An LDA (legal document assistant) is an American professional who assists self-represented clients in preparing the paperwork needed to appear in court. An independent document technician, or legal document preparer, is not a lawyer or a paralegal, but rather a legal document assistant. Individual states define the role of the LDA and the specific tasks that an LDA can perform for a client, so LDA activities that are permitted in one state may be prohibited in another. Individuals who are found to be practicing law without a license in the United States face harsh penalties, and how states interpret that prohibition in the legal document assistant space varies greatly.
Most legal document assistants provide legal assistance and support to individuals in the same way that paralegals do for lawyers. In the majority of U.S. jurisdictions, paralegals assist and prepare documents for lawyers, but they are not permitted to interact directly with clients. Clients can only be advised and worked with lawyers. Lawyers are expensive, but for routine matters, many clients only require minor assistance with documents and filings. The legal document assistant comes in handy here.
Many people attribute the rise in the legal document assistant profession to the rising cost and frequency of litigation across the United States. Legal document assistants essentially serve as the legal pen for a pro se client in court. The LDA cannot represent the client; he or she must represent himself. However, the LDA can assist the client in making sure that all of his or her filings and documents are in order.
The client is usually the one who is in charge of the paperwork. Typically, the legal document assistant’s job is limited to filling out and filing the client’s documents. Without risking crossing the legal practice line, the legal document assistant cannot usually recommend which documents to file or advise a client on how to manage his case.
Regardless, the legal document preparer provides an appealing service to a client who knows exactly what he wants. Clients usually know exactly how they want to proceed in cases like uncontested divorces, property conveyances, corporation formation, and some adoptions, but getting there in writing is often more difficult. Incomplete or incorrectly filed paperwork can cause a case’s progress to be significantly slowed. In the course of representing a client, lawyers typically provide the same document services as LDAs, but lawyers’ services are typically quite expensive.
Many legal document assistants, but not all, have worked as paralegals or legal secretaries. The requirements for legal document assistant training and qualifications vary jurisdiction. Legal document assistants are legal technicians who can assist clients for a fraction of the cost of an attorney, but they are not free. To make an LDA worthwhile in terms of both time and money, the client must have a clear idea of how he intends to proceed. A licensed attorney should be consulted a client who requires advice on matters other than how to file known documents.
As the Internet and the ability to electronically file documents become more common, many legal document assistants’ roles have evolved to include knowledge of both legal document preparation specifications and the nuances of legal preparation software. In today’s world, an LDA frequently doubles as an online legal document provider. The Internet has made it easier to file and submit legal documents, but it hasn’t changed any of the strict formatting or content requirements that courts impose on legal documents.