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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

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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