From Apprentice to Paralegal: The Rise of the Paralegal Profession in America

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Mongue
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
White Males ◽  
Before And After ◽  
American Law ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractIn 1980, the South Carolina Supreme Court noted, “Paralegals are routinely employed by licensed attorneys to assist in the preparation of legal documents such as deeds and mortgages.” According to the court, the activities of a paralegal were of a preparatory nature, such as legal research, investigation, or the composition of legal documents. This assessment of paralegal utilization in 1980 might well have been surprising to many readers of the court’s decision. As the delegation of legal work to non-lawyers evolved, so has the paralegal profession. The goal of this paper is to trace the transition of paralegals from a somewhat glorified – albeit very specialized – secretarial role to a professional position, emphasizing the period just before and after the creation of the ABA definition of the legal/assistant paralegal position. Legal professionals, rather than historians, provide most of historiography that is available. Historians appear to have focused on particular lawyers, especially those who became political leaders, and the efforts of persons other than white males to enter the profession with little mention of the personnel that supported those lawyers. Discussion of the historical development of paralegals and the paralegal profession has been limited to introductory chapters of practice manuals written by lawyers and paralegal educators for paralegals. The utilization of legal assistants from the 1970s to the present is well-documented, however, in contemporary writings by lawyers, law office managers, and social scientists. This paper is concerned with the development of the paralegal profession and the paralegal role in American law offices. This study examines writings from the twentieth century lawyers, paralegals, law office managers, paralegal educators, and social scientists to track the paralegal profession in five respects: (1) Definition of the nature of the role of the persons considered part of the occupation; (2) Establishment of educational requirements and forums; (3) Organization of professional associations; (4) Self-regulation; and, (5) Development of enforceable codes of professional conduct. In addition to the contemporary writings, the study uses information obtained through communications with paralegals, paralegal educators, and paralegal association directors who practiced during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

scholarly journals Striking a Regulatory Bargain. The Legal Profession, Associations and the State in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Debby Bonnin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
Professional Self

This article examines the regulation of the legal profession in South Africa from colonial times, through apartheid and into the post-apartheid period. It narrates the changing relationship between professional associations and the state, locating these events within the debates on professional self-regulation.  Taking the view that professional self-regulation is as a result of ‘an arrangement’ between professions and the state it explores the regulatory bargain struck between associations and the state.  The paper demonstrates that during the apartheid period the profession utilised apartheid legislation to exclude black legal professionals.  However, in the post-apartheid period, when the state proposed legislative interventions in order to enable access to both the profession and justice, a new regulatory bargain had to be negotiated.  

scholarly journals The mindful lawyer: Investigating the effects of two online mindfulness programs on self-reported well-being in the legal profession

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Nielsen ◽  
John Paul Minda
Keyword(s):  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
Women Lawyers ◽  
Before And After ◽  
American Law

a.Objectives: Two studies were conducted to determine whether mindfulness meditation could be an effective tool for improving the well-being of lawyers—a population plagued by high rates of depression, anxiety, and stress.b.Methods: Study 1. Participants recruited from the National Association of Women Lawyers completed questionnaires before and after engaging in an 8-week mindfulness program. Study 2. Lawyers from an American law firm were randomly assigned to either an experimental or waitlist control condition. Well-being was measured at the beginning of the study and after experimental participants had completed a 30-day intervention. c.Results: Study 1. Participants reported significant improvements in mood, resilience, trait mindfulness, stress, anxiety, and depression over time. Study 2. Post-intervention, experimental participants reported better mood, lower levels of stress, and higher levels of non-reactivity and observing than waitlist control participants.d.Conclusions: Legal professionals may benefit from the practices of mindfulness and meditation.

Middle class ideologies: Norms and historical changes.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Huynh ◽  
Igor Grossmann
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Intergroup Dynamics ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Behavioral Tendencies ◽  
American Society ◽  
Definition Of

Ever since social scientists became interested in understanding intergroup dynamics, the topic of the “middle class” and its distinction from other groups in society became the central feature of a theoretical and empirical research enterprise. In this overview essay we discuss the beliefs, values and behavioral tendencies attributed to American middle class beliefs, and discuss their implications for understanding class-related norms and values. We end with a reflection over the historical trends that impact societal norms and the definition of middle class in the American society.

