Reducing Attorney Fees Through The Use Of Paralegals

When attorneys want to keep fees low enough to remain a competitive member of the law community, they employ professional paralegals to help them with their practice. The amount and type of tasks delegated to the paralegal all depends on the skill and experience of the paralegal as well as the level of trust in the attorney-paralegal relationship.

There is an underlying understanding that paralegals can do everything attorneys can do except set fees, appear in court, and give legal advice. The invisible line is how much an attorney lets a paralegal participate in as to not get the paralegal entangled if there ever is a malpractice suit.

The courts recognize that attorneys cannot handle everything by themselves so they must have employees to help them out with research, paperwork, court documents, and many other aspects of the legal system. Usually the attorney will take responsibility for everything the paralegal does since they should be supervising and reviewing all the material that comes from the paralegal. Sometimes things get botched but not very often. it comes down to the attorney themselves who are legally responsible for their clients work.

Clients may sometimes get upset if they hire an attorney but only receive the work that a paralegal has done in place of the attorney. This doesn't translate to actual court representation but can cause some strife between client and attorney.

The paralegal typically meets with clients and conducts preliminary interviews before the client ever sees the attorney. Many times, the client won't need the actual attorney's help at all. By meeting with the paralegal first, the clients can save a lot of money in the long run as they usually have set fees as opposed to the attorneys hourly charges.

Paralegals and attorneys go hand in hand in the legal system. Attorneys are expected to be in the courtroom often and while they are there, the paralegal can assist them or stay behind to work on other cases that need attention. Attorneys would be very stressed and have an enormous workload if it weren't for the help of paralegals. This also helps reduce costs for the clients. Imagine if you had to pay $300 an hour for an attorney when it might take them 2 days for a large case just filing paperwork or looking up prior judicial rulings. That would cost a fortune and the average person would have to represent themselves. Paralegals not only help the attorney, they help the overall functioning and pricing of all aspects of the legal system.