Everything is about to change for the 10,000 law workers employed vaguely as “paralegals”. Lisa Marie Ferla reports as the Law Society prepares to endorse registration of law’s overlooked talent.

They’re working in legal offices in ever increasing numbers, and taking on greater areas of responsibility. If one trend has stood out in recent years, it has been the emergence of Scotland’s paralegals.

And if the decade has seen a quiet revolution in the makeup of the legal profession, then 2010 is set to be the Year of the Paralegal. January sees the final part of the consultation stage of the proposed Law Society Registered Paralegal proposals draw to a close, and together with project partners the Scottish Paralegal Association (SPA) the Society are looking for you to take part.

Discussions on a formally recognised Registered Paralegal scheme have been underway since the late 1990s, but the first public announcement came early in 2008 with an initial consultation on the proposals. The process closed in the face of a changing economic climate in which paralegals found themselves the first affected by redundancies. Work has continued behind the scenes and now the scheme is set to launch this year.

The proposed Registered Paralegal status will comprise entry standards, a Code of Conduct, requirements for Continuing Professional Development and the introduction of a complaints regime, overseen by the Law Society.

The paralegal profession has seen an increasing emphasis on formal training and standards. Over one hundred more Specialist Paralegals graduated at the biannual ceremony at Strathclyde University in October, and a recent spate of new training providers, including Central College’s new dedicated Paralegal Training Centre, are promising to make courses accessible to even more potential paralegals.

The Firm’s own Law Awards of Scotland has recognised the importance of paralegals to the profession since its inception, with Paralegal of the Year being one of the most hotly contested categories. Fiona Shields of Pagan Osborne was awarded Paralegal of the Year at both Scottish ceremonies in 2009. “It was huge recognition for everything that was important to me in my job as a paralegal and the service I provided to clients and the firm,” she says.

Shields chose to undertake a paralegal qualification later in her career, as a means of formally affirming the work experience she had already gained. “Although I had over twenty years of experience it was important to me that the clients and the firm had confidence that I would give the highest standard of service,” she explains. “I felt that obtaining my paralegal certificate gave me that credibility.”

Alison Butters, joint president (with Karen Leslie) of the SPA, feels that now is the right time for more formal regulation. “There were an estimated 10,000 paralegals in Scotland, and although that number has probably decreased in recent months as a result of the recession it is still a huge number,” she explains. “As solicitors are regulated, then it makes sense that paralegals should be too and I think that is beginning to hit home.

“There have been a lot of changes at the Law Society too. Lorna Jack isn’t from a purely legal background. It all encourages the Society to look at the bigger picture.”
“A lot of things have come together at the same time, I would agree with that,” says Collette Paterson, Deputy Director of Education and Training at the Law Society of Scotland, who has overseen the Registered Paralegal project since her appointment to the role in early 2009. “And actually, developments south of the border have occurred at the same time. It’s not something that has just appeared - it is the culmination of years of work.”

The SPA has long believed that standards are necessary to the integrity of the paralegal profession. “Of course we wanted recognition for the work that we do, but an official form of regulation as well,” says Butters. “Particularly over the last few years, there have been firms who have been able to call their secretaries ‘paralegals’ and these people would then move onto other jobs when they had no training at all really and weren’t equipped for the role.

“There was a lot of discontent among paralegals who had done formal training, which was one of the many reasons why regulation was important. As a qualified paralegal myself, who has worked in legal firms for a number of years, I feel it is really important that the people who are out there doing the work and giving advice are properly qualified to do that.”

“I am delighted that the Law Society of Scotland, working in partnership with the SPA, has acknowledged the importance of Registered Paralegals,” adds Shields. “It is essential for the client and the employer to know that the paralegal has the skills required to do the job. Structured training and development of paralegals is essential to ensure that work is done at the correct level.”

For the Law Society, the importance of the scheme is to provide definition to the paralegal role - for paralegals themselves, for solicitors and most importantly for the public.

“In Scotland, although voluntary organisations may have certain processes in place around grading or complaints, the Society feels that the logical next step is to implement regulation,” Paterson says..

“Based on the experience we have in doing that with solicitors, that regulation is best carried out and overseen by the Society.”

Practicing paralegals who already meet the “Registered Paralegal” standard, and who meet particular criteria outlined in the policy paper, will be enrolled under the first phase of the scheme before it is opened to new entrants and there are plans to ultimately recognise levels of expertise or specialisms.

“At the moment, we want to make the scheme attractive to the profession. Once people start seeing the words ‘Registered Paralegal’ and become more aware of what it means, then it will be to the benefit of other paralegals as well as to the public and to the profession as a whole,” says Butters.

“CPD requirements will encourage solicitors to send their paralegals for further training courses - something which has been a problem in the past.”

Stephen McGowan, solicitor with Tods Murray, and course tutor for the CLT/University of Strathclyde Specialist Paralegal Licensing Law Qualification, sees the Registered Paralegal scheme as “well overdue”.

“I am heartened to see that the Law Society, rather than a third party organisation, is in charge of this,” he adds. “However, I do think it is important to ensure that those who have gained a paralegal qualification through CLT and Strathclyde University are deemed as being ‘qualified’ in order to register with the scheme. Thousands have worked extremely hard to gain those qualifications and those efforts must not be discarded.”

“I see paralegals as a huge part of the structure of legal firms,” says Shields. “I think some solicitors are afraid that paralegals might come along and take all the jobs. They need to see the importance of having the correct structure where paralegals and solicitors work together as a team which is more beneficial to the client and to the profit of the firm - just as has happened at Pagan Osborne and it is proving beneficial to the client and good for the firm.

“With the new registration scheme up and running I think this will go some way to finally shake off the perception of a paralegal as a glorified secretary,” concludes McGowan. “Paralegals are individuals with specialist legal knowledge and are a valuable asset to any law firm or in-house team. I look forward to a wider recognition of this status as a result of the registration.”