Paralegal takeover: professional register goes live

Legal service consumers will now be able to find regulated paralegals on the Professional Paralegal Register (PPR), which went live today.

Writing in Solicitors Journal ahead of the launch in February, director of the PPR, Amanda Hamilton, said paralegals have been working 'tirelessly' under the radar for many years and had traditionally been regarded as 'would-be' solicitors. However, that wasn't the case today.

'The vast majority of undergraduates are now turning their back on traditional pathways. With the very limited number of training contracts and pupillages available and competition being so great, they are looking for different routes.'

The register will enable consumers to search by name, location, or area of law to find a paralegal that can assist them with their needs safe in the knowledge that they are regulated by a voluntary body.

There is not, however, statutory regulation for paralegals as the government will not sanction any more regulation in the legal services sector.

The PPR, which is a joint venture created by the Institute of Paralegals (IoP) and the National Association of Licensed Paralegals, took in recommendations made by the three regulatory bodies (the SRA, BSB and Ilex Professional Standards) in the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR), published in June 2013.

Head of policy at the IoP, James O'Connell, said the register would allow consumers and the legal profession to identify those paralegals who have voluntarily chosen to assume professional obligations.

'[Looking] beyond solicitors' practices, it quickly becomes evident that most paralegals are not frustrated solicitors-in-waiting, just as most nurses are not failed doctors.

'Instead, they are career paralegals, a greater number of which work in-house (mostly without solicitor oversight), and considerably more work in the unregulated sector,' he said in SJ last month.

Laura Clenshaw is managing editor of Solicitors Journal
laura.clenshaw@solicitorsjournal.co.uk@L_Clenshaw

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