Personal Injury Legal Assistant Position
A legal assistant is an essential position within any law firm. And where a firm specializes in personal injury, then the role of legal assistant becomes even more critical. The sooner you have a full time personal injury legal assistant the better in terms of increasing the efficiency and productivity of your practice. If your personal injury firm is busy, it makes a lot of sense to have legal assistants who are highly trained on PI cases, who can hit the ground running and bring themselves and the firm up to speed with minimal fuss.
Let’s take a step back for a moment and consider what PI legal assistant is. Basically it is a legal secretary who has a high degree of training and experience in handling personal injury claims files. These people have usually been doing this type of work for several years and know the ropes inside and out. There is a lot of administrative work involved in the day to day management of PI files, and someone has to do it, and if you do not have legal assistants to take care of it then the lawyers at the firm will inevitably find themselves having to pick-up some of the slack.
For example, in a personal injury file, claims need to be filed, there might be several insurance companies involved, medical records will need to be ordered and reviewed, doctors need to be visited for both testing (for example an MRI scan) and for opinions as to treatment, discovery motions needs to be filed, client meetings take place, pleadings need to be filed, letters sent and so forth .
All of that is work that needs to get done. As a firm gets busier, the lawyers will find that their time starts to get short and they are spending a lot less time with their clients and more time dealing with PI administrative work that really does not require their skill level as a lawyer. These are people who took many years in University and went through an expensive law school in order to become an expert in law, yet they might now be spending too much time on the telephone, typing letters, running around to the court, and filing documents.
As a firm gets larger there becomes a pressing need for legal assistants to look after this type of work. Even though in many personal injury cases the law is the same across the board, the facts of the case vary significantly from case to case. You cannot get away from the fact that there is much to do in terms of filing and tracking this work. There are expert reports, discovey responses, court dates, doctor’s reports, medical records, witnesses, written statements, insurance paperwork, paystubs, rehabilitation records, whatever it is, there is a lot going on in a PI file and the bottom line is that someone has look after it.
It should be obvious then that finding a person who can do this for your firm is important. It will free up the firm to spend more time doing more productive things which over time will lead to an increase in revenue and profit. The better your firm runs, the more productive it is, the more successful it will be.
Primary Responsibilities and Tasks
The day-to-day duties and responsibilities of a personal injury legal assistant include responding to client inquiries, drafting and preparing legal documents, managing the administrative aspects of litigation, and keeping detailed notes in client case management systems. When a potential client calls or walks into the PI office seeking help with a potential personal injury case, the personal injury paralegal’s role involves answering questions, completing an initial case intake, scheduling appointments with supervising attorneys, and communicating all relevant information to the litigation attorney. In this role, personal injury paralegals must have well-developed professional communication skills and be able to effectively manage and respond to telephone calls, emails, and physical mail. Paralegals who are properly trained to handle a personal injury practice area will also be able to understand the basics of the law, legal fallacies, and common legal jargon. Paralegals play a primary role in drafting a variety of legal documents for personal injury related cases. Some of the common documents that personal injury paralegals must be able to prepare are: Because most personal injury litigation is handled on a contingency fee basis, it is critical for the paralegal to be able to properly manage the file from the moment it comes into the firm until the time it’s wrapped up. The eventual resolution of the claim is the payment of a settlement or verdict amount. Personal injury paralegals must be able to stay organized throughout the entire life of the file. Keeping accurate time records and ensuring that the file contains accurate documentation related to the case are two of the most important duties of a paralegal. Thoroughness and attention to detail are essential to the proper maintenance of even the simplest of injury claim cases.
Key Skills and Qualifications
A personal injury legal assistant is usually required to have a combination of technical legal skills and a lot of soft skills. The technical requirements are often a little more stringent than other types of legal assistant jobs because it is a complex area with lots of nuances. At the same time, personal injury law is a highly client driven area that requires you to pay more attention to your soft skills than a lot of other areas of law would.
This is one of the few legal assistant jobs that do not require paralegal certification. Practical experience of at least four years working in the industry is typically preferred.
Paralegal certification is only required for those promotional opportunities that include a paralegal title.
