states allow the parties to exercise three peremptory strikes in a civil case, and attorneys in a criminal case may have as many as six or more peremptory challenges. If the case is heard in a court of limited jurisdiction, or if the final jury panel consists of 6 instead of 12 jurors (for a criminal misdemeanor case), the parties may be limited to only three strikes. If there are two or more defendants, each defendant may get an additional challenge, and the prosecution might get an extra one as well. Making a good excuse: Challenges for cause Each side to a lawsuit is entitled to an unlimited number of challenges for cause. A challenge for cause is one that lawyers use to kick off a prospective juror for bias, whether implied or actual. Implied bias shows up when, for example, a potential juror is a family member or close friend of one of the parties. Actual bias occurs when a potential juror states that she can’t be fair to one or both of the parties. One classic example might be a rape victim who is called to sit as a juror in a criminal rape case. Although the juror could conceivably be fair, it’s far more likely that she would have an extremely difficult time hearing the facts of the case and keeping them separate from her own experience. Each party has an unlimited number of challenges for cause. As long as the attorney can articulate a clear reason why a particular juror can’t be fair, the court will excuse that juror for cause. Jurors who hold preconceived ideas about the nature of a case may not necessarily be disqualified for bias. If they demonstrate that they can set aside their prejudices to render a fair verdict, the court may not see cause to excuse these jurors. Dismissing the kit and caboodle: Challenges to the array A challenge to the array occurs when one of the parties requests the court to disqualify the entire pool of prospective jurors. A challenge to the array is also known as a challenge to the venire. A party may exercise a challenge to the array only in highly unusual circumstances. You might see this type of challenge at play when irregularities or illegalities occur — for example, if the clerk or jury administrator uses some means other than random selection or if he purposely calls in a panel of completely biased prospective jurors. Challenges to the array don’t happen very often; if you ever see this occur in one of your attorney’s cases, consider buying a lottery ticket! Monitoring the jury pool As the lawyers exercise their challenges with jurors and particular jurors are stricken from the panel, new jurors from the pool, or venire, may be brought forward to take their place and the makeup of the jury box changes. You can help your supervising attorney during this process by noting potential jurors’ reactions to questions and observing how they relate to attorneys for both parties. And, while the attorney focuses her attention on questioning one prospective juror, you can watch the reactions of the others. You may keep track of the panel for the lawyer by drawing a schematic juror seating chart. When a successful challenge has removed a particular juror from the box, you write the name of the next juror in that same location in the box. This allows your supervising attorney to always know which jurors are sitting on the panel at any one time. The following figure is one example of a schematic diagram you could use to assist the lawyer in the jury selection process. The jury panel seating chart is also available online. Your supervising attorney may also rely on software to assist with voir dire. Existing programs help attorneys keep track of juror and offer predictions regarding a prospective juror’s potential biases.

Article / Updated 08-27-2019

Both paralegals and lawyers are legal professionals. The difference is that an attorney must supervise a paralegal’s work, and a paralegal can’t do certain things, like give legal advice and represent clients in court. But there are many things paralegals can do. What does a paralegal do? Because using a paralegal instead of an attorney can save a lot of money, law firms and corporations are increasingly relying on paralegals. As a paralegal, you’ll likely be doing many of the tasks that in past decades were accomplished only by licensed attorneys. Researching and analyzing the law Courts make decisions about current cases based on the decisions made in past cases. So, to effectively prepare a case, you have to know what the courts have decided in similar circumstances and evaluate them to figure out how they apply to the case you’re working on. You find prior cases and relevant statutes through legal research. Performing legal research can eat up gobs of time, so attorneys often count on competent paralegals to take up this duty. No matter which area of law you enter, you’ll have to do legal research. If you work in areas that frequently require litigation, you’ll do lots of research, but even other areas like domestic law, trusts and estates, corporate law, and entertainment law are going to require you to hit the books. Of course, legal research has increasingly moved away from books and into computer technology. