A family law paralegal is a legal assistant who works with family law attorneys. The paralegal may conduct legal research, investigate the facts of a case that an attorney is attempting to resolve, draft letters or other documents for clients, or otherwise assist an attorney in representing a client. Because family law is a situation in which low-income people may require legal assistance but cannot afford an attorney, family law paralegals may work in clinics without the assistance of an attorney or provide legal assistance in other ways, such as assisting clients in filling out forms. Paralegals are not permitted to provide legal advice in the United States by law.
Attorneys who practice family law deal with a wide range of issues. Divorce, child custody, child abuse, child neglect or endangerment, allegations of domestic violence, cases in which children commit crimes, and any other situation in which the legal issue is primarily a matter between family members are all common issues handled. These lawyers may be required to perform a variety of tasks in order to assist their clients, and a family law paralegal will assist them with all of them.
An attorney may need to prove his client’s spouse is hiding assets in a divorce case, for example. He may also have to show that there is legal precedent for annulling a prenuptial agreement in situations similar to the client’s. In general, a family law attorney must do two things to prove his client’s case in every situation: collect data on the facts of the case and research what the law is and how it has been applied in similar situations so he can persuade the court to apply the law in that manner in the given case.
All of these tasks can be assisted by a family law paralegal. For example, a family law paralegal might hire a private investigator and instruct him or her to gather information on a spouse’s infidelity or money smuggling out of joint bank accounts. The family law paralegal, on the other hand, may conduct legal research using law books or online databases like Lexis Nexis and Westlaw to find cases where a judge has dealt with a similar situation. Because the United States’ legal system is based on common law, which means that judges will follow precedent or rulings made by previous judges, determining how a judge has applied the law in a similar case can be crucial to assisting a client.