Paralegal Duties
Paralegal duties differ from one position to the next. While the majority of paralegals work at a law firm, there are other paralegals who work for non-profits, corporations, and governmental agencies. Depending on where a paralegal works affects his or her duties as well.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that about 71% of paralegals work at private law firms. Law is divided into four general types, these include litigation, real estate, probate, and corporate or business law. Each of these four general categories can be divided even further into sub-categories. The duties of a paralegal are not mutually exclusive to that area of law, and some administrative tasks and researching duties will be similar regardless of the area of law. Understanding the duties of a paralegal within each area of law will give you an better idea of your potential job responsibilities and may help you to decide what area of law interests you the most.
Please note that these lists are only a fraction of what a paralegal may be required to do at any particular law firm. These lists are only meant to give you a general idea of what type of work a paralegal does in the different arenas of law.
Litigation Law
A litigation case can be a long and lengthy process. The litigation process can be broken down into different stages, including: discovery, pretrial, trial, posttrial, and settlement. Within each of these stages there are duties that must be performed to move the case along to its conclusion. Some of these duties will be the responsibility of the attorney and others will fall within the duties of paralegals. Every case if different and each one requires a different approach.
Aside from the processes of litigation law, there are several sub-specialties that fall under litigation, these include family law, criminal law, product liability, health care law, medical malpractice, bankruptcy, and many others. A law firm may choose to focus on a specific sub-specialty rather than offer services for all types of litigation.
Probate Law
Probate law involves a lot of different aspects of law including wills, property transfers, asset verification, and a lot of other duties that will revolve around the estates of people and families. The laws change frequently for probate and differ from state to state.
Find out more about probate law paralegal duties.
Real Estate Law
Real estate law includes both residential real estate and commercial real estate, environmental law, condominium law, and other related legal disputes that may arise in development, eminent domain, and other areas of real estate. Duties will range from drafting and reviewing contracts, developing construction agreements, reviewing real estate legalities, and more. A background in real estate may be helpful if you choose to specialize as a real estate paralegal.
Find out more about real estate law paralegal duties.
Corporate or Business Law
Corporate and business law has a plethora of sub-specialties. While some larger firms may encompass all of corporate law, many firms and individual practitioners choose to specialize in a sub-specialty. Sub-specialties of corporate law include banking, copyrights, patents, entertainment, securities, and a host of other sub-specialties underneath the corporate law umbrella. If your law firm chooses to specialize in a sub-specialty, then your specific duties will be different than those of other corporate paralegals. Understanding the processes and detail of your specialty will give you a better idea of what your paralegal duties will be.
For instance, if you work in entertainment law, then you will likely perform duties concerning talent agreements, options agreements, distribution contracts, music contract negotiations, and other specialized duties pertaining to those working and doing business in the entertainment industry. Whereas a patent law paralegal may work with research patents, drafting patent applications, and other patent-related duties. A patent law paralegal will likely not have similar duties to that of an entertainment law paralegal, and vice versa.
Find out more about corporate paralegal duties.