Rationale
Basic Premises
1. The “practice of law.” What is it all about?
The practice of law is to do any of those acts which are characteristics of the legal profession. It embraces any activity, in or out of court, which requires the application of law, legal principle, practice or procedure and calls for knowledge, training and experience.[Cayetano v. Monsod, 201 SCRA 210].
It likewise involves the carrying on of the calling of an attorney, usually for gain, acting in a representative capacity and rendering service to another.
The practice of law implies customarily or habitually holding one’s self to the public, as a lawyer, for compensation as a source of livelihood or in consideration of his services. [People v. Villanueva, 14 SCRA 109 (1965)].
2. A legal matter can be broken into separate tasks. Each task
need not be done by the same person.
The American Bar Association appropriately recommended that the legal profession should recognize that there are many tasks in serving a client’s needs which can be performed by a trained non-lawyer assistant working under the direction and supervision of a lawyer.
3. Not all of the individual tasks involved in handling a client’s case require a lawyer to do them.
Actually, most of what a lawyer does everyday was not learned in law school. Instead, it was learned on the job. Certainly, there are others in society who possess the aptitude to do some parts of the work.
4. Freeing the lawyer from tedious and routine details would conserve the lawyer’s time and energy for truly legal issues, thereby improving the quality of his service to his client and, ultimately, the dispensation of justice.
When paralegals perform specifically delegated and supervised legally substantive work, lawyers are able to concentrate on more complex legal work. There would be no reasons for delay in filing responsive pleadings or communications with the court.
a. Definition and Qualifications
1. Definition of a paralegal in the U.S. context
The American Bar Association defines paralegal as a “person qualified through education, training, or work experience, who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, government agency, or other entity in a capacity or function which involves the performance, under the ultimate direction and supervision of an attorney, of specifically designated substantive legal work, which work, for the most part, requires a sufficient knowledge of legal concepts that, in the absence of such assistant, the attorney would perform the task.” [People v. Villanueva, 14 SCRA 109].
The National Association of Legal Assistants [of the U.S.] defines legal assistants, also known as paralegals, as persons who assist attorneys in the delivery of legal services. They are qualified through formal education, training and experience, and work under the supervision of licensed attorneys.
Another definition of a paralegal is “a person qualified through education, training or work experience, to perform substantive legal work that requires knowledge of legal concepts and is customarily, but not exclusively, performed by a lawyer. This person may be trained or employed by a lawyer, law office, governmental agency, or other entity or may be authorized by administrative, statutory or court authority to perform this work.” [As defined by the National Federation of Paralegal Associations]
Historically, paralegals have been referred to as paralegals or legal assistants depending upon their geographical location or employer’s preference; the terms are synonymous and used interchangeably. In November 1995, the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) in the U.S. adopted the term “Paralegal” as the preferred term for the profession. NFPA members identified several recent trends in the paralegal profession including court decisions awarding higher fees to attorneys employing persons called paralegals instead of legal assistants, the ABA Commission on Non-Lawyer Practice’s latest report using paralegal almost exclusively, and several paralegal associations changing their names from legal assistant to paralegal.
2. Types of paralegals
Paralegals may be classified into two groups: (1) the traditional and (2) the independent paralegals.
Traditional paralegals provide services with supervision of or accountability to an attorney. Traditional paralegals are subdivided into:
- Employed: employed, full- or part-time, by an attorney, law firm, corporation, governmental agency, or other legal entity.
- Contract, also known as freelance: retained by an attorney or legal entity to perform paralegal work on a case-to-case basis; usually possesses many years of paralegal experience or specialized expertise; and
- Temporary: employed by an attorney through a temporary placement agency.
Independent paralegals, on the other hand, provide services to consumers in regard to a process in which law is involved and for whose work no lawyer is accountable. Independent paralegals are of two kinds:
- Special Advocate – authorized by the court to participate in court proceedings involving specified classes of parties or cases; and
- Agency Representative – authorized by statute or agency rule to represent clients in agency proceedings. [Kligerman].
For the present, under existing laws and rules, paralegal practice in the Philippines is limited to traditional paralegals only.
b. Scope of the paralegal’s functions
The American Bar Association’s Special Committee on Legal Assistants provides a useful summary statement of the role of paralegals, to wit:
“Under the supervision and direction of the lawyer, the paralegal should be able to apply knowledge of law and legal procedures in rendering direct assistance to lawyers engaged in legal research; design, develop or plan modifications of new procedures, techniques, services, processes or applications; prepare or interpret legal documents and write detailed procedures for practicing in certain fields of law; select, compile and use technical information from such references as digests, encyclopedias or practice manuals; and analyze and follow procedural problems that involve independent decisions.”
Paralegals work directly under the supervision of lawyers. Although the lawyers assume responsibility for the legal work, they often delegate to paralegals many of the tasks they perform as lawyers. Paralegals are prohibited from setting legal fees, giving legal advice for a fee, or presenting a case in court unless they are representing themselves. [This is the strict norm under which the paralegals of the PSB work and perform legal tasks.]
c. The paralegal’s role and place in the administration of justice
It has been said that a great failure of the legal system in society is that it has been unable to deliver legal services to many in need of them at a reasonable price. Thus, delivery of services must be made more economical, and the money to pay for services must be made available to those who are unable to afford them at any price.
Paralegals find significance in that they help in the delivery of legal services in a more economic fashion. They can contribute to increasing the cost-efficient delivery of legal services.
In the United States, paralegals have received recognition of the profession as an integral partner in the delivery of legal services.
While paralegals perform specifically delegated and supervised legally substantive work, attorneys are able to concentrate on more complex legal work. Productivity is increased and cost efficiency maximized through the utilization of paralegal services.
In the final analysis, attorneys save their clients money through the utilization of paralegal services.
Two possibilities follow:
- If attorneys understand the nature of education that qualifies paralegals to perform legally substantive tasks, attorneys can delegate more challenging tasks and increased responsibility to paralegals; and
- If attorneys understand the complex level of legal work paralegals are capable of performing, attorneys can utilize paralegal services better and recognize paralegals as respected members of the legal team.
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