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UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT CHATTANOOGA A Paralegals Role as Gatekeeper Assisting Attorneys and Clients from a Service Perspective John Essex hmk587 12/13/2010 A paralegal's rol e in working with an attorney is to be not only an advocate for clients, but to act so as to protect the a ttorney/firm's compliance requirements; to delineate what those areas are, and how compliance and pro fessi onalism can be preserved from a service point o f view.

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8/7/2019 University of tennessee at Chattanooga

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UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT CHATTANOOGA

A Paralegals Role as

GatekeeperAssisting Attorneys and Clients from a Service

Perspective

John Essex hmk587

12/13/2010

A paralegal's role in working with an attorney is to be not only an advocate for clients, but to actso as to protect the attorney/firm's compliance requirements; to delineate what those areas are,and how compliance and professionalism can be preserved from a service point of view.

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How is it that a paralegal can work as a gatekeeper, in other words, serve as an advocate

of both attorney and clients, while performing a security function? Clearly, a paralegal is more

than just someone just works in an office and has a typewriter or computer, answering phone

calls, looking up legal citations, filling out forms, making appointments, or answering questions.

Specialized training in the legal field demands more than secretarial skills. Being a paralegal

also requires a clear understanding of the attorney-client relationship and customer service skills.

This goes beyond our usual perception of receptionists, or office workers. A highly qualified,

talented paralegal has people skills in addition to legal skills. While not actually being an

attorney, an excellent paralegal is the front of the attorney-client relationship many times. This

requires a high level of people skills, which can help ³smoke out´ problems before they occur.

Given that a paralegal must have strong a command of computer, telephone, legal, and

documentation skills, the business relationship also requires recordkeeping, scheduling client

management, and managing the docketing calendar. These primary functions are mostly

mechanical in nature, and are the meat and bones of most law office procedures. In addition to

this, the highly qualified paralegal is able to conduct extensive legal research and have an

understanding of court procedures. Paralegals must also maintain communication with the

client, so the client feels informed, and be able to relay to the attorney any client concerns that

may or may not been previously addressed. This type of communication most definitely is a gate

keeping role, as most attorneys simply do not have the time to chat with their clients regularly

regarding their case.

What are some of the general areas of practice the paralegal encounters, which might be

regarded as gate keeping? Although paralegal may not be the initial contact person for clients

prior to establishing a relationship with an attorney, once the attorney-client relationship is

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established the attorney usually relies heavily on the paralegal's ability to manage the client¶s

interests. The paralegal should have clear understanding of what the client's motives in hiring the

attorney are. Clients expect attorneys to solve their problems, and a paralegal's performing the

functions necessary to satisfy the client¶s needs is one reason for their employment. Depending

upon the attorney, many aspects of the attorney-client relationship can be routine and not require

much thought on a paralegal's part.

Generally speaking, once the client signs on with an attorney it is the paralegal who has

the most contact with the client and develops the paperwork required for litigation. At this point

it is up the paralegal to maintain a quality relationship with the client and fulfill the attorney's

needs to prepare the documentation to be submitted to the court. This is where the paralegal

most definitely needs to create a quality relationship on behalf of the client to instill confidence

in the attorney-client relationship and achieve the goals of litigation. This is the customer service

aspect, which is so important in any business relationship; this is where the attorney begins to

earn his fees.

However, more complex issues may arise where the paralegal may need to develop an

instinctive ability to realize that problems may be arising, which absolutely must be brought to

the attorney's attention. Liability is always a concern, and legal issues may arise where an

attorney can act or fail to act with ethical considerations regarding the law. It should be already

well-known and understood that an attorney's primary duty is to his clients. Within the law,

however, there are many responsibilities beyond the attorney-client relationship, especially in

complex litigation. An attorney as an officer of the court has a duty based on justice to arrive at

the truth, not really just to ³win the case´. In this world, people often act with mixed motives,

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and sometimes even dishonest motives. The truth is that people can and do file legal actions

which if the realities of the facts were known, an attorney could lose his license to practice.

For instance, occasions arise, where clients are attempting to misuse the legal process to

their advantage at the expense of others. Very often it is the paralegal who can or should notice

discrepancies between what the client is telling their attorney, and the documentation that is

being produced. Court ordered sanctions, Bar Association discipline, and other negative results

can occur, where material misstatements or fraudulent evidence are being produced may end up

being a serious and ³fatal´ problem in litigation. These particular types of issues, if not carefully

addressed with diplomacy, are fraught with difficulty; a paralegal has an absolute duty to the

client and employing attorney to clarify the issues to prevent future difficulties without making

assumptions.

It's not well-known that attorneys often have duties to third parties besides their clients.

Let's take a look at an interesting article from the Defense Journal, by Douglas R. Richmond,

which discusses "Lawyer Liability For Aiding and Abetting Clients' Misconduct Under State

Law." (Richmond 2008).

³Absent contrary information, lawyers are entitled to assume that their clients are

behaving or operating lawfully. Lawyers should not be required to constantly question clients'

motives or to view their clients with distrust. On the other hand, courts generally recognize that

lawyers should not be able to invoke their professional status to escape liability for knowingly

and substantially assisting the tortious conduct of another.´i 

In this context, we discover that in fact attorneys have a duty as mentioned earlier, to

serve justice by arriving at the truth. What does this mean?

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It means clearly that not everything is what it seems. It means a paralegal is more than

just a note taker, more than the technician, more than a research assistant, more than someone

who answers the telephone. This is what makes a highly skilled paralegal professional

indispensable to an attorney. It means of your job can be exciting, challenging, interesting, and

demanding. Your attorney is responsible for your work, and using the best level of knowledge

you have available to you, your job is a lot more important than many think it is.

³THE DANGERS posed to lawyers and law firms by representing dishonest clients are

clear. Since 1986, there have been at least forty-five publicly-reported settlements by, or verdicts

against, law firms exceeding $20 million, thirty-four of which were attributable in whole or large

part to the firm's representation of a dishonest client.ii What does all this mean? It means that

you as a paralegal are an essential part of the legal team, not an insignificant cog in a machine.

Your job does require many things that resemble not just simply customer service, but also a

keen understanding of the law, people, and this system of justice which we work under.

While every day working in a law office is not going to be a chapter out of a John

Grisham novel, your job can be exciting, interesting, and challenging. You as paralegal will use

in your everyday performance a wide mix of skills which require managing many tasks: first and

foremost task of being the gatekeeper, and in many ways you are the face of the firm to the

client. There is a standard legal phrase used in almost every summons of service, which almost

seems trite: ³Herein, fail not.´ What you do does matter, and your job is extremely vital!

Richmond, Douglas R. "Lawyer Liability For Aiding and Abetting Clients' Misconduct Under State Law."

Defense Counsel Journal , 03 2008.

ii(Richmond 2008)