What Does a Legal Assistant Do?
is someone who acts as support staff for lawyers or in a legal office. Legal assistants cannot represent anyone in court, sign legal documents, or give legal advice. Legal assistants can draft some basic legal documents, which get reviewed and approved by lawyers. Legal assistants can also perform research for lawyers when it is needed for a case.
A paralegal or legal assistant is a trained person, often with certification from state or government agencies, who performs a variety of support jobs for supervising lawyers. The paralegal cannot give legal advice, represent people in court, or sign any legal documents, except in the capacity of a notary if the person has been certified. Most people train to become a paralegal through either two-year or four year degrees at the college level, and they must be gifted at secretarial work, legal research and writing in order to perform their jobs proficiently. There are many things that a legal assistant might do as employed by a lawyer or law firm. They can draft contracts, and most other legal documents, which are then reviewed by lawyers to be certain they conform specifically to the requirements of the client and the law. They also perform legal research, and may in the defense or prosecution of a person, do much of the research that will help support arguments in the court setting o
Best Answer: A legal assistant does all of the legwork for the lawyer, most of the time. The lawyer puts in an appearance here and there (ie in front of the judge and talking to the client most of the time), but the legal assistant prepares all of the paperwork for cases, transcribes letters, in some instances does the bookkeeping, etc. It will vary from one lawyer to the next. I would advise you to get with the local courthouse and get examples of paperwork in the format they like for the type of cases your attorney works with the most. You can probably also obtain those forms from the clerk’s website. It helps to have a paralegal degree, but that’s not necessary if someone is willing to show you the ropes. You can wing it if it’s not a busy office and you have common sense and some type of secretarial skills and an eye for detail. Just want to add that the lawyer works more on becoming familiar with all of the laws involved that will be used in the case and making trascription tapes
