What to expect as a Private Family Paralegal?
Private Family Law is a fast-paced and unpredictable area of law as court hearings can be listed last minute and parties can issue without notice urgent applications to the court. There are some responsibilities that almost every private family law paralegal will come to experience and even though things can be daunting at first, the more times that these jobs form part of your to-do-list, the easier it gets.
The first of these responsibilities is making electronic court bundles. Court bundles are a collection of documents provided to a Judge for a court hearing and they contain all the necessary documents that are required to inform the Judge about the facts and main issues of the case. Court bundles usually require an index at the start which sets out the names of the documents that are included in the bundle and the page number they are located at. Court bundles are important because they are used so that everyone at a hearing is referring to the same page, so it is crucial that they are assembled carefully, as mistakes can result in precious court time being wasted (never mind a grumpy Judge!).
Paralegals may also get the opportunity to attend client meetings with solicitors and write up the attendance notes from the meetings. These meetings are very useful because it allows you to witness first-hand the advice that solicitors provide to clients and it teaches you about the application of family law in practice. Attendance notes are also very important because it is vital that all advice given and information provided by the client appears on the file for record-keeping purposes. Writing up attendance notes also improves your written communication and you learn to write very quickly using shorthand or abbreviations.
Another responsibility you may have as a private family law paralegal is attending court hearings which can be extremely educational as well as enjoyable. At court hearings, you are likely to be asked by your supervisor to produce an attendance note of everything stated in the hearing. As such, hearings will allow you to brush up on your listening skills and on your ability to type or write quickly. Court hearings are an excellent way of seeing the judicial application of private family law and how things play out once in court. It will also give you an opportunity to see talented solicitors and barristers in action, especially during the cross-examination of witnesses.
Paralegals may also be asked to draft legal documents including forms like an ES1, ES2 and Form E. Whilst these forms can look quite daunting at first (especially all the columns in an ES2), they become second nature eventually. Drafting legal documents is all about practice, as the more you draft, the easier they become.
Another job a private family law paralegal may be required to do (that unfortunately is not so enjoyable) is calling the court. You could have to call the court to chase hearing dates, chase certain information or check to see if they have received documents (for example court bundles). There are unfortunately significant backlogs at the moment so waiting times can be quite long and it can be a tedious wait. However, calling the court is a good way to brush up on your communication skills, and provides much needed support to the team of solicitors.
The above should give prospective trainee solicitors or paralegals an idea of what to expect should they end up doing a stint in the private family department. In my experience, it has given me interesting and hands-on experience that will help me to pursue a career in law.