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be doing less research, just that you may be doing more of it from your desk rather than heading to a law library. Your job doesn’t stop with the accumulation of research. You also have to analyze the information by applying law to facts and probably draft memos that present your analysis for the lawyers in your firm. You may need to apply the information that you find to a corporate contract, will, or other legal document. In many cases, you may even be asked to do initial writing on motions that will actually be filed in court. So although you may not be speaking in court, your work will be. Interviewing and investigating Cases aren’t only about relevant statutes and case precedents; they’re also about the facts. You may interview witnesses and collect evidence in your paralegal career. Evidence gathering is especially important in any kind of litigation. Litigation results in many areas of law. For example, corporate law may involve litigation stemming from contract disputes or product liability; patent and trademark law may lead to trials over intellectual property rights; and family law features frequent litigation, especially stemming from divorce and child custody issues. For each of these kinds of lawsuits, there are witnesses to interview and evidence to gather. For example, if your supervising attorney were working for a plaintiff in a product liability suit, you would need to gather information on the harm caused by the product, interview other people who may have been adversely affected by the product, work to determine what the company knew of the danger and when, and collect information from any additional witnesses. Even if you aren’t working in litigation, you may still need your interview and investigation skills. For example, when you help prepare a prenuptial agreement for a family law practice, you need to determine the client’s assets and investigate the background of the future spouse. If you’re working for attorneys in entertainment law who are reviewing a record deal for one of their clients, you may have to investigate the details of the deal or the record company. Whatever the area of law you become involved in, you’ll use your interview and investigation skills. Convening with clients Without clients, the practice of law wouldn’t exist. Tasks like legal research and document preparation may seem to be the main duties of legal professionals. But, you only engage in these and other legal tasks because you’re working on behalf of a client. Establishing good relationships with clients is essential to open communication and good legal practice — and it’s also important to strengthening your career. During your paralegal career you may find that you’re often the liaison between the client and the attorneys you work for, which may be one of the most important duties you have. As the liaison, you keep the client informed of how the case is progressing and work with the client to get all the relevant case information. Then you accurately relay what the client tells you to the attorney who represents the client. As a paralegal, you generally aren’t allowed to have your own clients. If you tell clients that you’re representing them in a legal matter, you’re probably guilty of the unauthorized practice of law. So, in every case, clearly communicate to the client your status as a paralegal. All your duties are supervised by a licensed attorney, which means that you communicate everything the client tells you to your supervising attorney. Attorney-client privilege doesn’t require or even allow you to keep any secrets from your client’s lawyer. Administrating the legal environment In some offices, you may work as a case administrator. An administrator handles the case details for a client and the attorney. For example, law firms have special accounts where they keep money that belongs to clients rather than to the firm. If a client wins a judgment or if money included in a will is being dispersed, that money passes though the accounts of a law firm. Or, you may keep track of the money bequeathed through a will if you work for a probate attorney. In a small law office, your paralegal duties may also include administrating the entire operation, including the filing system, the calendar, and the billings. Where paralegals work Paralegals work in many different areas of the law. Some paralegals choose to earn high salaries in corporate law or complex litigation. Other paralegals work for low-income clients or for public interest or environmental law firms. Some paralegals like the personal atmosphere of a small firm and others take control of their futures by starting their own paralegal businesses. There are as many different choices for paralegals as there are types of law! Big law firm If you think that attorneys are the only legal professionals capable of making six-figure salaries, you’re wrong! In bigger cities, experienced paralegals working for large firms can make more than $100,000 per year. Two factors have a big influence on the salary you can earn as a paralegal: Your level of experience: The longer you work as a paralegal, the more valuable you become. (That’s why it’s important to get started on your career as soon as possible.) As you develop your skills, you’ll be given more complex tasks and get paid accordingly. Your area of specialization and the responsibilities of your job: If you choose to specialize in corporate law or litigation, you have a high earning potential. Increased salaries usually mean more responsibility. The highest paid paralegals often supervise other paralegals or have particularly