The long read: Why your paralegals hate you

The paralegal is one of the most ill-defined jobs in the legal world.

There is no set definition of the role, with some paralegals working as highly experienced specialists in one practice area and others engaged in high-volume, low-value work or non-legal dogsbody tasks.

Paralegals are increasing in number. Law firms have realised they are a hard-working, low-cost source of labour and are taking advantage of the huge pool of unemployed Legal Practice Course (LPC) graduates on the market. Yet there is still little oversight of paralegals as a body. The first attempt at regulating them came in 2015 with a Professional Paralegal Register, but as yet this covers a small number of the 200,000 that the National Association of Licensed Paralegals (NALP) estimates there are nationwide.

The paralegal health check survey produced by The Lawyer’s sister title Lawyer 2B is the first snapshot of the state of the market. The survey had more than 1,000 responses and many paralegals went into detail about their working lives, their concerns and their opinion of their superiors.

What do firms actually use paralegals for?

Lawyer 2B’s survey reveals that, for the most part, paralegals are used as trainees in all but name. Half of all those surveyed say the work they are asked to do on a day-to-day basis is essentially the same as that of a trainee. Only about 14 per cent say their daily work is typically lower than trainee-level, while one in five paralegals say their day is spent on tasks above what a trainee would be given. Just 4 per cent of all paralegals say they have “never” done trainee-type work.

There’s no consistency [in awarding training contracts]. HR do what they want based on who their favourites are

However, the wide spread of jobs that paralegals are used for is made plain. Some 60 per cent of those surveyed say they have been given work that a 2PQE lawyer would do “at least once”, while 15 per cent say they do that kind of work “all the time.” But equally, only 14 per cent of paralegals say they have never been asked to do non-legal dogsbody work such as filing or running errands.

In one sense, this is great news for law firms. Paying paralegal wages and getting 2PQE work for it seems like great business. However, worryingly for the profession a substantial minority (14 per cent) of paralegals feel their work is not properly checked and supervised by qualified lawyers. It appears this problem is not confined to just one region or type of firm: paralegals dissatisfied with their supervision come from a mix of firms, from the magic circle to the high street and everywhere in between.

Long hours, poor pay

Equally, the pay discrepancy between paralegals and trainees does not engender love from the former group.

“I feel I work to a similar level as qualified solicitors, bill similar amounts and often put in long hours, but don’t get paid as much,” one survey respondent complains.

Another says the single most demoralising thing about their job is “not earning as much as the qualified solicitor sat next to me doing the same work”.

This sums up the mood of many. The majority of paralegals are unhappy with their salary, with only one in three (36 per cent) agreeing they are fairly paid.

As far as the hours are concerned, according to the Office for National Statistics full-time workers in the UK average around 39.1 paid hours per week. Overall, our survey reveals that the typical paralegal in the UK works an average of 42.

For the  most part, paralegals are used as trainees in  all but name

London-based paralegals work slightly longer on average – 43.5 hours – with those at the magic circle clocking up an average 46.

Three-quarters of those surveyed agree they work just as long hours as the qualified lawyers at their firm (though the percentage was lower among magic circle paralegals). However, even though they are paid less, 55 per cent feel that “too much is expected of paralegals when it comes to working hours” – suggesting that many do accept working as hard as lawyers as part of the job.

Lack of training contract transparency

There have long been stories of paralegals taking jobs because firms make the vague promise of a training contract further down the line. The paralegal slaves away; the training contract never seems to appear. “I was verbally promised a training contract, which was then given to an external candidate at the last hour,” complains one source.

While this problem exists, it seems it is not the norm. Of paralegals working at firms with training schemes, 38 per cent agree that the firm “deliberately dangles the carrot of training contracts in an attempt to make paralegals work harder”. However, 51 per cent disagree (a further 11 per cent were not sure).

Paralegals have less favourable views on the recruitment process, however. Only one-third of paralegals think the process in which their firm recruits its own paralegals onto training contracts is ‘fair and transparent’, with nearly half saying it is not.

“There’s no consistency,” complains a source at a top 50 firm. “HR make the decisions and they do what they want based on who their favourites are that year. Several training contracts have been offered via the back door to people who haven’t even bothered to apply.”

