Date:    Fri, 1 May 1998 11:17:46 -0500
<br>From:    Mark Mandel <Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DRAGONSYS.COM>
<br>Subject: paralegal
<br>
<br>Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU> writes
<br> >>>
<br>On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, Bapopik wrote:
<br>
<br>> WEEK.  "Paralegal" appears to have been coined by an Philadelphia lawyer
<br> named
<br>> Shapiro, in 1970.  (All true American lawyers are named Shapiro.)
<br>
<br>Actually, the word is a little older than that:
<br>
<br>1969 _Denver Law Journal_ 46: 392  The thesis of this article is that the legal
<br> profession can best respond to the
<br>increasing demand for legal services by providing some legal services through
<br> "paralegal" or
<br>"sublegal" personnel.
<br>
<br>_Id._ 393  The "paralegal" is one who is not a lawyer, not under direct
<br> supervision of a lawyer, but who needs some
<br>legal training to do his job well.  Examples of paralegals are welfare workers,
<br> insurance adjusters, and probation
<br>officers.
<br>
<br> <<< (end Fred Shapiro quote)
<br>
<br>But this is clearly a different sense from the modern one, which is pretty well
<br> defined in Barry's citation (BUSINESS
<br>WEEK, 26 December 1970, pg. 62):
<br>  ===
<br> Three young Philadelphia lawyers have taken a page from the medical
<br> profession's book in an effort to help attorneys
<br>swamped with paperwork and clamoring clients.  Richard J. Braemer, Daniel
<br> Promisio, and Paul E. Shapiro
<br>(shown in photo--ed.), all former members of Philadelphia law firms, have set up
<br> the Institute of Paralegal Training to turn
<br>college graduates into paraprofessionals.  The assistants will handle research
<br> and administrative chores so that lawyers
<br>can spend more time practicing law.
<br>  ===
<br>
<br>Fred Shapiro's 1969 "'paralegal' or 'sublegal' personnel" are people not in the
<br> legal profession (e.g., "welfare workers,
<br>insurance adjusters, and probation officers") whose work requires some knowledge
<br> of law, which (I infer) the article is
<br>proposing that lawyers offer them. Furthermore, the scare quotes and alternative
<br> term "sublegal" show pretty clearly
<br>that the words are not well established. They suggest that they are being
<br> tentatively proposed as names for these
<br>members of tangential professions, with whom the article proposes the
<br> establishment of a formal relationship.
<br>
<br>In contrast, Barry's (and Paul Shapiro et al.'s) 1970 graduates (certificatees
<br> [?!], finishers, products...) of the Institute of
<br>Paralegal Training *are* what we currently call paralegals, handling research
<br> and administrative chores for lawyers and
<br>under their direct supervision. The name is viewed as settled, at least by the
<br> founders of the institute, and is presumably
<br>derived as a specialization of "paraprofessional".
<br>
<br>I'd say that the 1969 cite is a stillbirth, a proposed neologism that didn't
<br> catch on, distinct in meaning from the 1970
<br>homonym that did.
<br>
<br>-- Mark
<br>
<br>       Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com
<br>    Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 796-0267
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<br>