What are the advantages to law firms that place employees in the Paralegal Certificate Course©?

Legal secretaries, file clerks, and paralegals without formal paralegal training comprise a large percentage of the enrollment in this course. Law firms which encourage employees to take this course receive in return employees who are: 1) competent to perform paralegal duties, 2) able to bill their hours to clients at paralegal rates, and 3) more likely to remain with the firm.

In addition to the increased efficiency gained by lawyers who employ paralegals, another major incentive exists for the use of paralegals: Federal and state case law is now holding that fees paid to paralegals may be assessed, and recovered at trial, under those circumstances where the recovery of attorneys’ fees is proper [see, e.g. Gill Savings v. International Supply, 759 S.W.2d 697, 703 Tex. App. – – Dallas 1988] Thus, properly trained paralegals provide major profit centers for attorneys.