PARALEGALS AND LEGAL ASSISTANT

Job Definition:

• Legal and related associate professionals perform support functions in courts of law or in law offices, provide services related to such legal matters as insurance contracts, the transferring of property and the granting of loans and other financial transactions or conduct investigations for clients.

Job Description:

• Assist lawyers by researching legal precedent, investigating facts, or preparing legal documents. Conduct research to support a legal proceeding, to formulate a defense, or to initiate legal action.

Duties and Tasks:

• 1) Prepare legal documents, including briefs, pleadings, appeals, wills, contracts, and real estate closing statements.
• 2) Prepare affidavits or other documents, maintain document file, and file pleadings with court clerk.
• 3) Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents.
• 4) Investigate facts and law of cases to determine causes of action and to prepare cases.
• 5) Call upon witnesses to testify at hearing.
• 6) Direct and coordinate law office activity, including delivery of subpoenas.
• 7) Arbitrate disputes between parties and assist in real estate closing process.
• 8) Keep and monitor legal volumes to ensure that law library is up-to-date.

Activities:

• 1) Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• 2) Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
• 3) Interacting With Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
• 4) Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• 5) Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
• 6) Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
• 7) Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
• 8) Communicating with Persons Outside Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
• 9) Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
• 10) Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• 11) Performing Administrative Activities — Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.
• 12) Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• 13) Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.
• 14) Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
• 15) Analyzing Data or Information — Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
• 16) Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.

Abilities:

• 1) Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• 2) Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• 3) Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• 4) Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• 5) Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• 6) Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• 7) Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• 8) Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• 9) Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• 10) Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• 11) Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• 12) Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• 13) Flexibility of Closure — The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
• 14) Selective Attention — The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
• 15) Finger Dexterity — The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
• 16) Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• 17) Originality — The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.

Knowledge

• 1) English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 2) Law and Government — Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• 3) Clerical — Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• 4) Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• 5) Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.