My view is that the whole idea of 'paralegal' workers is an economic necessity.
Paralegals occupy the middle ground between the guys with all the legal knowledge and people with none.
The reason paralegals exist, is that when it comes to doing legal work, the guys with all that legal knowledge charge big bucks, and the guys with none of that knowledge just can’t do the work.
As that gap got bigger, a market for paralegals grew for people who had specialist, if restricted, legal knowledge to do some of the work at reduced costs.
To me therefore, the paralegal market will continue to grow, but with two possible outcomes.
If the cost of paralegal courses stays relatively low, the world of paralegals will stay the same, only on a bigger scale.
If the cost getting a paralegal education (and accreditation, of course) gets ‘too’ high, then history will repeat itself. Paralegals will join attorneys as the guys asking for the bigger bucks and a gap will appear again between them and the administrators. This will be filled with para-paralegals (or whatever they will be called) and the cycle will repeat.
What is ‘too’ high a cost? – That’s the $64k question.
Ed
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