Being referred to as one of the ‘minions’ during a meeting is symptomatic of the air of contempt some lawyers seem to have for their subordinates

Lack of respect

Aside from the hours, the pay and the occasionally tedious work, the final key factor that makes paralegals’ lives a misery is the lack of respect given to them.

Even if it is meant in jest, “being referred to as one of the ‘minions’ during a meeting”, as happened to one North West-based paralegal at a top 50 firm, is symptomatic of the air of contempt some lawyers seem to have for their subordinates.

“I’m treated like something the qualified lawyers have trodden in – until they need their backside hauling out of the fire in a rush,” says one paralegal with more than 10 years’ experience behind him.

To be sure, there are positive stories of paralegals happy working in great teams and being praised for doing good work, but they are outnumbered by tales of paralegals feeling they are on the periphery of teams, being excluded from socials, being patronised and taking the blame to cover their supervisors’ mistakes. When asked about the best aspects of being a paralegal most answers focus on the experience gained or the level of work they get to do rather than how they are treated.

Is it all bad?

Ultimately, is this job hell on earth? How much do your paralegals actually hate you?

We certainly received a lot of complaints and negative comments from our survey respondents but when we asked paralegals whether, overall, their experience is a positive one, the answer is a resounding yes.

Two out of three paralegals agree their experience has been positive, with only 11 per cent disagreeing (the remainder feel neutral about their time paralegalling). Those paralegals who have a training contract or pupillage lined up feel more positive about their experience than those who do not. However, even those still searching for a training contract feel broadly positive about their paralegal experience.

What’s more, 85 per cent of paralegals still searching for a training contract or pupillage feel their time paralegalling will help them secure one.

We also asked if paralegals feel valued by their firm. Here, the response is more split. Around half say yes, they do feel valued, while 28 per cent say no, and 21 per cent are neutral.

A paralegal at a national firm sums up the mood of many: “Being a paralegal is a great way for law graduates to develop their CV, but actual job fulfilment depends on the firm and team you are working for. I’ll use my experience as much as I can to help me get a training contract but my firm needs to do a lot more to make paralegals feel valued.”

What can firms do?

Some firms are realising that they now have so many paralegals that creating some kind of career structure for them is in order.

“We’ve gone from literally no paralegals to employing a significant number,” Trowers & Hamlins’ director of HR Paul Robinson told Lawyer 2B last year. “Five years ago we didn’t have any; we now have nearly 50 in the UK.”

As a result, in 2015 the firm decided to ringfence two training contracts a year for members of its own paralegal pool and introduced a wider paralegal career structure for those with other aspirations. It mirrors the structure of other fee-earners with various levels and commensurate salary bands taking into account their entry point: school-leaver, A-levels, degree, LPC-qualified and beyond.

“For career paralegals – that is, those who don’t aspire to become a solicitor – the structure gives them a framework where they can see what career with us they can have,” says Robinson. “These are good people who are really contributing and it’s important for them to be able to see where their career could go, and we’ll support them with their study through CILEx if they so desire.”

Law firms need to give paralegals more: more respect, more status, more opportunities for progression – and more money

Other firms are thinking about paralegal career structures, but our survey shows there is a long way to go. Some 61 per cent of the paralegals we surveyed disagree that, when you discount training contracts, there is scope for good career progression for paralegals at their firm. Less than a quarter agree that they “know what is required to progress as a career paralegal”, and what they might achieve in terms of title and salary.

Most tellingly, only 9 per cent of respondents agree that being a career paralegal is an attractive prospect, with over half ‘strongly disagreeing’ that it is a good path to go down.

These are problematic figures. In the future firms will still need qualified lawyers, but they are also likely to need large armies of non- or semi-qualified fee-earners. Paralegal-type roles are going to become more prominent. Law graduates need to start seeing these sort of jobs as an attractive career option – and that will not happen until firms think seriously about how to make them so. As long as paralegals and their ilk are looked down on as the poor cousins of trainees it will not be a career to aspire to.

Law firms need to give paralegals more: more respect, more status, more opportunities for progression – and more money. Make that happen and the problem of too many graduates aspiring to a good job in law may start to look a lot more solvable.

My paralegal story: “I do the exact same work as a solicitor but for half the pay”