Over the last few decades, the perception of what paralegals are, and what they can do, has changed significantly. They used to be regarded in the early days as legal secretaries, then simply as law graduates wanting to gain experience before going on to qualify as solicitors or barristers, even being described in some quarters as ‘cannon fodder’ for solicitors.
There is a growing trend towards employing paralegals, not only in law firms, but in industries outside of the legal sector in order to offer better value for their clients and to cut down on expenditure. Clearly, employing a paralegal rather than a solicitor is less costly for the business.
What is a Paralegal?
A paralegal is someone who has been trained and educated to perform legal tasks but who is not a qualified solicitor, barrister or chartered legal executive. Some have achieved competency by completing legal qualifications or by gaining experience or both, and most paralegals tend to specialise in just one or two areas of law. Generally, paralegals can do virtually anything that a solicitor can do with the exception being the ‘reserved legal activities’ as prescribed by Section 12 of The Legal Services Act 2007 (subject to amendments).
Paralegals are not statutorily regulated like solicitors, barristers, chartered legal executives and licensed conveyancers. This means that in theory, anyone can call themselves a ‘paralegal’, whereas an individual cannot describe themselves or even infer that they are a solicitor unless they have successfully completed the prescribed qualifications and training (prescribed by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA)) and their name is on the role of solicitors. To do so is a criminal offence.
Evolution of role of the professional paralegal
Many changes in the legal sector have taken place since NALP’s inception in 1987. Since the Legal Services Act 2007, those who can offer legal services has been extended to include Alternative Business Structures (ABS). As a consequence we have seen the emergence of organisations such as ‘Which? Legal Service’ and ‘Cooperative Legal Services’ that employ mostly paralegals to deal with certain types of business. These organisations offer legal assistance on a fixed fee basis which is beneficial for the end user of their services.
The most notable changes in relation to paralegals have occurred since the virtual eradication of Legal Aid some twelve years ago as a result of The Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 which came into force in 2013. This has contributed in no uncertain terms to the growth of the paralegal profession, not least because paralegals can offer access to justice at a reasonable cost when providing their services directly to consumers (in comparison to the fees charged by solicitors and barristers). Slowly but surely, paralegals are also contributing significantly to the sustainability of law firms and businesses.
Nowadays, there are recognised qualification pathways for school leavers and career changers to become professional paralegal practitioners as an active career choice.
Who regulates paralegals?
Paralegals are not statutorily regulated. Paralegals may be voluntarily regulated if they choose to join a membership organisation. If not, then there is no regulation and limited recourse for consumers, so it is important to always check a paralegal’s status before engaging them. Currently the government has no plans to enforce regulation of paralegals, although the issue was raised in the Mayson Report in 2020.1
The definite trend towards law firms employing paralegals, or using the services of external paralegal practitioners, in the last few years is due to a number of reasons which can be outlined as follows:
Financial viability
Since paralegal salaries are obviously less than that of a solicitor, it makes economic sense to employ paralegals wherever possible for jobs like legal research, document preparation, client communications, interviewing witnesses and dealing with the low- fee work such as attending small claims hearings and tribunal hearings. This releases solicitors to deal with the high-income work.
Outsourcing
Many paralegal practitioners who have a Licence to Practise, have set up their own paralegal businesses. Some specialise in providing services to solicitors firms. This can cut down on expenditure for the firm as they may only require the outsourcing for a particular project or case where they need extra personnel for a fixed period of time.
Bringing in freelance paralegals
If a paralegal is not operating as a firm, they may offer their services as a freelance individual paralegal charging by the hour, day, week or month or even on a fixed term contract. Again, , this is cost effective for any solicitor/firm that only requires the extra person for a fixed period of time. It also saves valuable financial resources because the burden of paying tax and National Insurance falls on the freelancer.
Benefits of Using Paralegals
Most paralegals practise in only one or two niche areas of law in which they specialise. Their knowledge can be invaluable. Most solicitors’ legal knowledge can be somewhat diluted if they are general practitioners dealing with many areas of law.
In the past, law firms used to employ school leavers to train them up as clerks in one or perhaps two specialist legal areas in order to assist their solicitor colleagues. Over time, these clerks were known as ‘managing clerks’ and they were revered by everyone in the firm because their supreme knowledge of their subject areas was so much greater than everyone else. Paralegals are reclaiming this space so it is important to recognise the contribution they make to the work of your firm by proactively and clearly thanking them and pointing out where they contributed. Everyone likes to feel noticed and valued, so ensure our paralegals are not forgotten in favour of the more highly qualified colleagues.
Conclusion
The paralegal profession is here to stay as the fourth arm of the legal profession, and despite discussions about statutorily regulating paralegals in some form (The Mayson Report 2020) this has not so far been followed up. Whether or not it is a good thing to keep the profession unregulated is a matter of opinion. But whatever the future of paralegal regulation looks like, it is important to help paralegals keep their own costs down so that they can continue to provide access to justice at a reasonable cost.
