Paralegal vs. Legal Assistant?
In my profession -- the court reporting business -- there's not much distinction between court reporters who work in court versus court reporters who work in the freelance world doing depositions, arbitrations or hearings. The term court reporter is synonymous with all of them.
Not so in the legal support staff world. The debate is this: paralegal versus legal assistant? What are the distinctions inherent in those two terms? I found an interesting article which can be found here:
The Shakespearean analogy about a rose still smelling as sweet despite a different name doesn’t quite work when applied to the paralegal profession. The professional status of a paralegal would not stay the same if the title changed to “legal assistant,” according to paralegals who responded to the March/April issue’s My Opinion Survey. An overwhelming 94 percent of respondents said “paralegal” denotes a higher professional status than “legal assistant.”[snip]In other survey results, 91 percent of 33 respondents said the term “paralegal” should become the universal job title, considering that more associations throughout the United States have changed their names by replacing “legal assistant” with “paralegal.” “I believe the term [‘paralegal’] should be universal as far as associations [go],” said a Memphis paralegal with eight years of experience. “But I also know that some people who classify themselves using this term [don’t] have the skills … or training associated with this type of profession.”What does everyone else feel about those two terms? What's it like in your law firm? I would love to know!
Monday, July 30, 2007
