My Lawyer has a Paralegal or “Legal Assistant” to Work with me. Does that Mean that My Case Will Cost me Less?

Not usually. Overall—no, it doesn’t save you money. Here’s why—

A few years ago the San Diego County Bar Association published a figure that lawyers who were Certified Family Law Specialists (that is, certified as having specialized knowledge in the field of family law by the Board of Legal Specialization, State Bar of California) were approximately 1% of all of the lawyers in San Diego County. What I was experiencing was the same thing that other certified specialist attorneys noticed—that they couldn’t work with all the individuals who were calling their office (by virtue of the certification). Many specialist attorneys decided to hire a lawyer who had recently passed the Bar exam; or, to hire a “legal assistant” (formerly known as a “secretary” in the 1960s). The specialist would perform the initial office appointment for the new client’s case. Thereafter, the new client would be working with the “legal assistant”. The lawyer would see you again when the case went to court.

The Problems with this Arrangement are Several:

• You (the new client) would never have hired an untrained person to handle your case in the first place. You were shopping for a certified specialist and you ended up with a paralegal.
• Your specialist attorney doesn’t recognize you when your case goes to court. Worse, the attorney knows little about your case as the attorney did not work your case up.
• The attorney, in court, mutters that this or that should never have been done. This is all the result of the attorney, in trying to take as many cases as possible, did not personally work the case up.
• You find that your case is going to court over and over. As a general rule, the less knowledgeable the lawyer, (and in this case, the new client’s case is being prepared by a paralegal or new lawyer), the more aggressive the case becomes. (This is often true of “pro pers” (self represented people) in court.) The reason is that the unknowledgeable person doesn’t know how to settle the case as he/she doesn’t know when they have a good deal. Thus, all motions and issues go to the judge.
• You find that your legal bill is astronomical.

The bottom line is that the law office that houses secretaries, paralegals, new attorneys on staff, etc. is going to pay these people a good salary. Or, more correctly, you are.

But wait—they said that since they have persons on the staff who charge an hourly rate less than the certified specialist attorney’s rate, your final bill will be less than if you worked with only one attorney. Even if that one attorney is a certified specialist in family law. I rarely find this to be the case. I believe that a case should be handled from beginning to end with one lawyer.

For answers to your Divorce and Family Law Questions, we had prepared a handy FAQ to help you get answers to these very important questions.