Date:    Fri, 1 May 1998 14:43:56 -0400
<br>From:    Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: paralegal
<br>
<br>On Fri, 1 May 1998, Mark Mandel wrote:
<br>
<br>> But this is clearly a different sense from the modern one, which is pretty
<br> well defined in Barry's citation (BUSINESS
<br>> WEEK, 26 December 1970, pg. 62):
<br>>   ===
<br>> Fred Shapiro's 1969 "'paralegal' or 'sublegal' personnel" are people not in
<br> the legal profession (e.g., "welfare workers,
<br>> insurance adjusters, and probation officers") whose work requires some
<br> knowledge of law, which (I infer) the article is
<br>> proposing that lawyers offer them. Furthermore, the scare quotes and
<br> alternative 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>Your point is well-taken, in fact after I posted my message I was
<br>wondering myself whether this was really the same sense of _paralegal_ as
<br>the contemporary one.  Well, here is another 1969 cite that is much closer
<br>to the contemporary meaning:
<br>
<br>1969 _Journal of Urban Law_ 47: 137  While much of the work of the
<br>non-professionals was supportive, there were times when the legal
<br>assistants actually fulfilled the expectation that para-legal aides could
<br>perform as independent advocates.
<br>
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<br> Fred R. Shapiro                             Coeditor (with Jane Garry)
<br> Associate Librarian for Public Services     TRIAL AND ERROR: AN OXFORD
<br>   and Lecturer in Legal Research            ANTHOLOGY OF LEGAL STORIES
<br> Yale Law School                             Oxford University Press, 1998
<br> e-mail: fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]yale.edu               ISBN 0-19-509547-2
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