One of the primary issues in paralegal studies is the mismatch of paralegals’ responsibilities and input to their appreciation. There are many complicated ethical issues and considerations in paralegal’s functions. Paralegals face a wide range of ethical dilemmas in their job, many of which can directly influence outcomes and affect their reputation. Therefore, a paralegal’s functions include many responsibilities such as maintaining confidentiality to protect clients’ privacy and avoiding giving legal advice due to its character of unauthorized practice of law. Furthermore, paralegals’ work is complicated by time pressure, which causes stress and long working hours. Thus, while paralegals directly influence the outcomes of the case, the paralegal’s work is often overlooked. In addition, despite the significant input of paralegals in work and the potential for almost independent operation, lawyers are responsible for paralegals’ work. Therefore, even though paralegals put significant effort and have a wide range of responsibilities, their legal independence is equated to ordinary staff. Thus, while paralegals’ work is acknowledged as “quality legal services” and paralegals are subjected to high standards, their work is underappreciated and they still fall under lawyer’s responsibility (Balkenbush, 2018). In my opinion, while lawyers should be held accountable for the work’ it is necessary to define paralegals’ input in work. The proposal targets the public interested in paralegal studies and people who work as paralegals. Lastly, as an objection, the audience might raise contrary offers such as a decrease in the functions or lower requirements for paralegals.
Next, the second topic focuses on a similar issue of supervision aspect in paralegals’ work. Supervision presents an important factor for paralegals’ assistance for attorneys. However, many lawyers exploit paralegals’ labor by giving their work without adequate supervision or directions. Thus, combined with a lack of career opportunities and upward mobility, insufficient support, and supervision results in increased amounts of pressure on paralegals’ mental health and burnout (Kern, 2021). Different viewpoints on supervision in paralegals’ work include the opinion that supervision is a key factor in a paralegal’s successful functioning. On the other hand, some lawyers can deliberately delegate their functions and tasks to paralegals for cost efficiency (Boe, 2021). In my opinion, it is important to introduce mandatory thresholds to paralegals’ work to ensure that their functioning is supervised and avoid work overloads. The limitations will convey to lawyers the idea that by delegating responsibilities and allowing unsupervised law practice, they risk their reputations and harm clients’ rights. While profits present a substantial component of functioning for lawyers, there should be other methods for generating additional profits which will not cause pressure on paralegals’ mental stability. This proposal targets attorneys and lawyers interested in increasing their efficiency through the help of paralegals and wish to explore all aspects of paralegals’ unsupervised functioning. The audience is likely to express objection to limitations as they may interfere with current paralegals’ functioning, but ultimately, the changes should improve working conditions for paralegals.
In conclusion, after defining primary points in both proposals, I am leaning towards the second proposal focused on supervision and delegation in paralegals’ work because the topic is more relevant to the modern conditions. The broad implementation of remote job positions after the COVID-19 pandemic caused a rise in new in paralegal jobs, such as remote virtual paralegal. Exploring the topic of supervision and delegation in paralegal’s functioning from the point of remote job conditions can add strengths to the topic’s discussion. The research is likely to encounter a lack of available statistical data on supervision in paralegal’s assistance. However, a substantial factual base will allow asking the audience whether business-like cost-efficient optimization is compatible with risks in the legal field.
References
Balkenbush, J. (2018). Attorneys are responsible for actions of all employees. The Oklahoma Bar Journal, 89(32), 24-26.
Boe, M. (2021). Why lawyers should learn to delegate tasks. Next Chapter.
Kern, J. (2021). How to find a way out of paralegal burnout. Clio.