Things a Paralegal Can and Can't Do
Paralegals are legal assistants. Their job is to assist a lawyer or attorney in anyway possible by performing tasks decided by the lawyer. There is a fine line between what a paralegal is not certified to do and not do, but there are dozens of tasks that paralegals can do in their everyday job.
As a paralegal you are not permitted to give legal advice. If someone comes to you asking for advice on a situation, you are not permitted to provide them information. It is unethical to give information to a peer if you are not certified to be a law advisor. Law advice is strictly for lawyers. If you are caught providing legal advice and they mention it to a lawyer they hire – your job is at stake. A paralegal cannot set fees for a client either. The fees must be set by the lawyer that owns the company or law firm. If a paralegal promises a client a lower or higher price, their job will likely be terminated. Lastly, paralegals can never represent a client in a court of law. They cannot stand by the client in court and act as a lawyer, or help them voice their case to the judge.
What paralegals are permitted to do is fill out paperwork, write complaint drafts, affidavits, and deal with law real estate. Complaint drafts are typically written during a lawsuit or suit case of any type. There are a number of other acceptable instances in which a paralegal can act. In real estate terms, the paralegal can be present at the deed signing as well as look up deeds and find information on anything regarding a property. They typically perform a lot of organization tasks and serve as a “gopher” of sorts for the office they work in.
Other tasks may be assigned by an attorney at any given time. No ethical and law abiding lawyer will assign the working paralegal work that is unethical for their position. It is extremely important to the integrity of law that the paralegal follow all directions explicitly.
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