A case for multiple views of function in design based on a common definition

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaresh Chakrabarti ◽  
V. Srinivasan ◽  
B.S.C. Ranjan ◽  
Udo Lindemann
Keyword(s):  
State Change ◽  
Multiple Views ◽  
System Environment ◽  
Common Definition ◽  
Effect Model ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractFunctions are important in designing. However, several issues hinder progress with the understanding and usage of functions: lack of a clear and overarching definition of function, lack of overall justifications for the inevitability of the multiple views of function, and scarcity of systematic attempts to relate these views with one another. To help resolve these, the objectives of this research are to propose a common definition of function that underlies the multiple views in literature and to identify and validate the views of function that are logically justified to be present in designing. Function is defined as a change intended by designers between two scenarios: before and after the introduction of the design. A framework is proposed that comprises the above definition of function and an empirically validated model of designing, extended generate, evaluate, modify, and select of state-change, and an action, part, phenomenon, input, organ, and effect model of causality (Known as GEMS of SAPPhIRE), comprising the views of activity, outcome, requirement–solution–information, and system–environment. The framework is used to identify the logically possible views of function in the context of designing and is validated by comparing these with the views of function in the literature. Describing the different views of function using the proposed framework should enable comparisons and determine relationships among the various views, leading to better understanding and usage of functions in designing.

A Thankfully Wide Sea between England and Apprendi-Land

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Curr
Keyword(s):  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Guilty Plea ◽  
Previous Evidence ◽  
The Us ◽  
Before And After ◽  
American Law ◽  
Fact Finding ◽  
Post Trial ◽  
Trial Phase

ABSTRACT This article uses the US Supreme Court’s line of cases beginning with Apprendi v. New Jersey to illuminate territory in which English law, in comparison to American law, is comparatively underdeveloped—currently affording a Newton-style hearing only where a guilty plea obliterates any previous evidence. This need not be so. Both before and after Apprendi, US federal and state courts have implemented post-trial fact-finding procedures for sentencing purposes, and we could do the same. The Davies case, where the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt was imported from the trial phase, into consideration of the statutory starting points for murder sentencing, will, for reasons to be given, be doubted.

Governing Fake News: The Regulation of Social Media and the Right to Freedom of Expression in the Era of Emergency

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Donato VESE
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Media Censorship

Governments around the world are strictly regulating information on social media in the interests of addressing fake news. There is, however, a risk that the uncontrolled spread of information could increase the adverse effects of the COVID-19 health emergency through the influence of false and misleading news. Yet governments may well use health emergency regulation as a pretext for implementing draconian restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, as well as increasing social media censorship (ie chilling effects). This article seeks to challenge the stringent legislative and administrative measures governments have recently put in place in order to analyse their negative implications for the right to freedom of expression and to suggest different regulatory approaches in the context of public law. These controversial government policies are discussed in order to clarify why freedom of expression cannot be allowed to be jeopardised in the process of trying to manage fake news. Firstly, an analysis of the legal definition of fake news in academia is presented in order to establish the essential characteristics of the phenomenon (Section II). Secondly, the legislative and administrative measures implemented by governments at both international (Section III) and European Union (EU) levels (Section IV) are assessed, showing how they may undermine a core human right by curtailing freedom of expression. Then, starting from the premise of social media as a “watchdog” of democracy and moving on to the contention that fake news is a phenomenon of “mature” democracy, the article argues that public law already protects freedom of expression and ensures its effectiveness at the international and EU levels through some fundamental rules (Section V). There follows a discussion of the key regulatory approaches, and, as alternatives to government intervention, self-regulation and especially empowering users are proposed as strategies to effectively manage fake news by mitigating the risks of undue interference by regulators in the right to freedom of expression (Section VI). The article concludes by offering some remarks on the proposed solution and in particular by recommending the implementation of reliability ratings on social media platforms (Section VII).

