Specific Legal Tasks Performed by the Bureau
1. Background
The paralegal system is not a new idea in the Philippines. As far back as can be remembered, the bigger law firms have been hiring paralegals or non-lawyer legal assistants not only to minimize personal expenses but also to afford these law firms the opportunity to lighten the workload of their partners and assistants who are full-fledged lawyers, as well as that of the law firm itself. The problem, however, is that there is no way these law firms can quantify (put value to) the legal skills and knowledge of the paralegals and there is no assurance that what they are required to do can meet the law firm’s or the profession’s standards.
What makes the Bureau’s paralegal services different is that the Bureau pools and organizes qualified graduates of paralegal and legal management courses and third- and fourth-year law students who have complied with standards prescribed by the Institute and, eventually, qualified graduates of the paralegal program of the Institute under the wing of Arellano University, and makes them readily available to perform specific legal tasks, under the supervision of competent full-fledged lawyers, at very reasonable rates for and in behalf of:
- law firms,
- independent law practitioners with established law offices,
- legal departments of public (government) offices and agencies, and
- legal departments of business and nonprofit corporations and entities.
2. Special Legal Tasks Performed by the Bureau
While paralegal tasks embrace practically all aspects of legal activities and tasks, the Bureau limits itself to legal services directly related to the advocacy of cases before the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and to legal services ordinarily performed by attorneys in the private practice of law, as indicated below, with concentration or special focus on the following services:
- Case Briefing and Analysis: evaluation of the evidence, the applicable provisions of law and jurisprudence.
- Identification of, and shepardized research on, the applicable provisions of law, (subsisting) rulings of the Supreme Court, comments of legal authorities, etc. applicable to a given set of facts, with specific instructions of the client as to:
- Limitation of coverage to a specified period.
- Reproduction of the texts of SC court decision, whether in their entirety or merely relevant portions thereof.
- Others.
- Legal Analysis of a Statute or a Decision of the Supreme Court.
- Drafting of Position Papers and Major Court Pleadings, such as argumentative memoranda, motions for reconsideration and for new trial; motions arguing a crucial point of fact or of law; demurrer to evidence; appeals under Rule 43, 44 and 45 of the Rules of Court; appeal briefs, petitions for review, for declaratory relief, for certiorari, for prohibition, and for mandamus; quo warranto pleadings under Rule 66 of the Rules of Court; pleadings under Provisional Remedies and Special Proceedings, etc.
- Interview of end-clients and witnesses and the reduction of their narration of facts or statements in writing or into affidavits, as the case may be. **
- Determination of which documents, papers, records, etc. are necessary to support a particular case.
- Verification and obtainment of certified copies of documents identified by a client as having a bearing on the case on file with a government agency or office or with a corporate institution/office whose records may be accessed by the public, and their evaluation as to their probative value. **
- Summarization and organization of court records, pleadings, TSNs, etc., in cases, where the law firm-client or the Bureau enters the case in mid-stream or on appeal. (No evaluation). **
- Examination/scrutiny of documents submitted by the client, which may be used as evidence and their summarization/classification, and their evaluation.
- Evaluation of the value of the entire body of evidence with respect to the client-law office’s theory of the case. (Case briefing).
- Registration of mortgages and land titles subject of a sale, assignment, donation or settlement and supporting documents, including obtainment of the necessary tax and other clearances.
- Registration of patents, copyrights.**
- Registration of corporations, association and partnership papers.
- Drafting of such pleadings on the basis of a given set of facts, such as the following:
- Petitions/Complaints
- Answers
- Important Motions
- Pre-trial Briefs
- Drafting of memoranda (summation and argumentations with respect to the case as a whole or to any issue raised during the proceedings of the case), appeal briefs, and position papers on any constitutional/legal substantive and procedural issue.
- Drafting of major contracts or memoranda of agreement.
- Notarization of documents.
- Assistance during trials on hearings (within Metro Manila only). **
** Temporarily on hold.
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