The Empowered Paralegal

The KNOW: The Magazine for Paralegals LinkedIn discussion forum includes a post by Kathy DiLorenzo,  Vice President, Business Development at MyLegal.com, entitled “Why it’s Important to Write Right in the Legal Profession” with a link to an article ”Why it’s Important to Write Right in the Legal Profession – And 5 Common Writing Pitfalls to Avoid” by Brenda Bernstein.

Several posts here discuss how important it is for a professional paralegal to write correctly – using proper grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and the like. There is an category cataloguing the “Consequences of Sloppiness.” However, I do not give instruction on how to write correctly in this blog. Instead I have counted on Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips Check out both the website and the podcasts. Both have been quite helpful to those of my students who spend even a small amount of time with either of them.

This is my first experience with Barbara’s advice, but in this article she does address some of the most common problems I experience when reading student work and legal documents produced be some very good law offices:

Past or Present – use of the wrong verb tense
Example or Complete List – use of “i.e.” and “e.g.”
Law or Liberty – confusing statute with statue
Proper Punctuation: Periods and Commas Inside Quotation Marks
Proper Punctuation: Apostrophes

Barbara presents this addition to the Consequences of Sloppiness:

In a famous case in England, a traffic ticket was thrown out because it was issued for illegal “stoping” instead of “stopping”; the alleged perpetrator had conducted no mining activities (“stoping” is a mining term) and so was found not guilty. I bet that police officer never issued another “stoping” ticket.

Barbara also offers to help:

There are multiple ways to make writing errors in legal documents, and I have only covered a few. My most important advice is to proofread and proofread again! Get a second pair of eyes to check your work. If you have grammar questions you want answered, I will answer them to the best of my ability in the comments section of this blog. I look forward to hearing from you…

I suggest we all take her up on her offer. I know I will.

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The Paralegal Todaydiscussion forum has an thread started by a post entitled, “Not to beat a dead horse, but….” Here’s the gist of the post that started it:

Sad to say I had a conversation with one of the lawyers I work for and he said “don’t get caught up in titles, you are no different than the administrative assistants”. What do you think I should do? …

Now, please do not get me wrong, I think admins are marvelous  but I have a 4 year Bachelors, an Associates and a certificate as a paralegal. …

I am so discouraged. I was hired as a paralegal (I specifically mentioned how important that was to me) I do excellent work and don’t understand why there is still this attitude. I have worked so hard for respect and to create a niche where I add value.

Normally, I’d go into a long comment on this topic, since it is really what The Empowered Paralegal is all about, but on this one I’ll let some of the comments on the thread do the talking:

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NFPA has announce its annual scholarship essay contest. I’m including the notice here in full partly to spread the word, but mostly because I think the topic of the essay is of significance to the paralegal profession:

NFPA offers two scholarship annually, sponsored by Thomson-Reuters, in the amounts of $3,000 and $2,000. The scholarships are available to students currently enrolled in a paralegal program.

The subject of this year’s essay is:

Pro bono providers, such as lawyers/bar associations in many states do not include paralegals and/or paralegal students in pro bono projects. Although these providers do solicit lawyers to participate, the request does not include non-lawyers. How would you encourage pro bono providers to utilize paralegals and paralegal students to assist in providing pro bono services to those in need?

Further information on the scholarship program is available at www.paralegals.org.

Applicants are not required to be members of NFPA or its member organization, although we encourage membership for all paralegals and those interested in our profession.
Posted By Theresa Prater

It should be noted that there are examples of paralegals and paralegal students assisting in pro bono service projects. In a recent post I discussed paralegal students participating in a guardianship project supervised by attorneys from the local bar association. Another post concerned the Safe Horizon Domestic Violence Law Project in New York. When I have time to search I’m sure there are several others.

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A few weeks ago I did a post on civility in the legal profession forums being held in Canada based on my wandering around the Paralegal Society of Ontario’s website and my attention being  caught by a link for the “Civility Forum Tour.”  This was of interest to a great degree because of my recent post regarding civility on paralegal discussion forums. The newest issues of The Paralegal Mentor’s newsletter references a story in the Lawyers Weekly – Candada reporting on one such forum. The article is worth the read for its discussion of civility, but also for another quote by Richard Lammers, V.P. Paralegal Society of Ontario who I quoted in the original post:

‘I got a great insight into how the profession treats one another,’ said Richard Lammers, vice president of the Paralegal Society of Ontario, who attended the meeting in Windsor, Ont. last December.

