Provided the lawyer maintains responsibility for the work product, a lawyer may delegate to a paralegal any task normally performed by the lawyer except those tasks proscribed to a nonlawyer by statute, court rule, administrative rule or regulation, controlling authority, the applicable rule of professional conduct of the jurisdiction in which the lawyer practices, or these Guidelines
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▪Lawyers must instruct paralegals on professional conduct rules and supervise
paralegals consistent with the rules.
To conform to Guideline 1, a lawyer must give appropriate instruction to paralegals
require paralegals to act in accordance with those rules. See Comment to Model Ru le 5.3;
see also N A L A M “ G
Utilization of Legal Assistants, Guidelines 1 and 4 (1985, revised 1990, 1997, 2005)
NALA G
Additionally, the lawyer must directly supervise paralegals employed by the lawyer to
ensure that, in every circumstance, the paralegal is acting in a manner consistent with the
W
supervision will differ from one state to another and the lawyer has the obligation to ma ke
adjustments accordingly.
GUIDELINE 2: Provided the lawyer maintains responsibility for the work product, a
lawyer may delegate to a paralegal any task normally performed by the lawyer
except those tasks proscribed to a nonlawyer by statute, court rule, administrative
rule or regulation, controlling authority, the applicable rule of professional conduct
of the jurisdiction in which the lawyer practices, or these guidelines.
COMMENT
▪Many tasks may be delegated to Paralegals so long as they are properly supervised.
T ABA 8
and subsequently amended in 19979 is that, so long as appropriate supervision i s
maintained, many tasks normally performed by lawyers may be delegated to paralegals. EC
M C
perform under appropriate lawyer supervision: factual investigation and research, legal
research, and the preparation of legal documents. Various states delineate more specific
tasks in their guidelines including attending client conferences, corresponding with and
8 The 1986 ABA A
training or work experience, who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, governmental
agency, or other entity, in a capacity or function which involves the performance, under the ultimate
direction and supervision of an attorney, of substantive legal work, which work,
for the most part, requires a sufficient knowledge of legal concepts that, absent such assistant, the
attorney would perform the
9 In 1997, the ABA amended the definition of legal assistant by adopting the following
A
experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or
other entity who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is
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