Paralegals have many responsibilities delegated to them by lawyers, but these responsibilities differ greatly depending on what type of organization is employing them. As the complexity of the area of law they work in increases, a paralegal’s duties become far more specialized, as well. Paralegals conduct legal research of various kinds using specific computer software and/or Internet databases. Other paralegal duties include:

• Conducting interviews with and speaking frequently with clients of a law office, provided they do not provide legal advice
• Finding and interviewing witnesses connected to a case
• Investigating the facts involved with cases, alongside statistical and document research
• Obtaining affidavits
• Drafting legal documents, pleadings and correspondence with various parties involved with cases
• Making summaries of depositions, interrogatories and testimony
• Being present with the lawyer(s) when they attend trials, depositions, will executions, real estate closings or court or administrative hearings
• Maintaining and organizing reference files so that they are easily accessible to the lawyer

While the above-mentioned bullet points are general paralegal tasks, different tasks are required of more specialized paralegals. Some of the special areas in the law field where paralegals are employed include litigation, personal injury, corporate law, criminal law, intellectual property, employee benefits, labor law, bankruptcy, immigration, family law and real estate. Here are some examples where a paralegal’s job duties are specific to where they work:

• Paralegals who specialize in labor law may concentrate their efforts solely on employee benefits, and everything they research and every document they draft will relate to that area of law
• Corporate paralegals are tasked with helping lawyers with employee contracts and benefit plans, shareholder agreements and stock-option plans. They may also be tasked with preparing and filing the year’s financial reports, organizing corporate minutes’ record resolutions and drafting forms to secure loans for the corporation. Veteran corporate paralegals may take on a supervisory role and even oversee corporate projects
• Community legal-service paralegals are directly involved with helping the poor, the elderly or others in need of legal assistance. The paralegal’s typical duties of research, form filing and document drafting are focused on assisting these people groups