Legal Technology and Paralegals

 BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL ATTORNEY IS AN EXHAUSTED PARALEGAL.

Was looking for the credibility of this term nowadays. We all are aware of the increasing use of
technology by the changing times hence its use has also been expanded in the legal field. It’s
my contention that there is an inverse correlation between man force and your adoption of
technology.
Better technology lowers the need for manpower or human skills. Same goes for the paralegals
these days. The more paralegals you’ve got, the more behind you are in adopting and
implementing technology and vice-versa.
The term paralegals here refers to  an individual 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. They perform tasks requiring
knowledge of the law and legal procedures. They are  not a lawyer but are typically employed
by a law office or internal legal department of a company. Paralegals operate under a form of
independent legal ethics and, with few exceptions, must also conduct their work under the
formal supervision of an attorney. In some jurisdictions, paralegals can conduct their own
business and are called law agents, providing services such as settlements, court filings, legal
research and other auxiliary legal services; these tasks often have instructions from a solicitor
attached.
But by the changing times and the changing needs of the society they have been replaced by
technology. And if they aren't replaced soon they would be replaced. If one is still using them,
then he/she should be carefully examining their function and looking at tech options for solving
the problems the paralegals are solving now.
I have a simple question on those employing paralegals. What they want paralegals to work as?
1. A practice management system?
2. A document management system?
3. A document assembly system?
4. Automated call routing?
5. E-discovery products?
6. Abbreviation expanders (amusing, but incredibly time saving)
7. A client document access system?
8. Specialty applications for your practice area?
What exactly paralegal does that couldn’t better be done by a lawyer or a computer? Think hard
when answering that question. I’m sure your paralegal is busy, but is the paralegal really the
best way to get the job done?
What do you think that by whom client communication would be better handled by the paralegal
or by the attorney managing the matter? What about simple tasks like preparing documents for
trial? Is the lawyer better off having delegated the task or doing it herself so she fully
appreciates the material? Are you patching solutions together with paralegal generalists when
you actually need a technology-driven specialist?
The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics remains optimistic about the growth of
paralegal jobs. I agree that the jobs will continue to increase right up to the point when they
completely disappear. Paralegal jobs are far more vulnerable to technological improvements
than those of lawyers.
If one is still employing a paralegal, it’s time to spend some time carefully dissecting their
function and looking at replacing those functions with technology. What technology are you
missing? How much are you unnecessarily adding to payroll? How much could you improve the
bottom line?
While paralegals are well aware of the need for technology in their firms, they also hold firm in
their belief that they can’t be replaced. Change is scary. One study reports that “perceived job
insecurity ranks as one of the most important factors in employee well-being and paradoxically
can be even more harmful than actual job loss with subsequent unemployment.”
Any threat to one’s livelihood or identity engenders strong reactions.  Tread carefully as you
move forward. Recognize that technology represents more than simply a tool for getting the
work done. It represents change, and change is always difficult. Don’t expect the people being
replaced to embrace the technology replacing them.
It’s time to analyze the work, come up with a plan, and start moving to a future that doesn’t
involve paralegals and, instead, involves more technology than one is using now.