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 ofan 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

