Licensing of nonlawyer direct service providers must not encompass licensing of traditional legal assistants. LAMA supports voluntary regulatory schemes that expand legal assistant responsibilities. Each employer should use its discretion to determine the value of voluntary regulation when making hiring or other employment decisions. LAMA will continue to engage in constructive dialogues with professional organizations and bar associations in order to preserve the delivery of the highest quality of legal services by traditional legal assistants. Footnotes 1 LAMA uses the titles of legal assistant and paralegal interchangeably.
Similar definitions exist in Canada.
3 Nonlawyer service providers are individuals who provide services directly to the consumer without supervision of or accountability to an attorney. 7 Sixty-four percent of the respondents to the 1995 LAMA Issues Questionnaire were not in favor of using certification exams as hiring criteria for legal assistants.