1973, January, Pg. 13. Paralegals: Supply and Demand.

• Author: by Lee Shapiro

2 Colo.Law. 13

The Colorado Lawyer

1973.

1973, January, Pg. 13.

Paralegals: Supply and Demand

13Vol. 2, No. 3, Pg. 13

Paralegals: Supply and Demandby Lee Shapiro and Michael DriverLee J. Shapiro and Michael Driver are on the staff of the University of Denver College of Law.Paralegals are now employed by a number of larger Denver law firms. Davis, Graham & Stubbs employs paralegals in their corporate department, in real estate, in probate; Holland & Hart employs paralegals in probate and litigation. Dawson, Nagel, Sherman, and Howard and Holme Roberts, and Owen also use paralegal assistants in their firms. Smaller and medium-sized firms, however, have not for the most part hired paralegals.(fn1)

Barlow F. Christianson, in Lawyers for People of Moderate Means,(fn2) states that approximately 60% of U.S. families need some kind of legal assistance that they don't get, yet in Denver and other parts of the United States, countless attorneys lack enough clients to support themselves. Many attorneys and educators feel that the utilization of paralegals can help eliminate this apparent contradiction.

Interest in paralegal activity in Colorado has increased tremendously in the last five years. It now appears that by late 1973 or early 1974, a large number of trained paralegals will appear on the Colorado job market. For the first time, the smaller and middle sized law firm will have available trained personnel who can free the lawyer of many of his routine tasks, and allow him to increase his case load and possibly lower the cost of legal services to the client. If the use of paralegals allows the attorney to reduce his fees while maintaining his profit margin, legal services could come within the financial reach of a new segment of the population.

Although most of the training of paralegals in Colorado has been in-house on-the-job training,(fn3) numerous formal training programs are now in existence or being planned. Course duration ranges from a two-year degree program to ten-week (two hours a week) upgrading of skills program, and instructors are often practicing lawyers from the Denver area.

Paralegal Activity in ColoradoInstitutions presently involved in paralegal training are the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, Metropolitan State College, Community College of Denver, Arapahoe Community College, Rocky Mountain Law School, and the University of Denver College of Law.

The Emily Griffith Opportunity School has been conducting paralegal classes since January 1971. These courses are given free to Denver residents working for Denver law firms. Priority in selection is given to members of the Denver Legal Secretaries Association, and waiting lists have at times

14exceeded 100 names. Course offerings vary; presently introductory and advanced classes are offered in Colorado estate and probate procedure for legal assistants and legal terminology, techniques and procedures.

The Emily Griffith Opportunity School will offer in the winter of 1972, in conjunction with Arapahoe Community College, a lunch-hour course in family law. This class will meet two days a week.

Metropolitan State College has tentatively scheduled paralegal courses in probate, litigation, and general management, to begin in the winter quarter of 1972.(fn4)

Community College of Denver began a paralegal training program in the fall of 1972 by offering an introductory course designed to give the student an overview of the legal system, a working knowledge of legal research skills and legal terminology, and an opportunity to discuss career objectives with practicing attorneys and para-professionals. The main objective of the course was to give the student adequate information upon which to determine his area(s) of substantive legal interest. Beginning in January 1973, Community College will offer practical work product courses in probate, litigation, law office management, domestic relations, real estate, and corporations. These courses will stress substantive legal systems (e.g., checklists for drafting various legal documents) and will require the student to turn in work products which are those actually completed in a law firm. In addition, the paralegal student will be required to upgrade his clerical skills and also obtain a working knowledge of accounting and law office systems.(fn5) The duration of the course will be nine months or 52 credits, and it will be taught by practicing attorneys in Denver and by graduates of the Institute for Paralegal Training in Philadelphia. There are no prerequisites for the program.

Community College also plans to establish a nine-month 51-credit paralegal training program for the public sector, to begin either in the spring or fall of 1973. The curriculum will train paralegals to work in government offices or in privately sponsored public service law offices, and will also be work product rather than theoretically oriented.

Arapahoe Community College is presently setting up a certified and degreed program to train legal secretaries and legal assistants. This program will be given within the Business Department, and will combine course instruction and on-the-job training. It is scheduled to start the fall of 1973, but certain courses will be available before that time. The degree program is 93 quarter hours in length and will take two years to complete, while a certificate program is 45 quarter hours in length and will take one year to complete.(fn6) In the fall of 1972, Arapahoe Community College offered a family law course to 40 students, 30 of whom were presently employed legal secretaries. Of interest is the fact that five men were members of the Arapahoe Community College class. This family law class was received with a great deal of enthusiasm by the students and will probably be continued as a Family Law II class in January 1973.(fn7)

The Rocky Mountain Law School, a non-accredited law school started by the National Lawyers Guild of Colorado, began offering paralegal courses in November 1972, placing emphasis on practical applications of law and including work with participating attorneys and teaching basic legal principles. Courses were offered in legal skills (defining issues and understanding legal problems), contracts (an analysis of the legal concept of contracts), and juvenile law (Colorado Children's Code).(fn8)

The University of Denver College of Law has been a pioneer in the field of paralegal education. In the last four years programs have been offered to encourage the use of paralegals and provide training for agencies and institutions already in existence. In the fall of 1968, a 20-hour course was given for field workers from the Metro Denver Fair Housing Center and included instruction on housing, employment, welfare, family law, criminal law, and consumer law.(fn9)

In 1969, the College of Law coordinated

1520 five-hour paralegal training courses for caseworkers from the Department of Welfare,(fn10) and a training program was given for command officers of the Denver Police Department and the Political Science Department of the University of Denver.(fn11) The year 1969 also resulted in the publication of a book New Careers in Law, which was supported in part by a research grant from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.(fn12) This report concludes that "no group in America is getting enough inexpensive legal help; and nonlawyer's assistance is one of the best sources of additional help for the busy lawyer; that law schools, law firms, and Legal Aid Programs must work together; and that group legal insurance, and specialization will have to come if the legal profession is to serve the needs of the public."(fn13)

In 1970 a seminar was offered to law students on Study in Development of Paralegal Occupations. Students studied substantive areas of Colorado law and then produced materials based on that study to be used for training paralegals for Legal Aid offices. Finished products, including interview checklists and lesson plans, were completed in the areas of landlord-tenant law and motor vehicle hearing procedures.(fn14)

The University of Denver College of Law also coordinated the training programs for the Denver Resident Education and Information Center, which was part of Denver's Model Cities Program. The neighborhood workers were taught to function as lay advocates, community legal educators, referral agents, investigators, and community organizers.(fn15),(fn16)

In June 1971, a Conference on Paralegals in the United States(fn17) was conducted at the University of Denver, sponsored by the ABA Special Committee on Legal Education, the Association of Law Schools Paralegal Committee, and the Council on Law Related Studies. The Conference proceedings and a preliminary report of paralegal training in the United States were later combined into the conference report, New Careers in Law: II.(fn18)

The Continuing Legal Education segment of the University of Denver College of Law is offering three courses in paralegal education in the winter quarter of 1972. Commercial law, litigation, and real estate will be offered this winter, and courses in probate, family law, litigation, and commercial law will be offered during the spring quarter. These courses will teach functional skills to legal secretaries and legal assistants. Work products will be evaluated by University of Denver College of Law students.(fn19) Paralegals will help set up the curriculum and will continue to be involved in the planning and...