Employer Resources
If you employ
legal assistants, or if you're thinking about employing legal
assistants, you'll want to check out the links below. Find
out what legal assistants can do, learn about legal assistant
compensation and utilization, see how technology can improve
your practice, get information about improving your office
efficiency, and more!
Consulting and Classes
EMU's Legal
Assistant Studies Program faculty members have wide-ranging
expertise in law practice management and administration,
staffing and personnel management, law office technology,
employment law, and employment litigation. They are
available to consult with you about the issues facing your
practice. In addition, Program faculty members can design
and conduct continuing education and
training courses for you and your staff. For
more information, contact the
Program Coordinator.
What is a Legal Assistant?
A legal assistant, sometimes also called a paralegal, is a
person who is qualified through education, training, experience,
or some combination of these, to do substantive legal work under
attorney supervision, or substantive legal work for which an
attorney is responsible. Legal assistants cannot engage in
the practice of law. A legal assistant with formal legal
education will have received training in substantive and
procedural law, legal research, analysis, and writing, and
office technology and administration. For example, Program
students must complete 9 semester hours of legal research,
analysis, and writing, 6 semester hours of civil litigation and
procedure (3 hours of torts and 3 hours of civil procedure), 3
semester hours of probate, estates, and wills, 3 semester hours
of family law, and 17 semester hours of technology and
administration classes. For more information, see
Undergraduate Program
Classes.
Several professional associations, including the
American Bar Association, the
National Association of
Legal Assistants, and the
National Federation of Paralegal Associations, have adopted
definitions of the terms "legal assistant" or "paralegal" that
are substantially similar to the definition provided above.
The State Bar of Michigan
has, in its Bylaws, established criteria for legal assistant
affiliate membership in the Bar.
What Can Legal Assistants Do?
A "true" legal assistant or paralegal - that is, one who fits
within the definition provided above - can wear many hats.
He can word process, create spreadsheets and databases, and is
comfortable with the latest in law office technology, but he's
not a secretary. She knows substantive and procedural law,
can investigate cases, and can draft pleadings, discovery, and
legal instruments, but she's not a lawyer. In truth, a
legal assistant is a multidisciplinary professional, one
that fills a unique role in the legal organization.
Check out these resources to learn more about legal assistant
utilization:
-
ABA Model Guidelines for the Utilization of
Paralegal Services You can download the
guidelines in Word or PDF format. While not
terribly specific, the Guidelines do describe
general utilization parameters.
-
LAMA Utilization Survey The Legal
Assistant Management Association did this
utilization survey, and the results are available
for free here. The small number of
respondents makes the survey statistically
meaningless, but the survey is quite comprehensive and
provides some worthwhile information.
- NALA
Model Standards and Guidelines From this
page, scroll down to "Articles" (on the left hand
side of the page) and click on the Model Standards
and Guidelines. This comprehensive article
does more than set forth model guidelines.
-
NALA 2002 Compensation and Utilization Survey
You can download this National Association of
Legal Assistants survey, which is in multiple
parts, in PDF format.
-
NFPA Statement of Paralegal Responsibilities
This online brochure, published by the National
Federation of Paralegal Associations, contains
detailed listings of typical paralegal duties and
responsibilities organized by practice area.
This is a great place to start when
building your own utilization model.
Can I Bill for Legal Assistant Time?
In a word: yes. In two words: clearly, yes. The
leading case is
Missouri v. Jenkins, 491 U.S. 274 (1989), where the Supreme
Court approved the billing of paralegal time in a federal school
desegregation case. Indeed, billing for paralegal time is
now so well accepted that several federal decisions
encourage the use of paralegals to perform certain tasks more
cost effectively. This
article
explains more. State laws control the billing of paralegal
time in state court matters. Michigan Court Rule 2.626 is
illustrative:
"An award of attorney fees may include an award
for the time and labor of any legal assistant who
contributed nonclerical, legal support under the
supervision of an attorney, provided the legal
assistant meets the criteria set forth in Article
1, § 6 of the Bylaws of the State Bar of
Michigan."
Should I Hire an
Associate or a Legal Assistant?
To a large extent, this
depends on your practice needs. Associates
can do things - generally categorized as the
"practice of law" - that legal assistants
cannot. If you need help providing direct
legal counsel to clients, or if you need help in the courtroom, then
you need to hire an associate. But give
careful thought to what you really need.
Could a properly educated and trained non-lawyer
help improve your efficiency, freeing more of your
time for tasks that only a lawyer can do? If
so, then give serious thought to hiring a legal
assistant.
Common belief holds that
associates are more profitable than legal
assistants. Closer examination, however,
proves otherwise. From the standpoint of
return on your employment dollar investment, legal
assistants can be as cost-efficient, or more so,
than associates. The booklet "Finding
Balance: Utilizing Legal Assistants to Maximize
Your Firm's Efficiency and Profitability" shows
you how. The booklet can be downloaded in
PDF format, as an
electronic booklet, or in a
zipped file.
What Steps Can I Take
to Keep My Employees?
For most law offices, the
investment in human capital is the largest cost
item on the profit and loss statement. Once
you've made that investment, it makes sense to
protect it. The resources below have ideas
and tips that will show you how.
Keeping the Best: Legal Firms and Retention
This short article explains why employees
become dissatisfied, and what can be done to avoid
it.
Staff That Stays: Show Your Respect and Admiration
A former litigation paralegal offers tips on how
to make your professional staff feel valued and
respected.
Women and Mentoring A brief guide to
building mentoring relationships that encourage
the development of women in the legal profession.
Turn on the EMO: Your Practice Functions Better
With Emotional Intelligence This article
offers suggestions for dealing with office
conflict in emotionally charged situations.
How to Draft an Employee Handbook An overview that covers topics usually found in
employee handbooks, and problems to avoid with
employee handbooks.
How Can Technology
Improve My Practice?
Let's face it: this isn't
your grandfather's law firm. Technology is
part of today's law practice and if you don't
make use of it, you're at a competitive
disadvantage. Here are links to some great
sites that will get you
technology-fluent in a hurry.
ABA Legal
Technology Resource Center If you're in
a hurry and need a one-stop technology resource,
this is the place to go. There's something
here for everyone, from solos and small firms to
multinational megafirms.
Law Office Technology The ABA's
reference site for information on hardware,
software, and product comparisons. If you're
in the market for technology, don't buy before you
stop here.
Feasibility of the Digital Law Library
This article discusses a research project that
explored whether and how private law firms can make
use of digital law libraries. If you're
thinking of taking your library digital, this is a
worthwhile read.
Law
Technology News An American Lawyer Media
site, you must register (for free) to access most of
the information.
Law
Office Computing This is the online site
for what is probably the best law office technology
print publication on the market. Access to
some stuff on the site requires a subscription.
Outfront.Net
You need a web presence. This site is, far and
away, the best place to go to get started.
Site templates (reasonably priced), how-to articles,
an issues forum, and more give you everything you
need to get your practice on the web. HIGHLY
recommended.