important duties within the firm. Here are some areas of the law where paralegals often make the highest salaries: Litigation: Paralegals working in the field of litigation have some of the most interesting, and challenging, duties available to legal professionals. Litigation can be fast-paced and complex with dozens of potential witnesses and mountains of evidence. It takes qualified and talented lawyers and paralegals to deal with complicated litigation. If you aren’t afraid of intense work that often extends beyond the normal workweek, you may have what it takes to make a big salary in litigation. Corporate law: Corporate law involves important and lucrative deals. Contracts, mergers, takeovers, and issuing of stock constitute just some of the activities of a corporate legal team. If you have an eye for detail and you’re interested in business, corporate law could mean a big deal for you. Other special areas of law: Another way to make a high salary is to specialize. Paralegals are always in demand in certain specialties. These specialties require knowledge of more than just the law. For example if you have a degree in chemistry, you could specialize as a paralegal working with the pharmaceutical industry. Nurses find highly paid positions as consultants in firms that specialize in medical malpractice. Examples of areas where your interests can turn into a high paying paralegal position include patent and trademark law, environmental protection and other areas involving science, and medical malpractice and product liability. Small law firm Working in corporate law, complex litigation or an unusual specialty might not be for you. Paralegals do tend to earn the most in these areas, but salary isn’t everything. Working in a small firm offers many advantages, and if you don’t want to live in one of the big cities in the United States, a small firm may be your best option. As a paralegal in a small firm, you may find yourself performing diverse tasks while working on a wide variety of cases. You might be compiling asset information for a bankruptcy filing, interviewing witnesses for a child custody issue, helping a client draft a will, and assisting a small business with incorporation. Talk about multitasking! If you like to constantly confront new challenges, if you like seeing your efforts have immediate results for real people, and if you’re flexible enough to do your best with any assignment you’re given, the small firm might be the choice for you. Plus, small firms often offer opportunities for fledgling paralegals to get their feet in the door. The pro bono paralegal If you’re willing to sacrifice salary for public assistance, you could become a paralegal at one of the pro bono firms that work for justice rather than profit. These firms work to help disadvantaged clients, save the environment, uphold civil rights, and protect constitutionally guaranteed liberties. By working for one of these firms, you’ll pull in a modest salary but make a big difference! Government paralegals A growing area of employment for paralegals is with the public sector. All levels of government and court systems employ paralegals. The biggest federal employer of paralegals is the Department of Justice, followed by the Social Security Administration and the Treasury Department, but nearly every cabinet department employs paralegals. State governments have been hiring new paralegals at increasing rates. Paralegals have been replacing licensed attorneys in bureaucracies because using paralegals saves governments lots of money. If you choose to become a paralegal in the public sector, you’ll be a member of a bureaucracy. The public sector has more defined rules and procedures and more definite job descriptions and roles than the private sector does. Working for a small firm, you might be asked to perform just about any task required for a client. Working for the government, you’ll likely have a strictly defined job description and a firm knowledge of exactly what you’ll be doing each day. The public sector pays less than large firms but generally more than small firms. Government employment also tends to be less risky then employment in the private sector. Government employees have more rights, including the protection of certain personnel procedures that don’t allow government employees to be fired on a whim. Government jobs also tend to provide excellent benefits packages. If you favor stability, a public sector job may be right for you. The paralegal as independent contractor On the other end of the spectrum from stable government employment is the paralegal entrepreneur. If you don’t want to be tied down to a single firm, if you want the opportunity to work for different firms on different projects, or if you’re comfortable taking risks and reaping the rewards that come with being your own boss, you may choose to strike out on your own as an independent contractor. Independent contractors are paralegals for hire. If a small law firm suddenly gets involved in big litigation, it needs lots of help. Instead of hiring a bunch of employees and paying them benefits, the firm may be better off contracting with a freelance paralegal. Of course, freelance paralegals still have to be supervised by an attorney. But, by creating your own paralegal contracting service, you can take more control of your professional life than you usually can working for one particular firm.

