NCJ Number
56366
Date Published
1975
Length
266 pages
Annotation
THIS REPORT ON PARALEGAL USE WITHIN THE COMMUNITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATION'S LEGAL SERVICES SURVEYS PARALEGAL USE AND TRAINING AND RECOMMENDS MODELS FOR PARALEGAL PLANNING, TRAINING, AND SUPERVISION.
Abstract
THE REPORT BEGINS WITH A SUMMARY OF THE PARALEGAL MOVEMENT IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LAW AND OFFERS A STATISTICAL PROFILE OF PARALEGALS WORKING IN LEGAL SERVICES BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF TWO NATIONAL SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES SENT BY THE NATIONAL PARALEGAL INSTITUTE (NPI) TO PROJECT DIRECTORS AND LEGAL SERVICES PARALEGALS. THE PROFILE PROVIDES DATA ON THE AGE, EDUCATION, BACKGROUND WORK EXPERIENCE, AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF 531 PARALEGALS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, AS WELL AS AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR FUNCTIONS, WORKING STRUCTURES, FUNDING, SALARIES, AMOUNTS AND KINDS OF TRAINING RECEIVED, AND WORK ATTITUDES. A SURVEY OF 14 LEGAL SERVICES PROJECTS (REPRESENTING ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF LEGAL SERVICES PARALEGALS) IS ALSO PRESENTED ALONG WITH AN OUTLINE OF VARIOUS SOURCES OF NON-COMMUNITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATION FUNDING AVAILABLE TO PAY PARALEGALS. THE SECOND SECTION OF THE REPORT ADDRESSES THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A PLAN TO USE PARALEGALS. IT COVERS CASELOAD ANALYSIS, TYPES OF PARALEGAL FUNCTIONS (THE GENERALIST, SPECIALIST, INTAKE INTERVIEWER, AND OUTREACH WORKER), AND PLANNING FOR AND STRUCTURING EMPLOYMENT. RECOMMENDATIONS ARE PROVIDED ON RECRUITING, SCREENING, AND TESTING APPLICANTS AND ON DEVELOPING AN ORIENTATION-APPRENTICESHIP PERIOD FOR NEW PARALEGALS. THE THIRD SECTION SUGGESTS TRAINING AND SUPERVISION OPTIONS AND MODELS AND DESCRIBES CURRENT NPI PROGRAMS AND EXPERIMENTS IN DISSEMINATING TRAINING THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. THE NPI PROGRAMS ARE 1-WEEK INTENSIVE WORKSHOPS DURING WHICH READING MATERIALS, LECTURES, PANELS, INDIVIDUAL TUTORING, VIDEO TAPE AND LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS, AND SIMULATIONS ARE USED FOR INSTRUCTION. MODELS FOR ORIENTATION, SUPERVISION, AND UTILIZATION OF OUTSIDE RESOURCES FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED PROGRAMS ARE PRESENTED; MODELS FOR LARGER PROJECTS CAPABLE OF PROVIDING THEIR OWN SUBSTANTIAL TRAINING ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. THE APPENDIXES CONTAIN THE SURVEY INSTRUMENTS AND DATA, MODEL TRAINING SCHEDULES, AND A LIST OF NPI TRAINING AND JOB MATERIALS. (DAG)