Paralegal Career For Dummies®
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2006926125
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-79956-6
ISBN-10: 0-471-79956-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Scott and Lisa Hatch have prepared students for careers in the legal field for over 25 years. While in law school in the late ’70s, Scott Hatch taught LSAT preparation courses throughout Southern California to pay for his education. After graduation, he went out on his own and, at the urging of one of his students, added paralegal courses to his course offerings. Using materials he developed himself, he then prepared thousands of eager career seekers to work as paralegals, legal nurse consultants, legal secretaries, legal investigators, mediators, and victim advocates.
Scott and Lisa kindled their romance in the classroom. Lisa took one of Scott’s LSAT preparation courses at the University of Colorado and improved her love life as well as her LSAT score. Lisa’s love for instructing and writing allowed her to fit right in with Scott’s lifestyle, teaching courses and preparing course materials. They married shortly thereafter.
Since then, Scott and Lisa have taught students worldwide. Currently, over 300 universities and colleges offer their courses through live lectures, correspondence, and online, and Scott and Lisa have written the curriculum for all formats. The company they have built together, The Center for Legal Studies, provides courses for those who desire careers in the field of law (including paralegals, legal secretaries, legal investigators, victim advocates, and legal nurse consultants) and who need preparation for the gamut of standardized tests.
Scott has presented standardized test and legal career courses since 1980. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado and his Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law. He’s listed in Who’s Who in California and Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, and he was named one of the Outstanding Young Men of America by the United States Jaycees. He was a contributing editor to The Judicial Profiler and the Colorado Law Annotated series and has served as editor of several award winning publications.
Lisa has been teaching legal certificate and standardized test courses since 1987. She graduated with honors in English from the University of Puget Sound, and received her master’s degree from California State University. She and Scott have co-authored numerous law and standardized test texts, including Paralegal Procedures and Practices; A Paralegal Primer; and SAT II U.S. History For Dummies, SAT II Biology For Dummies, and SAT II Math For Dummies (Wiley).
We dedicate our For Dummies series books to Alison, Andrew, Zachary, and Zoe Hatch. Rather than file missing persons reports on their parents with local law enforcement agencies, they demonstrated extreme patience, understanding, and assistance while we wrote this book.
This book wouldn’t have been possible without the extensive research and writing contributions of Martin Rollins, JD, and David Newland, JD. Their efforts greatly enhanced our information gathering, and we’re deeply grateful to them.
We also need to acknowledge the input of the thousands of paralegal, legal secretary, legal investigator, and legal nurse consultant students who’ve completed our law career certificate courses over the last 25 years. The classroom and online contributions offered by these dedicated learners have provided us with lots of input about what prospective paralegals want and need to know most.
The editing professionals at Wiley Publishing greatly facilitated our writing process. Our thanks go out to Elizabeth Kuball for her support and attention to detail, Peggy Kirk for her insights into the paralegal career, and Tracy Boggier for initiating us to the process and being available whenever we had questions.
Finally, we want to acknowledge our literary agent, Margo Maley Hutchinson, at Waterside Productions in Cardiff for introducing us to the innovative For Dummies series.
Wiley Publishing has to be commended for its pioneering efforts to make finding out about new careers fun. We thrive on positive reinforcement and feedback from our students and encourage our readers to provide comments and critiques at feedback@legalstudies.com.
