A Day in the Life of a Paralegal
It's difficult to give an overview of a typical day in the life of a paralegal because the work day will look different depending on the area of law in which the employee practices. A real estate paralegal will be asked to address different matters than a social security paralegal. However, despite the unique tasks associated with competing areas of the law, all paralegals will spend some time each day concentrating on the following tasks.
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Scheduling
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Paralegals are often in charge of maintaining the schedule of the attorney whom they support. Legal assistants will spend some time on the phone each day calling clients, lawyers, witnesses, experts, court personnel, court reporters and mediators in order to arrange interviews, meetings, depositions, hearings, mediations, arbitrations and trials.
These dates will be docketed onto a master calendar and then confirmed with everyone involved via pleading (a legal document that will be filed with the court), correspondence or email. If the matter needs to take place out of town, the paralegal will often also handle the travel arrangements for the people involved.
Evidence Gathering
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Legal assistants spend a good deal of time gathering and organizing information that supports the cases they are handling. Evidence gathering includes finding witness testimony on a police report, interviewing the witness and then preparing a memo summarizing his testimony. It is the responsibility of a paralegal to organize these documents into a fashion that makes them easy to retrieve and interpret.
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Document Preparation
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Many legal documents are "boilerplate," or standard formats that need some customization, and paralegals generally spend at least half of their day working on preparing them. This can include drafting correspondence and pleadings, such as complaints, interrogatories, subpoenas, requests for production of documents, pretrial orders, deposition notices and legal briefs.
Paralegals do not need to type as quickly as a secretary or word processor, but they do need to have a strong understanding of the documents they will be preparing, as well as experience in the legal procedure surrounding filing and serving these documents.
Case Building
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Case building is always going on, either directly or behind the scenes, in the work life of a legal assistant. While attorneys are in charge of planning and developing the larger strategy of an active case, paralegals are responsible for handling all of the details that make the strategy work. These details might include conducting legal research, interviewing witnesses or preparing medical history timelines. Strong organizational skills are necessary as the legal assistant focuses on the people and documents that support each matter.
Settllement Preparation
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Every case is headed towards settlement. Whether it is closed, dismissed, worked out in mediation or settled by a jury trial, each action unfolds and builds towards its eventual resolution. This can take days or years, depending on the complexity of the suit.
As a rule, paralegals will spend time each day preparing for settlement activities. They may be asked to create exhibits for trial, a notebook for mediation, draft demand letters with accompanying documentation or summarize medical records and depositions.
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