Article / Updated 08-27-2019

How much time you spend engaged in law office management depends on the type and size of firm you work for. Most large firms employ a separate staff to take care of the majority of the daily organization activities. But no matter what size law firm you work for, as a paralegal you’ll probably end up doing some managing and organizing of the law office. If you work for a small firm, you could be responsible for the management of the entire office. In a larger firm, you’ll probably be responsible for just your own schedule and maybe that of your supervising attorney. Although it may seem pretty mundane, proper office management is crucial to the productivity of any law environment, so this discussion focuses on proper management of time, files, and monthly billings. Buying time: management systems When you think about it, law firms sell their time to their clients, so the value of managing minutes, hours, and days is absolutely crucial. The legal process consists of a series of deadlines that you must meet if you don’t want to jeopardize a client’s case. Good time management produces efficiency and profit, but poor time management can terminate legal careers. If you have trouble organizing your time, now’s a great time to learn and practice time management skills. Putting together a good time management system isn’t complicated. It just requires an interactive use of simple devices, such as lists, calendars, and records. You can keep track of time with pen and paper or on the computer, but you’ll probably find that a combination of both is the most efficient. Marking the days: The calendar system Keeping track of time begins with a good calendar system. If you’ve never used a daily planner before, you’d better get used to using one. Calendars are absolutely essential to the smooth running of any law office. Many malpractice insurance companies require a specific calendaring system with more than one person handling the information. So, consult the insurance policy or contact the agent before you initiate any changes to the way your office keeps a calendar. The master calendar Every law office must maintain a master calendar that the attorney, legal secretary, paralegal, and other staff can easily access. It’s usually available on the computer network for everyone to see. The main calendar keeps track of all the important events for the entire office, including the following: Court appearances Important filing deadlines Appointments Meetings and conferences Vacations and personal days of all staff members The following figure shows a sampling of two weeks of a master calendar. Individual calendars The master calendar (see the preceding section) isn’t the only time keeping device in the office, though. You’ll also use a series of individual calendars, like your own personal calendar or the attorney’s traveling calendar, that you regularly crosscheck against the master calendar. Individual calendars are also called redundant calendars because they contain copies of the entries from the master calendar that should be performed by that specific person. They also contain events and tasks that aren’t on the master calendar that only the owner of the individual calendar needs to know about (like a lunch meeting with a malpractice insurance agent). In the following figure you can see what a paralegal’s calendar may look like based on the events on the sample master calendar shown in the preceding image. Online calendars allow for calendar sharing. The whole office shares the master calendar and can view other staff members’ calendars to view all upcoming appointments and check for conflicts. You can also deselect calendars to simplify the view and see only your tasks and events or those of your supervising attorney. The tickler system for law offices If you’re using the calendar system (see the preceding section), you can set up a tickler system (a system that “tickles,” or jogs, your memory) that automatically alerts you when something must be done by a certain time. With the number of things going on in a law office and the number of times you’re interrupted in a day, even if you have an exceptional memory you won’t be able to keep track in your head of everything you have to do. To make sure you complete a certain action by the day it’s due, you have to keep track of more than just the final deadline dates. So, you break each project into smaller pieces. Then you tickle those interim assignments, giving yourself enough time to accomplish what you need to do before you give it to the attorney to review, revise, or otherwise handle before the looming final deadline. You can use any or all of the following methods to produce a reliable tickler system. Enter deadlines on the office’s master calendar with an appropriate lead time. So, if something is due on the 15th of the month, you also enter a reminder entry on the 10th. Use a document control register to track deadlines. In this system, you give a document control number to every document that leaves or comes into the office. Then you construct a register that lists the status of all documents by their control number, which you consult regularly for unfinished business and approaching deadlines. Note deadlines through the use of a tickler file (also known as a suspense file). If you want be absolutely sure you never miss a deadline, you can supplement your management system with a paper-based tickler file. You create 31 separate file folders for the days of the current month, 31 separate file folders for the days of the next month, and 12 file folders for the months of the year. Then you make a copy of the first page of every document that requires a response or action. These pages go into the file folder for a day that’s five or ten days before the action deadline. All you have to do is check the tickler file every morning and enter the required actions on your personal work schedule or to-do list. The key, of course, for any of these methods is to check them daily and to have a personal tickler system to transfer information to. For example, if you know you’re responsible for gathering information to be used to answer interrogatories that are due at the end of the following week, you’d tickle this project much earlier on your own calendar