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!
i
Richmond, Douglas R. "Lawyer Liability For Aiding and Abetting Clients' Misconduct Under State Law."
Defense Counsel Journal , 03 2008.
ii(Richmond 2008)