Vol. 3, No. 5, Pg. 26. How a Mid-size Firm Uses Paralegals in Complex Cases.

• Author: By J. Rutledge Young Jr.

South Carolina Lawyer

1992.

Vol. 3, No. 5, Pg. 26.

How a Mid-size Firm Uses Paralegals in Complex Cases

26How a Mid-size Firm Uses Paralegals in Complex CasesBy J. Rutledge Young Jr.Young, Clement, Rivers & Tisdale is a general practice firm located in Charleston. At the present time it is composed of 17 partners, 14 associates and 16 paralegals.

The firm's paralegals have skills which allow the firm to provide clients with cost effective legal services for many routine matters which do not require a lawyer's expertise. In general, a client's affairs are supervised by one lawyer who monitors the quality of the legal work being performed. A team approach has proven to be an effective and efficient method for delivering a quality legal product.

Young, Clement, Rivers & Tisdale has for some time used modern business equipment for reduced overhead and increased efficiency. A great deal of professional legal work is individualistic, but much is routine and readily accomplished through well-designed systems and the use of nonlawyer support personnel.

There are 21 lawyers in the firm who practice in defense litigation, with the bulk of their practice being confined to admiralty, products liability litigation, professional negligence litigation, automobile liability litigation, medical malpractice, toxic substance, EEOC claims, construction arbitration, subrogation, arson and worker's compensation claims.

Types of Tasks

The responsibilities of the firm's 16 paralegals dictated primarily by the type of defense files they are assigned to handle. A description of the type of tasks performed and the scope of job responsibility for a paralegal in a typical medical negligence case follows.

1. Organize the file, setting it up in separate sections of correspondence, pleadings, medical reports, hospital records, expert witnesses for the plaintiff, expert witnesses for the defendant, pertinent medical articles, medical and hospital bills, witness interview files, photographs and diagrams, legal research, lawyers' notes, paralegals' notes, and a "to-do" checklist.

2. In appropriate cases, prepare notice of removal from state to federal court.

3. Draft all pleadings, subject to review by the responsible lawyer. Most of the firm's routine pleadings, such as interrogatories, requests to produce and requests to admit, are in the word...