‘Before paralegals were members of the society, we didn’t have much contact or insight into what was going on in the profession,’ Lammers added.

This emphasizes a point made in a post regarding Lynne DeVenny at Practical Paralegalism noting that the Tulsa County Bar Association now allows paralegals who meet the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Minimum Qualification Standards for Legal Assistant/Paralegal to become associate members of the association. As I said there, “ The bar as all to often neglected to recognize not only the importance of paralegals, but the fact that paralegals are, like the lawyers themselves, part of the legal profession. Opening the bar association to paralegals allows the attorneys and paralegals who must work together as a legal team in the law office to associate together as the professionals they are.” Mr. Lammer’s comment  suggests that such association may very well lead to insight on the part of both paralegals and attorneys regarding the other half of the legal profession.

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The NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan reports on the graduation of the first ever paralegal class from the temporary legal training school. Introducing the paralegal concept to Afghanistan is a wonderful development. I am a bit concerned though about what is considered parlegal training – two weeks of training, 27 hours of which is in literacy. However, it all has to viewed in context, I suppose.

One aspect of the story I particularly liked was this:

The students were excited by their training and eager to learn more. On the last day of class, one student asked what he could do to ensure his supervisors knew about the training he had received. The instructor responded by saying, “show them what you can do.”

As an educator I’m always pleased when the result of education is that the students are eager to learn more. But more important is the instructor’s direction to this student, which is the same as I give to paralegals seeking more responsibility and respect from their attorneys: Show them what you can do.  As discussed here several times, attorneys often suffer from misunderstanding regarding the role of their own paralegals and what their paralegals can do.

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One of the best ways for the legal profession to change it’s image is through public recognition of its members who do good and do it well. CapitalCityWeekly reports on a paralegal who received much deserved recognition:

Sitkan honored for work on domestic violence

SITKA – Elisabeth Schafer, paralegal in the Sitka District Attorney’s Office, has been chosen as “Woman of the Year” by the board of Sitkans Against Family Violence. The award recognizes dedication and service to women and children in the community.

“My work with victims of domestic violence is the most satisfying part of my job,” said Schafer, who has worked as a paralegal in Sitka since 2002. “I know that sometimes I am the first person to whom a victim can safely express herself after years of emotional and physical abuse. It’s gratifying to see former victims in the community looking healthy, happy and safe.”

In addition to her paralegal work, Schafer is a member of Sitka’s Domestic Violence Task Force. She has three adult children and two grandchildren. The “Woman of the Year” award will be presented at a dinner on April 17 in Sitka.

Congratulations, Elizabeth! Your work and your professionalism help not only the victims of domestic violence, but the paralegal profession.

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Our local paper (yes print media still exists) carries this ad:

Law firm seeks paralegal that can handle additional secretary and receptionist duties. Ideal candidate will have ability to organziae, prioritize and complete tasks under time constraints. Must be multi-tasked oriented and able to work in a fact paced envrionment. Excellent writing, verbal and communication skills. Professionalism is a must.

Of course, this ad interests me because it confirms my contentions that (1) those paralegal who demonstrate professionalism with control the market, and (2) professionalism is more than a set of skills. Thus, the empowered paralegal is one who is effective, efficient and professional.

This leads to the real challenge – determining just what professionalism is. In some ways it is like art and pornography – you can’t define it, but you know it when you see it. In this blog and in my book I attempt to shed some light on its primary ingredients.  It is, quite clearly, more than simply a manner of dress. I frequently point out to students that the very phrase “I dressed like a professional” implies that there is something more to professionalism than a good suit, clean hands, and a haircut. If one can “dress like a professional” and still not be professional, then dress alone does not make a professional.

As discussed in The Empowered Paralegal and throughout this blog, the ingredients of professionalism include reliability, trustworthiness, work ethic, honesty, attitude, self-reflection, standards, personal integrity, the ability to think ahead, and inter-personal skills especially in dealing with clients and attorneys.