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
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Title
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I : A Snapshot of the Exciting and Lucrative Paralegal Profession
Chapter 1: Discovering the Paralegal Profession
Almost a Lawyer: What a Paralegal Does
On the Job: Where Paralegals Work
What It Takes: The Skills, Knowledge, and Training You Need
Chapter 2: Membership Has Its Privileges: Paralegal Associations and Their Certification Exams
To Join or Not to Join
Deciding Whether to Get Certified
Chapter 3: The Hunt Is On: Securing a Paralegal Position
Finding the Perfect Job
Creating the Documentation
Setting Up Shop: Starting a Freelance Paralegal Business
Part II : Important Legal Concepts Every Paralegal Should Know
Chapter 4: “All Rise”: The American Judicial System
Everything Old Is New Again: The Importance of Legal Precedence
Checks and Balances: Branches of U.S. Government
Playing Fair: Levels of the U.S. Judicial System
Judge and Jury: The U.S. Jury System
Chapter 5: The Big Three: Categories of Law
Cutting Through the Red Tape: Administrative Law
Eliminating Any Reasonable Doubt: The Nature of Criminal Law
Maintaining Polite Society: Civil Law
Chapter 6: Taking a Case to Trial: The Litigation Process
Constructing the Criminal Case
Carrying Through a Civil Case
Chapter 7: How It’s Done: Important Rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence
Distinguishing Between Procedural Law and Substantive Law
Following the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Sticking to State Procedural Rules
Figuring Out the Federal Rules of Evidence
Chapter 8: Because I Said So: The Categories of Legal Authority
Déjà Vu All Over Again: Review of Stare Decisis
Who’s the Boss? The Premises of Primary and Secondary Authority
Applying the Law: Mandatory and Persuasive Authority
Helpful But You Can’t Rely On It: Nonauthority
Chapter 9: The Substantive Law Areas Most Commonly Practiced by Paralegals
Facing the Family: Domestic Law and Estate Planning
Building the Boom and Blanketing the Bust: Business and Bankruptcy Law
Compensating for Pain and Suffering: Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice
Getting It in Writing: Entertainment and Real Estate Law
Part III : Putting It into Practice: The Paralegal in the Civil Litigation Process
Chapter 10: The Paper Chase: Preparing Documents
Communicating in Writing: Types of Legal Documents
Worth the Paper They’re Written On: Effective Document Drafting
Chapter 11: Elementary My Dear Watson: Legal Investigation
Searching for Clues: Gathering Evidence
Keeping Track: Identifying and Protecting Evidence
Keeping Order: Organizing the Evidence
Chapter 12: Chewing the Fat: Legal Interviewing
Getting to Know You: Initial Client Interviews
Completing the Story: Witness Interviews
Preparing Clients and Witnesses for Testimony
Chapter 13: Burning the Midnight Oil: Legal Research
Conducting Legal Research in Four (Easy?) Steps
Tools of the Trade
Getting Technological: Computerized Legal Research
Citing Cases Properly: Citation Format
Chapter 14: Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Trial Performance
Creating the Ultimate Source of Information: The Trial Notebook
Selecting the Jury: The Paralegal and Voir Dire
Keeping Track of Witnesses
Weighing Testimony: The Paralegal’s Take on the Jury’s Reaction
Preparing Questions for the Attorney
Settling Up: Preparing the Cost Bill
Blood from a Turnip: Collecting a Difficult Judgment
Chapter 15: The Official Word: Ethical Codes for Legal Professionals
Doing What’s Right: The Importance of Ethics
Abiding by the Rules of Professional Conduct
Sorting through the Codes of Paralegal Associations
Part IV : Skills Paralegals Need to Soar Ahead
Chapter 16: Write On: Presenting a Clear, Concise Legal Writing Style
Careful Correspondence
Grammar: The Foundation of an Effective Writing Style
Sentence Structure: Positioning the Sentence’s Elements
Punctuation and Mechanics: Mastering the Rules
Organization: Structuring the Finished Product
Proofreading: Polishing the Finished Product
Avoiding Plagiarism
Chapter 17: The Latest Thing: Using Technology in Law
Operating Computer Hardware and Networks in the Law Office
Getting Savvy on Software Applications for the Law Office
Surfing the Net: Online Resources
Carting Computers into the Courtroom
Chapter 18: Law Office Management 101
Buying Time: Management Systems
Keeping Account: Billing Systems
A Place for Everything: File Management
Part V : The Part of Tens
Chapter 19: The Ten Most Important Rules of Ethics
Avoiding the Unauthorized Practice of Law
Maintaining Client Confidentiality
Disclosing Your Paralegal Status
Reporting Ethics Violations of Other Legal Professionals
Disclosing Information to Prevent Death or Serious Bodily Harm
Sharing Information with Your Supervising Attorney
Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
Obeying All Applicable Attorneys’ Ethics Rules
Giving Something to the Community: Pro Bono Services
Making Your Voice Heard: Supporting Efforts to Improve the Legal System
Chapter 20: Ten Things Every Paralegal Should Know
How to Ask for Help
Your Role
How to Communicate Effectively
The Value of Being Organized
Your Limitations
How to Research
How to Use Technology
The Rules of Professional Responsibility
How to Draft Fundamental Legal Documents
How to Weigh the Value of Paralegal Organizations
Chapter 21: Ten Survival Tips to Thrive in the Legal Environment
Continue Your Education
Keep a Good Legal Dictionary Nearby
Maintain the Integrity of Your Profession
Be Polite and Patient with Court Clerks
Take a Mind Reading Course
Enjoy Problem Solving
Refrain from Badmouthing Other Paralegals and Attorneys
Never Act as though You’re Irreplaceable
Don’t Count on a Normal Work Schedule
Resist the Urge to Gossip about Clients
Part VI : Appendixes
Appendix A: Glossary of Important Legal Terms: A Mini Legal Dictionary
Appendix B: About the CD
System Requirements
Using the CD
What You’ll Find on the CD
Documents on the CD
Links to Web Sites
Troubleshooting
Wiley Publishing, Inc. End-User License Agreement
America has a fascination with courtroom dramas. Dozens of TV shows and hundreds of movies have been based on the legal profession. Hollywood has even made musicals with courtroom scenes! Real courtroom dramas receive nearly constant attention on the news networks, and if CNN’s coverage of every detail in a trial is not enough, there’s always Court TV, where Americans can get all trials all the time.
