Paralegal Education Program & Paralegal Definition Updates
Paralegal? Legal assistant? Legal secretary? The legal industry is full of terms that describe non-lawyer legal professionals. These terms overlap and get confusing quickly. But now, the official definition of the term “paralegal” is changing, thanks to a recent resolution that was proposed by the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA).
  • paralegals
  • legal tech
  • Virtual Paralegal
  • Paralegal as a Service
Meredith Boe
Published on Mar 04, 2020

 

Paralegal? Legal assistant? Legal secretary? The legal industry is full of terms that describe non-lawyer legal professionals. These terms overlap and get confusing quickly. But now, the official definition of the term “paralegal” is changing, thanks to a recent resolution that was proposed by the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA). The NFPA requested that the current definition of paralegal outlined in the ABA Guidelines be updated to remove outdated language. Namely: the use of “legal assistant.”

 

The updated definition of a paralegal is as follows:

“A paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training, or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.”

 

This amendment impacts the ABA Guidelines for Approval of Paralegal Education Programs. Previously, the terms “legal assistant” and “paralegal” were used interchangeably in these programs, and the update reflects the need to “keep pace with current terminology used by the legal community,” according to the ABA’s report. The resolution was presented at the ABA House of Delegates on February 17, 2020.

 

The significance of the change reflects the legal industry’s desire to separate these terms as two distinct non-lawyer legal professionals.

 

NextChapter’s Virtual Paralegals

At NextChapter, all of our virtual paralegals are classified under this new definition. Our team consists of legal professionals that are qualified by their education, training or work experience. They help with paperwork, client intake and interviews, due diligence searches, petition preparation, scheduling and Chapter 13 plan preparation.

 

Distinct from a legal assistant, these professionals are knowledgeable about all things legal work and can assist solo attorneys or large practices with a range of tasks on an on-demand basis.

 

To learn more about our Paralegals as a Service offering and how it can improve your law firm's workflow get in touch with the NextChapter team today.