Introduction
The role of the paralegal is crucial as it requires the paralegal to deal with different clients. It often also needs access to important information which is personal to the client and is not to be used anywhere without the consent of the client. The nature of the job of paralegals is quite complex. The boundaries of the job are very blurred. Paralegals usually assist attorneys in a wide range of areas, without having the authority to interfere with any legal proceedings, or give any legal advice. It can often lead to ethical issues, which can be observed in different business operations. The main consideration should be, however, on the formulating of different strategies or traits to resolve these ethical issues. Depending on the nature of business and client’s requirements, the ethical considerations can be different. Being a paralegal, it seems necessary to know the needs of clients and understand their requirements. Understanding the personal and financial affairs of clients can help to come up with some effective decisions or solutions. However, it is important to achieve excellence by considering ethical values as well.
Major Ethical Issues and Considerations
Confidentiality of the Information
When working with different clients, the most important thing is to keep their information secret. Revealing personal information of clients to gain any personal benefits is an ethical issue, which can be resolved by taking some measures. The credibility of a paralegal becomes controversial if the information is not kept safe. It is a fact that the client has to provide important and personal information or insights to make their case strong and authentic. However, it is not to be revealed without the consent of the client. Even if the revealing of personal information without the client’s consent leads to positive results for the client, the act in itself is still considered unethical. The relationship of paralegal and client is based on the confidentiality of the information. For Instance, if the paralegal wants to maintain a long-term relationship, along with the client’s loyalty; the confidentiality of the information is impertinent. Working as a paralegal is not easy, it contains complexities. For Instance, the client may not want to reveal information due to the vulnerability and chances of potential damage and embarrassment to the position of the client. However, if the paralegal ensures the confidentiality of the information, the client can use open communication, which helps the paralegal to understand important insights (Schneeman, 2012).
Legal Advice
Another ethical issue is that even working with attorneys; the paralegals cannot offer any legal advice to the client. In the absence of attorneys, the paralegal often offers legal advice to the client, which may create many problems. Normally, it has been observed that the paralegal does not have the expertise to understand the legal complexities. Thus, providing the legal advice seems unethical and is also considered unlawful. For Instance, in the absence of the attorney, the paralegal has to attend many calls from clients. However, despite having enough knowledge and experience, the paralegal has to remind the client about his qualification, role, and authority. Unfortunately, even with all the precautions, situations occur when paralegals provide legal advice in the absence of their attorneys. It is an unethical practice (Beets, 2011).
Unauthorized Practice of Law
The third ethical issue, derived from the content is the unauthorized practice of the law. Working as a paralegal seems a big challenge due to the complexities of the law. For Instance, in the Joanne Zern’s case, the unauthorized practice of law includes fee setting, offering legal advice, and signing some legal documents (Blodgett, 2011). Interestingly, the client does not know the different legal complexities and impact of these ethical issues in the case. However, being a paralegal, Joanne Zern must have to consider the ethical consideration as well (Schneeman, 2012)
Solutions
Confidentiality of the Information
The best solution to keep the information confidential is to avoid the information, which is usually gained by overhearing. For Instance, being a paralegal, one should avoid meeting the client on behalf of the office. The most important thing is to give less value to this conservation. The purpose is to streamline the role and advice of the attorney in the case. Defining roles and separating different tasks in the legal process is a good approach, which looks ethical. Also, it is necessary for the paralegal to conduct different meetings with different clients outside the office (Schneeman, 2012). The chances of overhearing conversations can be eliminated through this consideration. It seems a pertinent solution to this ethical issue, as outside places are good choices to keep information secret (Beets, 2011). Normally, it has been observed that the paralegal usually does not check the emailing process. For Instance, the chances of sending wrong documents to clients are high. Thus, double-checking the email before sending different documents is a pertinent solution regarding this particular ethical issue. In offices, it is to be ensured that information is not easily visible and accessible. Some information and insights are to be kept secret in offices. Thus, making everything invisible is a good approach to reduce the chances of information leakage (Svensson & Wood, 2008).
Legal Advice
Instead of providing or offering the legal advice to clients, the paralegal must have to find some ways to communicate with the attorney. It is important to clarify the role and qualification to the client, as he will then give less value to different legal pieces of advice or ideas, which have been streamlined by the paralegal (Schneeman, 2012). Interestingly, if the paralegal depicts its authority to the client, this issue can also be diminished effectiveness. The client may force the paralegal to communicate with the attorney to have legal advice. It is a good approach, which effectively depicts the ethical considerations. In this case, the role of the client is important; the client can build trust and harmony in this case (Hazels, 2015).
Unauthorized Practice of Law
The unauthorized practice of the law is the biggest problem or ethical issue in the legal process. However, there are some solutions or traits to overcome this issue. First, the paralegal must have to disclose his or her status on the letterhead and business cards. It will cause the conversations with the client to be limited due to this elaborated status (Singh, 2015). Also, when forwarding or depicting a legal document to clients, the need of the signature or stamp of the attorney to justify the authority of the attorney and his role in the legal process should be ensured (Beets, 2011). The client can be educated not to take any document, which is not signed or stamped by the attorney. There are different documents which have to be processed by the paralegal. These documents may contain the legal opinion, which needs the signature or stamp. Thus, this consideration shows the implementation of ethical practices (Schneeman, 2012).
Furthermore, to maintain the legality and ethics of the work, it is necessary to communicate with the attorney. There may be different issues which can be communicated to the attorney. By using his authority, which is triggered by law, he can provide opinion and sustain the legal process. Thus, instead of offering or executing different things, it is better to follow the law first (Blodgett, 2011).
Moreover, the best solution of this ethical issue is to avoid the representation of the client on behalf of attorney despite having the approval from the attorney. For avoiding different legal complexities, it is necessary to guide the client through the legal process. If the paralegal represents the clients on behalf of the attorney, complexities may arise for the client. Thus, to gain some personal benefits, the paralegal cannot put the case of the client on a risk.
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that the role of a paralegal and attorney is quite different, and this difference must be kept in consideration to demonstrate some ethical values. In the legal process, it is necessary for the paralegal to avoid all ethical issues to enhance the legal process consistency and credibility. Working with ethical values makes outputs of the legal process quite predictable. Despite having some loopholes and flaws in the legal process, the main intention of the paralegal is to follow laws and carry ethical values, which have been depicted in different solutions. Through clearly defining of roles, responsibilities, and authorities, many unethical practices can be restrained.
References
Beets, S. D. (2011). Critical Events in the Ethics of U.S. Corporation History. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(2), 193-219.
Blodgett, M. S. (2011). Substantive Ethics: Integrating Law and Ethics in Corporate Ethics Programs. Journal of Business Ethics, 99, 39-48.
Hazels, T. (2015). Ethics And Morality: What Should Be Taught In Business Law? Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 19(2), 77-89.
Schneeman, A. (2012). The Law of Corporations and Other Business Organizations. Cengage Learning.
Singh, J. B. (2015). Changes in the contents of corporate codes of ethics: an institutional interpretation. European Business Review, 27(4), 369-388.
Svensson, G., & Wood, G. (2008). A Model of Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 77(3), 303.
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