than it appears on the master calendar. The tickler gives you ample time to gather the information and present it to your supervising attorney in time for the answers to be drafted, reviewed, signed, and sent. Individual ticklers are also quite handy if you’re out of the office unexpectedly and another person has to temporarily handle some of your workload. With your awesomely organized tickler in hand, your co-worker will have no doubts about what has been accomplished and what remains to be done. Getting it in writing: The to-do list From the tickler system (see the preceding section), you move to the daily to-do list, which, not surprisingly, is a list of all the things you need to accomplish that day, transferred from your tickler system. You’ll definitely create one for yourself every day, and you may have to make a daily to-do list for your attorney, too. Each individual worker in a law office should have a separate to-do list. This list can be a handwritten list of things to do today, which requires a daily review of pending work and priorities, or it can be a similar list kept in the computer. Different members of the staff may use different types of lists. The best lists are ones that don’t list more than you can do in a day and that prioritize your activities so you know what you need to do first. You can easily prioritize your list by designating each activity with an A, B, or C. You do all the A activities first, then the Bs, and finally the Cs. Anything you don’t finish one day just goes on the next day’s list, probably with a higher priority than before. The following figure shows what a to-do list would look like for Friday, August 4, based on the sample calendar (refer to preceding images) with a few last-minute assignments added in. Of course, in addition to the events listed on the master and individual calendars, your supervising attorney will give you other daily assignments. When you get an assignment, write it on your calendar and/or to-do list right away, along with the exact instructions provided by the attorney. Estimate the time involved and enter any deadlines. Take a look at the fourth entry in the figure for an example. Remembering everything about an assignment would be a challenge even if you never experienced an interruption, but unfortunately, most people aren’t so lucky! Most law offices are a bustle of constant activity. The last thing you want to do is waste your employer’s time by asking to have an assignment repeated, so get it all down the first time: take written note or text or email yourself the information. And, if the instructions are unclear, ask questions until you feel comfortable with the assignment. If you keep your to-do list with you throughout the day (in written form or on your phone), you have evidence of your assignment in sight at all times. You can easily get distracted and lose sight of what you’re doing, especially when you’re conducting research or even doing something simple like searching for a document in a file. You’ll save a lot of time if you only have to glance at your notes to remind you of your purpose. Checking off completed activities on your list is one of the best feelings in the world! As you cross things off, keep a log of how much time you spent on each item and the name of the client so you’ll be prepared for billing when the time comes (see the next section). Then, at the end of each day, you just have to review your list to see what you’ve finished and what remains to be done. If you’re in the middle of an activity that you can’t finish, note where you are on your to-do list for the next day and put away the file — this clears the clutter from your desk and gives you a starting-off point for the next day. Your to-do lists are important documents, so you’ll need to save them for later reference. You can keep them chronologically in an expandable file, or you can keep your lists in a bound day-planner notebook or three-ring binder. Keeping account: billing systems A paralegal’s time may be billed to the client at an hourly rate lower than the attorney’s, so you’ll need to keep track of every minute you spend working on a client’s case. You then have to provide documentation of your time to the accounts receivable department of the firm so it can generate invoices. You need to keep track of your time even if your office handles a client on a contingency fee basis (where an attorney gets paid by receiving a portion of the client’s settlement). That way you have an accounting in the billing records if there’s ever a question of what duties you’ve performed for a client and when. If you’re the accounts receivable department as well as the office paralegal, you need to generate invoices to clients on a set schedule. The invoicing process involves recording billable hours and fee, compiling those hours and fees by client, creating an invoice for each client, and keeping track of unpaid balances. Recording time Time is the element in an attorney’s inventory that has a direct dollar value, so a law practice should keep track of it just as a jewelry store keeps track of its diamonds. A number of commercial systems exist that keep track of time, some computerized and some manual. Some of the most popular accounting software programs, such as QuickBooks and Peachtree, contain stopwatches that you can set while you’re conducting a billable activity to keep track of your time. The program then computes the value of the activity based on your hourly billable rate, associates the time with a specific client, and keeps track of it until you’re ready to invoice the client. You don’t need special software, though. Most word processing programs have the invoice templates and merge features you need to set up a billing procedure. Regardless of the medium you use, both you and the attorney keep track independently of the time you each spend on each task for each client throughout the month. Even if you use a software program that records time for you, keeping track of your time on your personal calendar or to-do list is a good idea. You can also keep track on your to-do list of how long you spend on the phone, as shown in the sixth entry in the preceding figure. On the designated monthly billing day, the accounts receivable department at your firm will