State of Maryland

A Paralegal I is the intermediate level of support work to an attorney involving legal research, application of Maryland case law and preparation of various legal documents. Employees in this classification do not supervise.

Employees receive moderate supervision from an attorney.

Positions in this classification are evaluated using the Classification Job Evaluation Methodology. The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of a class specification.

Paralegal I and Paralegal II are differentiated on the basis of the degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees. Paralegal I performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed. Paralegal II performs the full range of duties under general supervision.

Paralegal work differs from professional work as an attorney in that paralegals cannot try cases in a court of law, give legal advice, accept cases or set fees. Paralegals do perform legal research, interview witnesses and write and handle legal documents concerning the mechanics and processes of cases and legal proceedings under the supervision of an attorney. Paralegal work differs from work as a legal secretary in that legal secretaries are primarily responsible for secretarial services such as maintaining appointments and schedules, screening phone calls and visitors, maintaining filing systems for case files and transcribing a variety of legal documents and filings. Legal secretaries, under specific instructions, may occasionally perform some legal research.

Conducts legal research and interprets and analyzes law sources in order to prepare legal documents such as briefs, pleadings, appeals and contracts;

Investigates facts and laws of a case to determine causes of action and to prepare case for attorneys;

Assists attorneys in interviewing witnesses, including expert witnesses and preparing them to give testimony;

Files pleadings in court;

Delivers or directs the delivery of subpoenas to witnesses and parties of action;

Gathers information and prepares records and reports;

Drafts correspondence on routine legal issues;

May specialize in a particular area of the law such as litigation, contracts, corporate or other areas;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of the principles, methods and practices of legal research;

Knowledge of pleading format;

Knowledge of legal terminology, forms and documents;

Knowledge of federal, State and administrative court systems;

Ability to perform legal research using a variety of resources;

Ability to draft pleadings and other legal documents;

Ability to learn to interpret and apply laws.

Education: Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: Two years of experience as a legal assistant or legal secretary performing legal research or preparing legal documents on behalf of an attorney.

 Notes: 1. Thirty credit hours or a certificate in paralegal studies from an accredited college or university may be substituted for the required experience.

 2. Thirty credit hours from an accredited law school may be substituted for the required experience.

 3. Additional years of experience as stated above may be substituted on a year-for-year basis for the required education.

4. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a non-commissioned officer in paralegal specialist classifications or paralegal specialist specialty codes in the legal and kindred field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required experience.