The economy has taken a nasty downturn since 2008 and has seen minimal, if any recovery – and as a result, more people are filing bankruptcy than ever before. Attorneys who specialize in bankruptcy rely heavily on bankruptcy paralegals to handle many of the duties required to handle bankruptcy client cases. Most people don’t know is that paralegals handle much of the administrative case work such as client interviews and paperwork for the attorney.
When processing a bankruptcy client case, one of the main functions for the paralegal is interviewing the client to collect their financial background information. Things like income, liabilities, assets, creditors, etc. This is actually beneficial to the client as they can minimize the billable hours by the attorney, which are usually substantial. In many cases, a payment plan is setup for clients who don’t have the funds to pay in advance – this is a service offered by many law firms to help clients who normally couldn’t afford to pay for bankruptcy proceedings and associated fees.
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One of the fastest growing and lucrative specialty areas for paralegals is patent administration. Paralegals who specialize in this area are called patent paralegals or patent specialists, and they can earn up to 50% more than other paralegal specialty areas. In addition to a higher paralegal salary, patent administrators are also in high demand.
A patent offers an inventor exclusive rights to an invention granted by a state for a fixed period of time in exchange for disclosure of the invention. The process of obtaining a patent depends on the state or country it’s obtained in and can vary widely across jurisdictions. The patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention. It must be inventive, new, useful and applicable to industry. After the patent has been granted, the inventor has exclusive rights over manufacture, distribution and sale of the invention or product.
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Another paralegal job description is that of a nurse paralegal. A nurse paralegal isn’t a career path taken by many wanting to get into the legal field, it’s actually a registered nurse who is transplanted from the health care industry to the legal industry. They have decided to move into law to help an assortment of organizations such as law firms, insurance companies, and corporations as a medical expert. They have already obtained their registered nurse (RN) classification and several years experience as a nurse before making the transition.
They are often employed by insurance companies and law firms that have large numbers of cases with a legal focus, so they can help interpret medical terminology, treatment requirements, various disease symptoms, and an assortment of other medical topics, far beyond the capabilities of a regular paralegal, of course.
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After reading up on the average paralegal salary, you may be wondering what the upside potential of the paralegal profession is. Most career websites tend to focus on the “average” salary figures for a given field or job segment, but what many people don’t realize is that there are always outliers – those niche positions that pay way more than average.
There are certainly quite a few positions in the paralegal field that demand exceptional pay. One example is working for corporations, instead of a law firm which will typically pay much less. There are many variables that determine corporate paralegal salary. Many companies don’t have in-house attorneys, but still need people with legal expertise. During this situation a paralegal can stand out with both salary and responsibility and have a distinct advantage over her peers working for the law firm. Paralegals can be paid as much as a new attorney.
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Dealing with with delicate family issues such as, divorce, child custody issues, death in the family, etc is part of the paralegal job description for those who specialize in family law. So family law paralegals must learn how to remove themselves from the emotional aspect of working with clients in these sticky situations.
Family law firms may specialize in a certain aspects of family law, so a paralegal may not have to worry about all family events that can be negative, but just a few. Some attorneys may work for may specialize in divorce, adoption, wills and estates, etc.
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