You may not have noticed, but one thing’s missing from most of these legal dramas: the behind-the-scenes work of the paralegals (or legal assistants as they’re sometimes called). In the media, lawyers give flawless and impassioned pleas to the jury, and the force of their arguments turns the case, or, under relentless cross-examination, the defendant suddenly admits to the crime. In reality, these events rarely happen — cases are won and lost based on what takes place outside of the courtroom even before the trial.
The vast majority of the work for a civil or criminal trial is done before the trial begins, and after a trial starts there are usually very few surprises. But just as the networks choose to broadcast the Olympics, but not the four years of training in between, so the focus of dramas is on the action in the courtroom and not all the investigation, interviewing, writing, and research that builds the case. So, when you’re watching Law & Order or Court TV, you’ll usually see the lawyers in the courtroom, but not the paralegals whose research allows the trial to take place.
Whether you’re researching the paralegal profession to see if it peaks your interest or you’ve worked as a paralegal since Reagan was in office, you can find a wealth of pertinent information in this book. This book is a fun and informative resource for anyone who loves the law and wants to find out more about it. You’ll want it within easy reach as a reference to consult throughout your paralegal career or to explain the nuances of what you’re watching on Court TV. This book offers something for everyone.
If being a paralegal appeals to you, you’ve come to the right place. Since 1980, we’ve instructed people from all walks of life and with a variety of goals on how to work as paralegals. This experience has shown us what information you absolutely need to know before you apply for a paralegal position and what information is best learned on the job. So, this book won’t cover things you don’t need to know — we want to focus on what’s most important.
This book is designed to help you decide whether a paralegal career is right for you. It also directs you to the resources you need to get the right education and experience to make your dream a reality. The best part is that it actually goes into great detail to teach you the vital skills you need to work as a paralegal or to act as your own pro se litigant.
As if the amazing information in this text wasn’t enough, we’ve also included an accompanying CD-ROM. From the CD, you can access useful forms, sample résumés and cover letters, and other references, as well as valuable Web sites.
Finally, this book is a reference book, which means that you can keep it at your desk and reach for it whenever you need some more information. You don’t have to read it from beginning to end — you can just dip into whatever chapter or section is most interesting to you today, and come back to the book later as your needs and interests change. Of course, if you want to read the book from cover to cover, we won’t stop you!
We’re confident that you’ll find this book easily accessible, but we use a few conventions that you should be aware of.
The book highlights information you should remember in several ways. Lists are bulleted and marked with a solid bar to the left of the lists. New terms are italicized with definitions shortly following (often in parentheses immediately following the term). And e-mail addresses and Web addresses ( URLs), appear in monofont.
Throughout the book, you’ll find sidebars (gray boxes of text). Sidebars contain information that we think may interest you but that isn’t necessarily essential to your paralegal career. If you’re trying to whip through this book, so you can work as a paralegal tomorrow, you can skip the sidebars.
You can also safely skip anything marked by a Technical Stuff icon. ( More about icons in the “Icons Used in This Book” section, later.)
We make a few assumptions about who you are, as the reader of this book.
