Salary increases reflect performance, experience, expertise and each person's contribution to the smooth functioning of the office. In short, law offices effectively using paralegals find that they can provide their clients higher quality and lower cost legal services than would otherwise be possible. Problems in Effectively Utilizing Paralegals Many law firms and law departments have significant difficulty in effectively utilizing paralegals. Usually, these problems mirror those in the legal assistant profession as a whole. The role of legal assistants is often unclear.
Some attorneys lack respect for paralegals.
Frequently, there is confusion about the career path for legal assistants. Questions can exist about the general professionalism of paralegals. These themes run throughout those law firms and law departments that fail to effectively deploy paralegals. The results from these problems are usually declining paralegal morale, lack of understanding of the capabilities and value of paralegals by some attorneys, and career path concerns on the part of the legal assistants. Often Adrift As mentioned, problems of morale, recognition, role definition and utilization exist in the paralegal function at many law offices.