Initial results of the Professionalism Anthology are encouraging and I hope that publication will ultimately lead to a better understanding of professionalism in the paralegal profession. In the meantime I will contact the firm that place this ad to see what it means by “Professionalism is a must.”

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At least I think Kwabre is in Ghana. This is an interesting report on a new paralegal association in Kwabre. I have not come close to finishing my studies of the paralegal profession in England, France, and Ontario, so I won’t be able to follow up on this soon, but it appears that”paralegal” and “paralegal association” in Ghana mean something different than they do here, or at least there are differences in their functions. If anyone knows more, I’d appreciate hearing from you. However, it does appear that, in one way or another, paralegals are integral to providing access to justice in every country where they practice:

Mamponteng (Ash), March 1, GNA – A 26-member paralegal association has been inaugurated at Mamponteng in the Kwabre District, with a call on the members to promote and safeguard the rights and freedoms of women and children.

Ms Eudora Oppong, Ashanti Regional Administrator of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), who made the call, said women and children were the most vulnerable in society and needed to be protected.

“They are often cut off from decision-making as a result of discriminatory practices in customary law, marriage, divorce and inheritance,” she said. Miss Oppong blamed this on inadequate regional and district law courts, the slow process of adjudication of cases in the courts and the low socio-economic status of women, which tend to limit their ability to afford legal services.

FIDA has drawn up elaborate programmes including the provision of legal services to women and children, and the formation of paralegal associations in the local communities to address the problem. Ms Oppong said the Association had succeeded in securing the rights of many women and children through mediation and arbitration

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The Lake County News-Sun reports on a “Guardianship Help Desk” set up by the Lake County Bar Association:

“It’s to help assist these people going through the process and making the court process more efficient,” Rochford said.

Staffed by volunteer bar association attorneys and paralegal student volunteers from the College of Lake County, assistance is provided for people petitioning the court for guardianship of a minor child. The free service is for people establishing a legal relationship with a child not their own to make decisions about the child’s education, health and welfare, Rochford said.

Many people were involved in making the project work.

Circuit Judge Diane Winter, who presides over Probate Court, said many people coming into her courtroom often had incomplete or incorrectly completed paperwork, forcing the judge to assist with the paperwork.

“This was all very time-consuming for me to get these cases into court. I was only able to hear a few cases in a few hours. Now we can serve more litigates,” Winter said.

She said the help desk makes the system more efficient. Rochford said many people were frustrated with the system and previously had to come to court multiple times due to paperwork issues.

The help desk was in planning for about a year and involved cooperation by many, including county clerks and administrators, the bar association, the sheriff’s office and College of Lake County students, Winter and Rochford said.

But, of course, I am focusing on the paralegal students. I generally promote and encourage this kind of volunteering anyway, but this one is of particular interest because it demonstrates how access to justice can be improved through wise utilization of paralegals. Since each attorney can supervise several well-trained paralegal, more people gain access.

Paralegal assistants from the college received special training last fall so they work on the help desk, said Gayle Miller, CLC’s department chair of paralegal studies.

Nearly 30 students signed up, and about 20 attorneys have registered to supervise, Miller said. Because paralegals are not qualified to offer legal advice, Miller said there is always a supervising attorney at the help desk.

This project also provides a networking opportunity and experience for the students, as well as good exposure to the public. Those helped by the project, at least, will have a better understanding of the role of a paralegal as part of the legal profession.

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Several posts here have discussed the duty an attorney owes ethically to supervise paralegals working with that attorney. In one post, I argued it is a duty owed not only to the public, but to the paralegal. Today’s Boston Globe reports that failure to supervise a paralegal has jeopardized the license a prominent Boston attorney:

Stephen B. Hrones, the well-known 68-year-old Boston criminal defense lawyer, is heading to the state’s highest court to fight to keep his law license, accused of letting a paralegal in his office pass himself off as a lawyer in the firm’s employment discrimination practice.

The state Board of Bar Overseers recommended in October that Hrones’s license be suspended for a year and a day for the alleged misconduct. The Supreme Judicial Court plans to hear appeals in May from Hrones, who says he deserves no suspension, and from the state’s bar counsel, which had recommended a two-year suspension.

Hrones denies much, but admits he did not provide adequate supervision:

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