The survey of ABA members in private practice also demonstrates that clients using larger firms are much more likely to have legal assistants, also referred to as paralegals, work on their cases than are those who use smaller firms. The ABA Standing Committee on Legal Assistants sponsored the survey. By assigning certain routine and standardized tasks to paralegals, who work under their supervision, lawyers are making their operations much more efficient, and clients are receiving a better value. 60.2 percent of respondents actively work with paralegals. The general responsibilities most often assigned to paralegals are maintaining client files, drafting correspondence, and performing factual research.
Legal assistants are more likely to be employed by large firms than small firms.
Lawyers in smaller firms delegate a wider array of responsibilities to legal assistants than lawyers in bigger firms do. The survey demonstrates that clients who choose to work with larger firms are much more likely to have a portion of their work completed by paralegals than those who choose a lawyer from a small firm. By contrast, only 34.8 percent of those working at firms of three or fewer lawyers employ paralegals. Of the lawyers who indicated that their firms do not employ paralegals, 56.8 percent reported that their firm's size would not support legal assistants, and 44.1 percent said that their secretaries assume tasks that would be assigned to legal assistants. While legal assistants are more frequently employed in larger firms, clients actually may be more likely to come in personal contact with paralegals if they deal with smaller firms.