Separation or Synthesis: A Holistic Approach to Therapeutics

1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 279-283
Author(s):  
Kathi J. Kemper
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Nurse Practitioners ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Medical Settings ◽  
The Public ◽  
Specialized Health Care ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Spiritual Healers

Over the past 50 years, health care has grown more complex and specialized. Health-care institutions now are staffed with an array of specialist physicians, social workers, psychologists, therapists, and nutritionists as well as general practitioners and nurses. The types of providers outside of the hospital are even more numerous and diverse: physicians; nurses; nurse practitioners; chiropractors; counselors; acupuncturists; herbalists; spiritual healers; and purveyors of nutritional supplements, aromatherapy, crystals, and more. Intent on distinguishing their "products," providers focus on differences, polarizing into distinct camps such as "mainstream or traditional" versus "alternative or unconventional." Although these dichotomies are simple, they also can mislead. The definition of "alternative" is very dependent on the definition "mainstream"; acupuncture may be an alternative in one setting, but it clearly is traditional within Asian communities. Therapies that once were considered unconventional, such as hypnosis and meditation, have moved into many mainstream medical settings. (See Sugarman article "Hypnosis: Teaching Children Self-regulation" in the January 1996 issue of Pediatrics in Review.) The public wants health care that is low-cost, safe, effective, and personalized. Practitioners of "natural" therapies often are viewed as more humanistic and less technological than busy physicians. According to one study, in 1990, alternative medical therapies were used by nearly one third of Americans.1

The Meaning of Pain and the Pain of Meaning: A Bio-Hermeneutical Inquiry

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 215-234
Author(s):  
Teodora Manea
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Main Interest ◽  
Main Approach ◽  
Memento Mori ◽  
Finding Meaning ◽  
Pace Of Life ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractMy main interest here is to look at pain as a sign of the body that something is wrong. I will argue that there is a meaning of pain before and after an illness is diagnosed. An illness contains its own semantic paradigm, but the pain before the diagnosis affects the pace of life, not only by limiting our interactions, but also as a struggle with its meaning and a reminder of mortality.My main approach is what I call bio-hermeneutics, an extension of medical hermeneutics branching out from the Continental hermeneutical tradition. As such, I will explore the connection between pain and language, temporality, dialectics, and ontology. Given the centrality of language in constructing the meaning of pain, my analysis is informed by the semantics (looking at pain metaphors), syntax (pain as incoherence), and pragmatics (pain as companion) of expressing pain.The last section explores the meaning of pain in connection with death, as memento mori. Revisiting an old definition of philosophy as melete thanatou, or ‘rehearsal of death’, I will reflect on the difficulty of finding meaning not only for pain, but also for death as cessation of all existential possibilities.

On the issue of establishment and changes of boundaries of administrative and territorial units

2021 ◽  
pp. 4-4
Author(s):  
R. Kharytonenko ◽  
◽  
D. Derkulskyi ◽  
O. Kravchenko ◽  
V. Smolenskyi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Community Regulation ◽  
Land Surveying ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Definition Of

The presence of crisis tendencies in the issues of establishing and changing the boundaries of the territories of territorial communities and settlements has been stated. It was emphasized that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has adopted 24 orders on the definition of administrative centers and approval of the territories of territorial communities. As a result, 1,469 territorial communities have been established in the country (including 31 territorial communities in the uncontrolled territory within the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts). Such situations lead to the fact that a significant number of administrative-territorial units do not have established boundaries, which in turn makes it impossible to achieve the development goals of territorial communities and settlements. At the same time, the boundaries of most territories of territorial communities and settlements are not established, and when changing boundaries there are issues that require a better system of legal documents that would regulate scientifically sound establishment (change) of boundaries affecting community regulation of environmental and economically acceptable use lands. A number of changes to the legal documents are proposed, such as: preliminary registration in the SCC of project boundaries of territorial communities and settlements, obligations for certified land surveying engineers to verify the intention to establish (change) boundaries. It is proposed to establish (change) the boundaries taking into account the principles of "public administration", namely: the principle of self-organization of civil society and the principle of feedback.

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