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A paralegal revolution or robot wars?

09 June 2017 / Rita Leat
Issue: 7749 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Rita Leat charts the rise & rise of the fourth arm of the legal profession

There is little doubt or disagreement that paralegals are the backbone of the legal services industry. In 2016, the Professional Paralegal Register announced that professional paralegals were now the fourth arm of the legal profession with 2,000+ members willing to take up its voluntary regulatory scheme that can protect consumers.

There are an estimated 120,000 paralegals operating in the UK, both on an employed and self-employed basis in law firms, companies, local authorities and charities. The growth of the paralegal sector has been phenomenal over the last five years and shows no sign of declining any time soon. Demand for cost effective legal services has reached breaking point especially in the areas of housing and benefit law where many solicitors are choosing not to offer these services for commercial reasons.

We have all acknowledged the need for litigants in person to have access to justice and paralegals are leading the way in this regard. However, is this growth

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

Blake Morgan managing partner appointed chair of CBI South-East Council

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Commercial dispute resolution team welcomes partner in Cambridge

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Firm strengthens international funds capability with senior hire

NEWS
The proposed £11bn redress scheme following the Supreme Court’s motor finance rulings is analysed in this week’s NLJ by Fred Philpott of Gough Square Chambers
In this week's issue, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist and former district judge, surveys another eclectic fortnight in procedure. With humour and humanity, he reminds readers that beneath the procedural dust, the law still changes lives
Generative AI isn’t the villain of the courtroom—it’s the misunderstanding of it that’s dangerous, argues Dr Alan Ma of Birmingham City University and the Birmingham Law Society in this week's NLJ
James Naylor of Naylor Solicitors dissects the government’s plan to outlaw upward-only rent review (UORR) clauses in new commercial leases under Schedule 31 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, in this week's NLJ. The reform, he explains, marks a seismic shift in landlord-tenant power dynamics: rents will no longer rise inexorably, and tenants gain statutory caps and procedural rights
Writing in NLJ this week, James Harrison and Jenna Coad of Penningtons Manches Cooper chart the Privy Council’s demolition of the long-standing ‘shareholder rule’ in Jardine Strategic v Oasis Investments
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