Ethics and Professional Conduct for Paralegals

This presentation discusses the importance of ethics and professional conduct for paralegals in maintaining integrity and competence. It covers topics such as uncertified law practice, respect for client privilege, avoiding conflicts of interest, and disclosing paralegal status to clients. The presentation emphasizes the need for paralegals to have the necessary knowledge and follow an ethical code of conduct in their profession.

LAW AND SOCIETY

Introduction
 The legal professions have to follow
the ethical rules and standards in
order to maintain peace and integrity.
 Unethical conduct carried out by a
legal profession can lead to a breach
of the laws and regulations.
 Ethics training can help the paralegals
to carry out their tasks in an ethical
manner.

Integrity and competence
 The paralegals have to maintain professional
conduct as they represent the legal rules and
regulations.
 Integrity and competence are needed to be
considered by the paralegals in their profession.
 The paralegals should carry out their tasks with
precision and diligence (Kirton & Madunic,
2009).
 The paralegals should work on their
understanding and skills in order to ensure
integrity and competence.

Integrity and competence
 The paralegals who work on their
professions are seen to be growing
rapidly in their career.
 If the paralegal completes his or her
work without facing any conflicts
then it is ethical to conduct.
 It can be seen that the paralegals are
being appreciated by the clients and
lawyer.

Uncertified law practice
 The paralegals carry out their works
with the lawyers but they have to
understand that they should avoid any
unauthorized or uncertified law practice.
 The legal works should not be carried
out for any personal gains.
 Paralegal needs to have the necessary
knowledge because they assist the
clients to overcome from the legal
issues.

Uncertified law practice
 It is being seen that the paralegals are
involved in the unauthorized law
practice for any personal reasons.
 If any unauthorized law practice is
determined then serious repercussions
can be expected as per the law.
 It is expected that the paralegal should
not set fees for different legal services.

Respect client privilege
 Paralegal client privilege is the
confidentiality which allows the client to
speak freely with their representative.
 Paralegals are not allowed to share this
information outside of the legal team
(Stelmasiak, Bielecki & Ruczkowski,
2013).
 Sharing any of the information can be a
violation of paralegal client privilege.

Respect client privilege
 Paralegals must take extreme caution
while communication with the clients via
email, chat or text.
 If a paralegal share any information
about a client with a person who is not
associated with the case will violate
client privilege.
 Paralegals must avoid sharing
information via email or text as these
form of communications are not secured.

Stay away from conflict of interest
 Paralegals should always avoid working on
those cases that may cause a conflict of
interest between past clients and the job of
their present employer.
 The information which is known to him can
be destructive to any of the parties.
 If paralegal comes across with such a case
they must inform the lawyers for whom they
are working for.
 They should ask the lawyer to be excused
from working on such a case.

Stay away from conflict of interest
 If a paralegal is working for two
different clients with opposing
interest, the paralegal has the
information that might be harmful to
any of those clients.
 This may also happen if the
paralegal is no longer working for
any one of those clients.

Disclose paralegal status to clients
 Paralegals should disclose to clients that
they are not lawyers but paralegals
working under the supervision of
attorneys.
 Paralegals must not assume that the
person already knows that he is a
paralegal, not a lawyer.
 People assume that whoever is working
in a law firm is a lawyer and assuming
that they might seek for legal advice.

Disclose paralegal status
to clients
 A paralegal is having a conversation
with others if he has to introduce
himself and let them know that he is
not a lawyer but a paralegal and he
won't be able to give any legal
advice.
 It will be very hard to save him from
being claimed that he has
participated accidentally in the

Multiple choice questions
 A paralegal is allowed to give legal advice at a real estate case.
 It is ethical for paralegals to intimate clients with the firm’s fee for a
particular type of case.
 Paralegals are authorized to draft pleadings and correspondence for
review by the lawyer.
 A paralegal receives a jacket as a thank you gift from his clients and it is
acceptable for a paralegal.
 Only lawyers are bound by the rule of client confidentiality, not
paralegals.
 Paralegals should not disclose personal information of the clients.
 Paralegals disclosing the client’s information to any third party are
considered to be unethical.
 The paralegals should not work which includes conflicts of interest.
 The paralegals using information derived from a client will be a limitation
for the other client.
 The paralegals should provide information regarding their profession to
the clients.

Conclusion
 Paralegals are expected to carry out
their job in an ethical manner.
 Paralegals should have the
necessary knowledge regarding their
profession and law.
 Paralegals should follow an ethical
code of conduct in an appropriate
manner.

References
 Kirton, J., & Madunic, J.
(2009). Global law (10th ed.).
Farnham: Ashgate.
 Stelmasiak, J., Bielecki, L., &
Ruczkowski, P. (2013). Legal
studies (8th ed.). München:
Hieronymus Verlag.