So let’s start in the 1960s when the paralegal role was created. The paralegal role was created to provide attorneys more time to be attorneys and lessen the administrative daily tasks. In th late 1960’s Congress, Law Firms & American Bar Association began efforts to increase access to legal services and reduce poverty in the U.S. due to the increased demand of the various socioeconomic Americans needing legal support. They started to train non-lawyers with more complex tasks to keep up with the demand. Most jurisdictions label these new roles as legal assistants or paralegals.
The American Bar Association has been the leader in training non-lawyers since 1967. Where they created the ethics guidelines and legation for non-lawyers. In 1971 the American Bar Association took it further and created organizations for non-lawyers. This is where the NALA and NFRP associations were granted powers in 1975 and optional certification programs began.
In 1973 there were 31 programs, in 1980 over 250 programs, and today there are thousands. However, the growth of the paralegal role has been shaped by the clients and the slow growth of laws catching up with the societal norms has prevented the paralegal role to take full shape.
In 1986 the ABA officially defined the role of the legal assistant.
Having said that the 2020 pandemic really eloped expedited the inevitable. It’s where paralegals received their national paralegal day, and limited licensing laws began to really get on the lawmaker tables. Freelance and contracted paralegal services began to separate remote work that was forced upon most. Ans this began to move mountains for those paralegals always looking for more but without the law degree.
So where is this all headed? According to legal trends, ABA Journal, surveys, and census, the paralegal role is only going to grow. Although there are many talks of AI taking over there will always be a place for lawyers and paralegals. As we all know there are many complex cases with a variety of variables that lawyers have been trained to handle. We would not want to limit justice as that is not the goal. But for sure we have headed a very diversified future for the legal community and I am very proud to be sitting at those innovative tables.