either transfer your activities to invoices in the accounting software or you’ll submit a chronological list of the tasks you’ve performed for each client. If you’re responsible for the billing, you’ll compile the billable hours and fees for each client, prepare invoices, and usually submit them to the attorney for approval before you send them out. Creating invoices Recording time accurately is the first vital step in operating a profitable law office. The second vital step is to actually bill the clients for this time. The most efficient method for sending out bills on time is a simplified approach. Billing procedures vary widely depending upon the size and type of practice and the number of accounts receivable the firm has. Some firms may have a department dedicated solely to billing; others may use an independent firm to prepare their billings. Small firms usually rely upon the paralegal to perform this task. The easiest way to manage accounts receivable in most law offices is through an accounting software program. The most popular programs, such as QuickBooks and Peachtree, allow you to compute time, record time, enter fees and other costs, and create invoices. You can enter time manually through a timesheet or you can have the software record time for you with its integrated stopwatch. You give the software a detailed description of the activity, associate it with a particular client, provide the hourly rate, and the software stores the information until you’re ready to invoice. You can also associate filing and recording fees and other billable costs to a client whenever you record the firm’s payment of those fees in the accounting software. Then, when you’re ready to send out periodic invoices, you just pull up the invoice form, enter the client’s name, and click a button. The software provides you with all the hours and fees associated with the client. You pick the ones you want to bill for and — abracadabra! — the invoice appears. It’s that simple. If you’re regular about entering time and fees into the accounting software, periodic billings can take only a few hours to complete! The online content provides a sample timesheet and its resulting invoice as generated by QuickBooks accounting software. A place for everything: file management One thing’s for sure: Law offices generate tons of paper documents. So, setting up and using a well-organized filing system is crucial to good law office management. Maintaining a filing system Odds are the law office you work for will already have an efficient filing system in place when you’re hired. Large firms likely store most documents digitally by scanning them and saving them on their servers, but they may still need to hang on to original paper documents, so a paper-based filing system is also necessary. The main purpose of a filing system is to make important papers instantly accessible. Generally, law firms keep files in alphabetical order by client, but some firms use a numeric system. Although assigning numbers to clients requires a cross-reference index (usually kept on computer), the number system is helpful because it provides a way of aging cases chronologically and makes filing completed cases much easier than an alphabetical arrangement. Color-coded labels or folders help to distinguish types of cases, and colored dots or other symbols identify whether a client’s case is in the pre-trial, trial, or post-trial stage. Organizing documents in a file folder In addition to a system for storing files, you also need a way to arrange papers within a file. The simplest procedure is to place the file’s documents in chronological order with the latest information on top. This system makes for easy setup, but as the file grows, its earlier contents become less accessible. Therefore, most offices that use the chronological method also keep a log in the file as an index, usually adhered to the inner left side of the folder. Maintaining the index requires extra time for the one who oversees the files but makes finding specific documents easier. Another system is to subdivide the folder into subject areas. This method requires the law office clerk to determine just where a filed document should go, but it eliminates having to log a document every time you take it out or put it in. This system is helpful for the attorney and paralegal because a file organized by subject provides the foundation for the trial notebook that the attorney and paralegal rely on during trial. The kinds of subject areas you’d choose in this kind of system vary depending on the type of case. For instance, in a personal injury case, you may organize the file according to the following subjects: Intake information (client interview; facts investigation; photos) Initial pleadings (summons and complaint; responsive pleadings) Discovery Depositions Notices Correspondence Notes Subject areas in a domestic relations file would more likely include the following: Initial pleadings (summons and petition; custody affidavit; response) Temporary orders Discovery Financial affidavits and support worksheets Property division Notices Correspondence Notes Storing old files There’s no law that says you have to keep closed case files, because the court maintains the legal record. But there are a few reasons to hang on to old files: Closed cases can be valuable reference tools for new cases. Old cases may reopen, particularly in domestic relations disputes. Sometimes a client requests information contained in an old case file. So, most law offices keep case files indefinitely, especially if they have the space. To conserve space in the work area and make frequently used files easy to get to, the main file cabinets only contain files for cases in progress. You can scan documents and store them online and/or keep files for closed cases in a convenient location either at the office or in a separate storage facility. In most law practices, the size of the active file system remains constant, but the closed file system continues to grow over time. If you organize your active files alphabetically, changing to a numeric system for storing closed files is probably a good idea. Numeric filing lets you box up closed files and avoid the constant shuffling of files when you need to file newly closed ones alphabetically.

