Queensland Chief Justice Paul de Jersey has called for a national ban on the term "paralegal" after a series of firms passed off secretaries as paralegals and charged clients some serious wedge for their services.
Whilst the title of paralegal is supposed to provide some comfort that the employee has at least a modicum of legal training, de Jersey reckons that it's being used by unscrupulous lawyers to milk clients for mundane admin work. According to a report in the Australian, he claims that some firms have been charging out unqualified support staff at $300 an hour (many of whom themselves only trousered a measly $20 an hour).
The same judge recently suspended a senior partner at Shine Lawyers (the firm that signed up Erin Brockovich as a brand ambassador) over the practice. He accused the firm of "an intolerable rapacity" after a client was billed $300 for an hour's secretarial work, including tasks such as wrapping a box of choclates to send to a medical expert.
And this week as if on cue, an document evidencing pay rates at Shine Lawyers was leaked to gossip site Firm Spy. Unsurprisingly the rates of pay for support staff were significantly lower than $300...
Shine Lawyers refused to confirm the accuracy of the pay rates and whether or not Shine has since changed its approach to billing. Shine's PR manager was apparently taking some well-earned leave at the time of publishing.
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Whilst the title of paralegal is supposed to provide some comfort that the employee has at least a modicum of legal training, de Jersey reckons that it's being used by unscrupulous lawyers to milk clients for mundane admin work. According to a report in the Australian, he claims that some firms have been charging out unqualified support staff at $300 an hour (many of whom themselves only trousered a measly $20 an hour).
The same judge recently suspended a senior partner at Shine Lawyers (the firm that signed up Erin Brockovich as a brand ambassador) over the practice. He accused the firm of "an intolerable rapacity" after a client was billed $300 for an hour's secretarial work, including tasks such as wrapping a box of choclates to send to a medical expert.
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Ms Brockovich may have her work cut out as brand ambassador to Shine Lawyers |
And this week as if on cue, an document evidencing pay rates at Shine Lawyers was leaked to gossip site Firm Spy. Unsurprisingly the rates of pay for support staff were significantly lower than $300...
Shine Lawyers refused to confirm the accuracy of the pay rates and whether or not Shine has since changed its approach to billing. Shine's PR manager was apparently taking some well-earned leave at the time of publishing.