Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You comfort Maureen by giving her the legal advice.
Maureen is scared and anxious because her ex-husband has decided not to
pay child support this month. He bought his son some fancy new shoes and now
feels he's even. Maureen's pleas for advice are tugging at your
heartstrings and considering you know the right answer -- that her ex-husband
can't get away with what he's doing -- you figure it couldn't
hurt to ease your client's suffering by giving her your opinion.
And you're right. You give her your take on the situation and Maureen
is incredibly relieved that she'll get her money -- so relieved that
she decides to call her ex-husband to tell him. But pretty soon his attorney
catches wind of this and it's out in the open that you, a paralegal,
gave your client legal advice.
Once the proper authorities become involved, you're suspended. You
probably would have been fired if you were an independent paralegal, but since
you work in a firm you get less of the blame. Your supervising attorney is
also disciplined because she's ultimately responsible for you. Though
she was out of town during Maureen's phone call, she's currently
under review and may even be disbarred.
Jennifer Calhoun worked as a paralegal for years. "The ultimate decisions
are made under the supervision of a lawyer," she says. However,
she adds that paralegals make important daily decisions on which information
to bring to the lawyer's attention for each specific case.