Article / Updated 06-18-2019

Legal research is a significant part of your job as a paralegal. When you visit a law library (or conduct computerized legal research), use this practical approach to working through a legal researcher assignment. Consult legal dictionaries to compile a comprehensive list of terms relevant to your research project. Webster’s New World Law Dictionary (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), Ballentine’s Legal Dictionary and Thesaurus, Black’s Law Dictionary, Words and Phrases, and William Statsky’s Legal Thesaurus/Dictionary are just some of the dictionaries you can use to develop a list of synonyms, antonyms, and other relevant expressions to get you started on your research project. Find the proper jurisdiction for the case you’re researching. After you establish whether your project comes under the federal or state court system, you can determine the specific level of court for your case and research the law that’s appropriate for that level. Dig up relevant cases and statutes by accessing the following resources in roughly this order: Major legal encyclopedias, Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS), and American Jurisprudence (Am. Jur.) American Law Reports (ALR) Appropriate digest topics (based on your initial dictionary research) from West’s “Outline of the Law” that lead you to the proper digests Primary sources of authority, like federal and regional reporters (for case law) and federal and state constitutions and codes (for rules and statutes) Validate the primary authority you’ve found to make sure they’re still good law.

Article / Updated 03-19-2019

These law websites provide a wealth of information to help you prepare for and excel in a paralegal career. Access continuing education, legal forms and precedent, and other legal resources at the following law websites. Hatch Education: This website provides helpful links for legal professions and a wide variety of course offerings through universities nationwide. The U.S. Government’s Official Web Portal: You can find links to everything governmental on this official website, including forms, laws, federal agencies, the three branches of the federal government, state governments, data and statistics, and libraries. Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute: Research websites maintained by law schools often come and go, but Cornell’s comprehensive site has been around forever and just gets more useful over time. Use it to find federal and state constitutions, codes (which are lists of regulations and statutes), and court opinions. Plus, you can get citation tips and ways to contact attorneys, judges, law firms, and law organizations. State government websites: Every state has its own website, with access to state laws, legal forms, and other resources. FindLaw for Legal Professionals: This site provides sample legal forms, articles, cases and statutes, job leads, and a bunch of other stuff helpful to the legal professional. The Center for Legal Studies: Here’s where you’ll find courses to begin or further your paralegal education The Paralegal Today: The magazine’s official website especially designed for paralegals has links to past articles with helpful information for legal professionals.

Article / Updated 03-18-2019

The area where you live or work as a paralegal largely dictates your access to law library resources. If you live in a rural area, you may not have the same access to the massive collections of law books and legal resources that city slickers have. Even so, as a legal researcher, you can still find most of these pertinent legal resources in your public library’s law section or on law websites: U.S. Code: If you’re researching federal matters, the U.S. Code is where you’ll find the statutes controlling matters of national concern, like the rules regarding how we elect senators and how we show respect for the U.S. flag. U.S. Constitution: For research on constitutional cases, you need to access the seven articles of the U.S. Constitution and the amendments. You can do so in almost any library or online. Your state’s code: You can find the rules governing your state in its volumes of statutes, which are usually part of your local library’s collection, and most states make their codes available online. Access state statutes at Cornell University Law School. Your state’s constitution: Sometimes a case involves constitutional issues on the state level. You can access your state’s articles and amendments in virtually any public library in your state. Your municipality’s code: If you work on matters of purely local significance, you can usually find a set of local rules in a city’s or county’s public library. Many cities and counties provide links to their codes on their official websites. To find an official website, type [city or county name] government into your favorite search engine (obviously replacing [city or county name] with the name of the city or county you need info on). Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory: Martindale-Hubbell volumes provide a directory of attorneys and law firms in the United States and throughout the world. They list attorneys’ contact information, educational backgrounds, and areas of specialty. So, if you need to find an attorney who practices intellectual property law in Kennebunk, Maine, you just need to pull this weighty text off the shelf of your public library or go online.