|
PARALEGALS GENERALLY
A legal assistant or paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience, who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible. ABA Standing Committee on Legal Assistants, 1997.
Excerpt from California Business and Professions Code § 6450(b)
[A] paralegal shall not do the following:
-
Provide legal advice;
-
Represent a client in court;
-
Select, explain, draft, or recommend the use of any legal document to or for any person other than the attorney who directs and supervises the paralegal;
-
Act as a runner or capper, as defined in Sections 6151 and 6152;
-
Engage in conduct that constitutes the unlawful practice of law;
-
Contract with, or be employed by, a natural person other than an attorney to perform paralegal services;
-
In connection with providing paralegal services, induce a person to make an investment, purchase a financial product or service, or enter a transaction from which income or profit, or both, purportedly may be derived; or
-
Establish the fees to charge a client for the services the paralegal performs, which shall be established by the attorney who supervises the paralegal's work.
For full discussion of the California Business and Professions Code § 6450 et seq., please click here. 2004-01-01_BPC_6450-6456.doc.
Are you interested in becoming a paralegal? To learn more about the educational requirements for California paralegals, please click here. SDPA Information-Compliance.pdf
On September 13, 2000, California Governor Gray Davis executed Assembly Bill 1761, establishing certain guidelines relevant to the paralegal profession. For a brief discussion of the most frequently asked questions concerning the bill, please click here. Brewer_FAQ.pdf
|
