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As a family lawyer, I couldn’t do my job without my paralegal, but too many of them are being exploited and given work they are not qualified to do, says Oliver Conway.
I recently said goodbye to my paralegal, Sofia Santos; she is off to become a barrister. I wanted to reflect on the role of a paralegal, how we exploit them in the legal profession and why this must change.
Given the number of plates that I spin in my role as a legal aid family lawyer, a paralegal is essential. Of the three paralegals I have worked with during my career, one is about to qualify as a solicitor and two will start pupillage in October. I say this not to brag about how wonderful working with me is, but because I have no idea why three such talented people would accept a low-paid role to work with me and my clients.
Sofia can speak four languages, but I hired her mainly because she had run the London marathon twice. I remember thinking nothing could prepare someone better for legal aid family work. She has an MA and is probably paid as much as the person who helps me buy my lunch in Sainsbury’s. I have tried to counterbalance the wage by providing those who work with me with immediate experience of the inner workings of family law. At our firm, paralegals leave the office at 5.30 pm.
Gone are the days when a paralegal wanted a training contract. The solicitors qualifying examination means two years of relevant work experience are all that is required to qualify. The role is now a 24-month one in my head.
What I am very clear about with my paralegals is: however tough or upsetting the case is for them, the responsibility for my client always rests with me. My paralegal is never there to advise a client or make a decision that could impact my client’s case.
What is deeply concerning is the number of responsibilities I am seeing paralegals in other firms taking on. In family law, I constantly see correspondence from paralegals where they are clear that it is their client and it is their case. I have had cases run for a year without ever hearing from the solicitor meant to have conduct. I see court application forms and consent orders being submitted by paralegals who are not legally qualified to sign them. The firm’s electronic signature hides a multitude of sins.
The family court is so overwhelmed, what judge or practitioner will call it out? Who wants to be the person threatening someone on less than £24,000 a year with regulatory action for doing something a senior lawyer has probably told them to do?
Family work is unforgiving and even after 10 years in this field, I still ask my line manager and friendly barristers questions all the time. I am never alone. Paralegals acting as solicitors is not only very damaging for clients, but I cannot imagine the pressure and the responsibility on paralegals’ shoulders, some working from home without supervision, save for a weekly online check-in.
It is not just legal aid firms that are allowing paralegals to run cases; corporate ones and local authorities do this too. I am seeing the most complex cases, involving adoption and very serious abuse, being case managed by paralegals. To think that social workers are making decisions on children’s lives, potentially without legal advice from a qualified professional on a day-to-day basis, is chilling but would explain a lot.
We have got here because of brutal economics: the lack of a fee increase for legal aid lawyers since 1996 makes earlier business models impossible and practitioners are cutting corners. The brain drain that comes from not providing competitive wages means that firms cannot recruit family solicitors, yet the new clients keep calling. Austerity cuts to local government mean councils are overstretched and allowing cases as vital as whether a child remains in their family’s care to be run by someone not yet legally qualified. This is wrong and will end in tragedy.
A similar controversy has beset the medical world, with GPs being replaced by physician associates. Deskilling and cost-cutting are never good for your health, and they aren’t good for our justice system either.
I looked up what paralegal means and ‘with lawyer’ is my preferred definition. A paralegal is an extra limb, a different brain, and doesn’t take it personally when clients forget their name.
It is obscene that some firms are making huge profits off paralegals, who are so desperate to advance their careers. As a profession, we owe paralegals a debt and should not be placing them in harm’s way. Qualified, experienced lawyers are letting the future of the profession down.