Independent Legal Judgment is an important concept for the regulations of both attorneys and paralegals. Independent legal judgment is defined as "the comparison and the evaluation of possible courses of conduct, and acting or making a decision after the various possibilities have been considered." Schaefer-Larose v. Eli Lilly & Co., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97220 (S.D. Ind. Sept. 29, 2009). While a lawyer may delegate tasks and responsibilities to a paralegal, the lawyer has a professional obligation exercise independent legal judgment to make the best legal decisions for his or her client. The role independent legal judgment plays for a paralegal is different than that of an attorney. While an attorney has an obligation to exercise the best
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A paralegal can perform delegated tasks that the lawyer would normally perform. A paralegal can do fact checking, legal research, and can prepare legal documents. The common definition of a paralegal is “can do anything a lawyer can do, except those things only a lawyer can do”; the part of the statement “except those things only a lawyer can do” applies to the tasks that are prohibited to anyone except licensed attorneys. These tasks include counseling clients, directly practicing law, and appearing in court. A paralegal is as adept and skilled as a lawyer in research and preparation but, because of licensing and certification regulations, can not actually practice law and take on clients of their own. These licensing and certification regulations require prospective attorneys to to meet requirements for education, moral character, and an ethical code used as a means to discipline those attorneys who violate the ethical rules of conduct. When a paralegal violates the ethic rules of conduct, the attorney is the one who is penalized because the attorney is in charge of reviewing and overseeing the work and responsibilities of a paralegal. Because a paralegal has not passed the proper examination of the law and have not met the ethical, moral, and legal regulations to practice law; a paralegal cannot exercise independent legal judgment and advice clients. Independent legal judgment is an obligation reserved only for …show more content…
An attorney cannot delegate a client or specific responsibilities that involve exercising independent legal judgment to a paralegal. An attorney may have a paralegal do legal research, communicate an attorney’s fee, or draft an attorney’s legal opinion. These are not exercising legal judgment and are not in violation of the Model Code. Since a paralegal are not directly bound to a state’s legal ethics code and is not subject to the sanctions for violating the code, an attorney is responsible to make sure his or her paralegal is following the proper regulations and Rules of Conduct. As for the regulations of the attorney themselves, attorneys have a duty to represent clients competently by both the ethics codes and knowledge of the law. The attorney must be thorough in preparation and diligence, must be able to communicate with the client competently and clearly, must have the legal knowledge
A paralegal can perform delegated tasks that the lawyer would normally perform. A paralegal can do fact checking, legal research, and can prepare legal documents. The common definition of a paralegal is “can do anything a lawyer can do, except those things only a lawyer can do”; the part of the statement “except those things only a lawyer can do” applies to the tasks that are prohibited to anyone except licensed attorneys. These tasks include counseling clients, directly practicing law, and appearing in court. A paralegal is as adept and skilled as a lawyer in research and preparation but, because of licensing and certification regulations, can not actually practice law and take on clients of their own. These licensing and certification regulations require prospective attorneys to to meet requirements for education, moral character, and an ethical code used as a means to discipline those attorneys who violate the ethical rules of conduct. When a paralegal violates the ethic rules of conduct, the attorney is the one who is penalized because the attorney is in charge of reviewing and overseeing the work and responsibilities of a paralegal. Because a paralegal has not passed the proper examination of the law and have not met the ethical, moral, and legal regulations to practice law; a paralegal cannot exercise independent legal judgment and advice clients. Independent legal judgment is an obligation reserved only for …show more content…
An attorney cannot delegate a client or specific responsibilities that involve exercising independent legal judgment to a paralegal. An attorney may have a paralegal do legal research, communicate an attorney’s fee, or draft an attorney’s legal opinion. These are not exercising legal judgment and are not in violation of the Model Code. Since a paralegal are not directly bound to a state’s legal ethics code and is not subject to the sanctions for violating the code, an attorney is responsible to make sure his or her paralegal is following the proper regulations and Rules of Conduct. As for the regulations of the attorney themselves, attorneys have a duty to represent clients competently by both the ethics codes and knowledge of the law. The attorney must be thorough in preparation and diligence, must be able to communicate with the client competently and clearly, must have the legal knowledge