Maybe you’ve always had an interest in law, but you don’t want to spend the time and expense on law school. ( Besides, who wants to be the brunt of all those lawyer jokes!) Or, if you don’t mind the jokes, you could be considering law school, but you want to be sure that law’s a good match for you before you invest in three or four more years of education. Because paralegals do almost everything an attorney does, working as a paralegal will let you know right away whether you love the law as much as we do. Plus, a job as a paralegal would be a perfect way to make money while you’re in your last two years of law school. You may even decide you’d rather stick with a paralegal career, especially considering that the Department of Labor consistently ranks the paralegal career as among the top professions in terms of job growth.
Maybe you’re working as a legal secretary and thinking that you could do a lot more of the legal work in the office. Wouldn’t it impress your supervising attorney if you could come up with a vital piece of legal research discovered as a result of your newly honed legal research skills? Or it could be that you worked on one of your own legal nightmares either as a pro se litigant or as an assistant to your attorney. You may have had an epiphany that you could do as good a job as (or a better one than) the attorney who worked on your case and that you could actually get paid for your efforts!
Whatever level of interest or experience you bring to the table, this book is for you.
In an attempt at logic, we’ve laid out this book so that it starts with an introduction to the field of paralegalism and then progresses through the general and more specific information you need to know to thrive in the profession.
If you’re new to the paralegal profession (and even if you’re not!), you’ll want to get familiar with what makes being a paralegal special. This part introduces you to the profession and helps you make decisions about the kind of paralegal you want to be and whether you want to join a local or national paralegal organization. You’ll also discover some valuable job-hunting techniques particular to the paralegal profession to help you launch your new career.
To understand the concepts we address in the other parts of this book, you need a basic understanding of the U.S. legal system and the role paralegals play within that system. So, this part is devoted to giving you this vital knowledge base.
You may be wondering exactly what paralegals do. This part explains to you in detail the activities you’ll perform in the immense variety of paralegal work.
This part focuses on sharpening skills you may already have so that they apply directly to your work as a paralegal. These skills aren’t necessarily law-related but are nevertheless vital to a successful paralegal career. We show you how to craft a clear, effective writing style; apply computer knowledge to the workplace; and hone your organization prowess so that your law office never misses a deadline or an important event.
Top-ten lists are a For Dummies staple, and this part highlights always crucial ethical rules and tips to help you succeed in a paralegal career. If you’re short on time but want a lot of bang for your buck, the Part of Tens is a great place to head.
The book ends with vital information. Appendix A is a mini legal dictionary and Appendix B tells you how to use the informative CD that accompanies this book.
One helpful feature of this book is the icons that highlight especially significant portions of the text. These little pictures in the margins alert you to certain kinds of information:
If you’re new to the paralegal profession and want to see what it’s all about, start with Chapter 1, which gives you a great introduction to a paralegal career. Then read the chapters in Part II to gain a general understanding of the field of law. From there, choose chapters that sound interesting to you to better determine if this exciting career up your alley.
If you’ve worked as a paralegal or legal secretary, use this book to find out more about what you do on a daily basis. For example, if your law office is finally moving into the 21st century, Chapter 17 introduces you to the kinds of new technology that make working in a law office much easier. If your supervising attorney wants you to take on more responsibility, such as legal research (Chapter 13), document drafting (Chapters 10 and 16), and interviewing (Chapter 12), read the specific chapters that pertain to your new duties. Or if you’ve always wanted to know about the legal system to get a better understanding of why you do what you do, read Chapter 4.
Although we’re pretty confident about the comprehensiveness of this book, you’ll probably need more education if you’ve never worked in a law office before or if you have but don’t feel confident about the depth of your skills. Enroll in a quality program through a recognized university or college (like the one we offer) and impress your instructors with the expertise you’ve gained from reading this book!
You may want to join a state and local paralegal association to find out more about your chosen career and gain valuable networking resources. Above all, don’t be timid. Get out there and apply your newly found knowledge to a real live job. If you think you need a little experience first, volunteer your services to a local nonprofit law office, such as Sierra Club, Legal Aids, or the public defender’s office in your area. You’ll be surprised about how much you know with this book as your guide!
In this part . . .
P aralegals do all sorts of exciting things, but you may know just a little about the profession or nothing at all. This part gives you a peek into the wide variety of jobs that paralegals can perform and introduces you to the areas of law where paralegals are most in demand. You’ll find out about associations you can join to learn more about your new profession and gain helpful networking avenues. When you’re ready for the job market, you can use the valuable information in this part to put together a killer cover letter and résumé and advertise your skills to the law offices, courts, and corporations that can’t wait to add you to their legal teams.