'Fourth arm' of legal profession gets voluntary register service

A new professional register has been launched to promote paralegals as a recognised 'fourth arm' of the legal profession.

The National Association of Licensed Paralegals (NALP) and the Institute of Paralegals (IOP) have joined forces to unveil the Professional Paralegal Register (PPR), which aims to provide self-regulation for the paralegal profession.

As the British paralegal sector is not currently held under any regulations, an individual can describe themselves as a paralegal without any necessary experience or qualifications. The PPR says that this leaves consumers open to unprofessional and poor service, often with little access to compensation or support.

With an estimated 200,000 paralegals working in the legal industry, the register will provide a benchmark for the sector across the country and help consumers by ensuring the best quality legal service is provided by paralegals.

Hosting the launch of the PPR at the House of Lords, Baroness Dianne Hayter said she thought the register was "another step towards improving consumer confidence in the legal services market".

Amanda Hamilton, director of the PPR, said: "Many consumers don't understand what a paralegal is, let alone what to expect from one. We have spent 18 months gathering evidence that the paralegal role requires further professionalism and regulating. The advent of the register should not only signal good news for the consumer, but for those legal service providers that use paralegals themselves."

Registration on the voluntary PPR will require applicants to already be a member of a recognised membership body to ensure the membership acts as a form of internal regulation, with sanctions and penalties in place for bad service.

Hamilton added: "Although the service is voluntary, our aim is to push for non-membership of the register to be detrimental, thus protecting the consumer while offering the paralegal a marketing vehicle to promote the quality of their work."

The register has received positive feedback from the Legal Ombudsman's Office, with chair of the LeO, Steve Green, welcoming the launch: "This is a step forward in helping consumers find paralegals and adds in additional steps of protection should things go wrong. We are pleased to be involved in the start of this project and look forward to the continued developments in the legal market."

Commenting on the news, Mark Solon, solicitor and managing director of Wilmington Legal, said: "The soft law of today is the hard law of tomorrow. It is better that there is a voluntary system that gets things right from the start rather that legislation now. Because of the massive changes in the legal landscape, paralegals will become more and more important and high standards are essential."

John van der Luit-Drummond is legal reporter for Solicitors Journal