Practice management · Paralegal, trainee, supervising associate, practice manager
A paralegal's first week
A paralegal joins the corporate team on Monday and by Friday has run a research question, filled a 378-cell due diligence grid, hit the limit of what a paralegal seat can do, and produced a memo the partner signs off.
- Agents
- First draft
- A checked chat answer inside a day one; a supervised memo by the end of the week.
- Steps
- 5
The problem
Step 01 of 05
Join and ask the first question
The paralegal lands on a shorter member checklist and answers a change-of-control question on the customer contracts, with source chips the associate checks.
Step 02 of 05
Run the grid
A 378-cell due diligence grid is filled unattended; the paralegal sorts by red flags and writes the covering note on the fourteen exceptions.
Step 03 of 05
Hit the limit
A research answer on an unrelated matter needs the paralegal to be added to it first; sharing a run to a client and signing off remain fee-earner and partner actions.
Step 04 of 05
Produce a supervised memo
The Contract Agent runs a memo on the NDA against the board minutes; the paralegal answers the open questions they can and re-runs it, but does not tick the action items.
Step 05 of 05
Close the week
The matter timeline shows the week in order for the file notes, and the billing page's cost-by-matter panel shows where the week's usage went.
What comes back
A document, not a transcript.
- A checked chat answer with source chips, verified by the associate in minutes rather than read from scratch.
- A completed due diligence grid with the exceptions sorted and a covering note.
- A Work-Stream Memo with the action items left for the fee-earner and partner to confirm.
- A matter timeline recording the whole week in order, for the paralegal's own file notes.
Authorities it checks
- Law of Property Act 1925, s.146(11)
- County Courts Act 1984, s.138
- Billson v Residential Apartments Ltd
- Shiloh Spinners Ltd v Harding
- Toms v Ruberry
What it does not do
- A paralegal cannot see a matter they are not on, and cannot share a run to a client or tick its action items.
- It does not remove supervision. The product makes the supervisor's check cheap enough to actually do, it does not replace it.
- It does not let a junior seat sign off a memo; that action stays with the fee-earner and the partner.