Talk:Paralegal

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Bearian 01:03, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

 Paralegal was a good article nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There are suggestions below for improving the article. Once these are addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Reviewed version: No date specified. To provide a date use: {{FailedGA|insert date in any format here}}
The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but the tone of the section "Paralegals in todays fast paced world" is unprofessional and sounds more like a promotional brochure for becoming a paralegal.

I don't want to just go in and delete it, but... Any thoughts?

December 8, 2005: It seems that since I extensively edited and expanded this article in August, it has become the target of vandalism and a magnet for advertizements. I have today deleted an advertizement paragraph inserted for Humber College Paralegal Program. If someone wants to write about Paralegals in Canada, or England, that's fine and welcome. But what I saw was nothing but an inappropriate undisguised advertizement in the middle of my Levels of Education section. A section about Canadian Paralegals or English Paralegals should be added separately and should conform to the standards of the encyclopedia.

The new paragraph on the AAIP is almost an advertizement as well, but I let it stand because it's close enough, though I probably could be made a bit more "encyclopedic." If someone feels otherwise, or the Wikkipedia staff thinks it's an ad, then delete it.

By GestaltG, the Paralegal in Pittsburgh

Contents

[edit] Proposed inclusion of the history of Paralegals

September 16, 2006: H. Lee Turner and Elizabeth L. Turner are credited with the creation of the Paralegal system in the United States. H. Lee Turner was the founding member of the ABA Section of Economics of Law Practice which formalized the paralegal practice and standards. I propose the inclusion of a "history of the Paralegal" section -- because there is a surprising twist here. One twist is that the principle driver for paralegals was H. Lee Turner's incredible ability to handle 100 trial cases at once and he could no longer scale to meet the paperwork demands. The other twist is the inclusion of talented women in Central Kansas in the 1970s whose prospects for professional employment were slim. H. Lee Turner's bio is available from http://www.tfarms.com/media/bios/H_Lee_Turner/index.html . An audio interview of H. Lee Turner concerning this development is available, and I would be interested in learning if early training manuals from the 1970s are of interest too so as to document the development of this field.

Please advise as to the next step if you are interested in such materials.

By Chase, son of H. Lee Turner and Elizabeth L. Turner

[edit] England: Legal Executives and Paralegals

Is a Legal Executive in England and Wales equivalent to a paralegal in the US? Legal executives in England and Wales must undergo a training course set by the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) and are strictly different from legal secretaries. I don't know if the term "paralegal" is ever used in England and Wales, and I think it would be useful to clear up this point in the article, which doesn't really mention any jurisdictions outside the US. Walton monarchist89 11:03, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

  • No, in England a legal executive is a type of lawyer along with solicitors and barristers.71.163.195.52 23:57, 15 July 2007 (UTC)
  • I am sorry, but I have never heard of a "legal executive." Take a look at the definition of a paralegal and what paralegals do at work, and see if the description of a paralegal matches up with what you call a "legal executive." I know that we don't have anyone with that title here in the United States. I'd be interested to know if you guys call Paralegals "legal executives." Stiles 01:58, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

What a patronising response Stiles, I'm sure Walton is quite capable of making such a comparison under their own initiative. I think Walton was wanting to know if there is a similar accredited qualification in the USA, equivalent to Legal Executive. We do have Paralegals here in the UK, however, it is usually a title reserved for graduates in law firms awaiting training contracts to qualify as a solicitor. I will add more to the article regarding this in due course. Michaeltyne 10:29, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

  • I did not mean to come off as patronising. That wasn't my intention. Thank you for answering his question. Stiles 21:26, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

For what it's worth, paralegal is definitely used in England. When I recently used a solicitor, paralegals were amongst the people listed in the information about how much each level of practitioner would cost per hour... i.e. the price list! – Kieran T (talk) 00:16, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] FailedGA

Lead is too small, see WP:LEAD, references is only a few external links, I'm positive that books can be found, Thanks --Jaranda wat's sup 20:41, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copyvio

It appears that a large of sections in this article are copyvios from http://www.paralegalcertification.biz/Paralegal-Titles.asp and related articles on that page. (No copyright notice, but it is a commercial site, since it has google ads). I'm going to do my best to remove the infringing sections and the article will have to be reworked from there. Peyna 14:13, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

I decided to hold off on this until I can be more certain this is a copyvio; it does smell like one (lack of links, identical content, etc.), but my concern is that the site I referenced may be some kind of wikipedia mirror that isn't properly acknowledging that. Peyna 14:17, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Since it appears someone else looked over this and agreed with me (from their edits to the page and the copyvio page), I've gone ahead and removed the other potentially infringing sections. Peyna 11:57, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unnecessary and/or innaccurate sentence

I'm a huge fan of L&O, but this sentence just doesn't make sense:

When opposing counsel on the television program Law & Order dramatically produces a motion and brief from his or her coat pocket or briefcase at the proper moment, it is often the case that a team of unnamed paralegals, law clerks, and/or junior associate attorneys had a lot to do with it.

Oh? I could have sworn that the prop people were involved. The conflation of television and reality is jarring and misleading. Is this sentence (and the rest of the paragraph it's in, under Paralegals in literature and television) even necessary? 76.27.94.3 (talk) 21:48, 17 April 2008 (UTC)