Here are some examples of the right combination of technical legal skills and soft skills:
This may seem like an excessive amount of skills for what is essentially an administrative job, but a personal injury legal assistant has to be able to do a little bit of everything because deadlines and administrative tasks have to happen no matter what. On top of that, the day-to-day workings of a personal injury law firm require that you understand how to do things with and for your clients. Those clients have a lot of complicated issues going on that they really need for their legal assistants to understand from a soft skill perspective.
As you can see, personal injury legal assistant jobs are really about being part administrative support and part social worker for the clients. Only certain people will be able to make it through an interview process to really be a personal injury legal assistant where the lawyer’s client relationships truly rely on your skills.
Educational, Licensing, and Professional Requirements
While formal education is typically not required, many candidates find that earning a relevant associate degree or degree completion program in paralegal studies opens more doors and connects them with more sophisticated employers. Associate degree programs may be offered at traditional community colleges or through online providers. Employers are also likely to look favorably on appropriate volunteer experience obtained through nonprofits or legal clinics.
There are also many relevant certifications on offer . These are often available without a requirement for an existing degree in a related field, but require an understanding of relevant terminology and concepts, which ideally should be obtained through other means.
A paralegal certification from the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) will indicate a familiarity with ethical standards, the civil justice system, research and analytical methodologies, and case management, among other relevant concerns. The American Alliance of Paralegals (AAP) certification is somewhat respected among private practitioners, while a Professional Manager certification from NALS is more valuable in more administrative settings.
Career Challenges and Opportunities
A personal injury legal assistant must be able to adapt to change quickly and easily. The nature of personal injury law is that it is always developing. The attorney and paralegal must stay abreast of the developments in the law to ensure that their client is receiving the best representation possible. For example, there are constant developments in Tort reform legislation, liability laws and even procedure of the litigation process.
The legal assistant must also be prepared to handle a large terminology and technological learning curve. From learning the terms relevant to personal injury, to getting up to speed on the various computer programs used by the firm, the term "learning curve" does not truly apply to a personal injury legal assistant. A legal assistant must hit the ground running the moment he or she enters the working environment. Many law firms still utilize dictation programs for drafting of documents. A legal assistant may be responsible for some of the dictations he or she types.
Despite all of these challenges, there is great opportunity for growth as a legal assistant and in the legal field as a whole. Legal assistants may advance their education and become paralegals and/or attorneys. For this reason, many law firms will help pay for their employees to take paralegal or law courses. Personal injury law also allows legal assistants the opportunity to work on a wide array of cases. A legal assistant will be exposed to many different types of legal issues during his or her employment with a firm.
The Influence of Technology on the Field
With the advent of technology, an array of digital legal folding tools were developed to assist personal injury lawyers and their clients in the accomplishment of their legal goals. For instance, there are specialized software programs for drafting legal documents from pre-set templates which include all necessary components of a given document. Such programs not only save time, but also provide legal assistants with templates of all required legal forms and paperwork for each practice area. The electronic formatting and filing of legal documents with e-filing has made it much easier for legal assistants to file exhibit lists, transcripts, pleadings and other court documents. In addition, there are specialized practice management applications for case handling and paralegal collaboration. Such platforms, when adopted by law firms, enable legal assistants to share documents, contacts, related emails , and calendars in one secure collaboration space. Cloud filing systems have been created which enable legal assistants who must perform legal research via the Internet to share the results with their legal team. Legal assistants can use such systems to store research findings, share findings and organize research documents. Files are indexed or tagged so they can be easily accessed by associates and attorneys who are involved in the handling of the same cases and clients. Another aspect of the impact of technology on the work of a legal assistant is the evolution of email and texting. Attorneys and their legal assistants now communicate via email, and also text to coordinate schedules, deadlines and case parameters. The ability to use email and texting, however, also has the downside for the legal assistant to have to keep herself available at all hours to answer questions and provide updates to her supervising attorney. While it used to be that a legal assistant enjoyed the benefits of a set office schedule and job security, now she must keep available 24/7 for law firm emergencies or deadlines.