A lawyer is responsible for all of the professional actions of a paralegal performing services at the lawyer's direction and should take reasonable measures to ensure that the paralegal's conduct is consistent with the lawyer's obligations under the rules of professional conduct of the jurisdiction in which the lawyer practices

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GUIDELINE 1: A lawyer is responsible for all of the professional actions of a

paraleg          

measures to ensure that the paralegal's conduct is consistent with the lawyer's

obligations under the rules of professional conduct of the jurisdiction in which

the lawyer practices.

COMMENT

▪Guideline 1 principles are incorporated within all guidelines.

T “ C  P “ C  G   

comprehensive statement of general principle governing the utilization of paralegals in the

practice of law. As such, the principles contained in Guideline 1 express the overarching

principle that although a lawyer may delegate tasks to a paralegal, a lawyer must always

assume ultimate responsibility for the delegated tasks and exercise indep endent

professional judgment with respect to all aspects of the representation of the client.

▪Application of the Model Rules and Ethical Considerations of the Model Code

Under principles of agency law and the rules of professional conduct, lawyers are

responsible for the actions and the work product of nonlawyers they employ. Model Rule

5.36

requires that supervising lawyers ensure that the conduct of nonlawyer assistants 7 is

     

E C    M C      

paralegals so that legal services can be rendered more economically and efficiently. Ethical

C           r if the

            

        T   M

Rule 5.3, which incorporates these principles, reaffirms this encouragement.

6 The Model Rules were first adopted by the ABA House of Delegates in August of 1983.

Almost all U.S. jurisdictions have adopted the Model Rules to govern the professional conduct of

lawyers licensed in those states. However, because a few jurisdictions still utilize a version of the ABA

M C  P ‘ M C       

M ‘    M C    E C  EC

and Disciplinary ‘  D‘       M C I  

ABA   C  E   ‘  P C E 

C          M ‘ The ABA House

 D      C    F 

Visit https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/policy.html (last visited June

13, 2018              E

2000 revisions to the Model Rules as well as copies of both the model rules and model code.

7 See supra note 3 regarding a change to the terminology in Rule 5.3 effective in 2012.