KNOW, the Magazine for Paralegals Spring 2014 | Page 4

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief I don’t know where some of these wretched survey figures came from lately. I honestly don’t. The latest, from Politix, claims that the paralegal field is 95% certain to be taken over by robo-workers in the next few years. I can understand that technology is sweeping over jobs that barely exist anymore, such as travel agent, messengers, car dealerships but paralegals? On the other hand, there may be some truth to the matter. Certainly, technology has taken away some aspects of the position such as document review, Bates stamping, labeling, and put in document assembly (the act of pulling boiler plate language from here and there) which does indeed, eliminate many lower level assignments. But 95% gone? In the meantime, the BLS claims that the field is expected to grow by 18% by the year 2020 or so. Who’s got it right? Whether the field is 95% certain to vanish while growing 18% is indicative of two very different mindsets. My money is on the fact that 95% of the types of assignments paralegals are given today that can be replaced by technology will definitely go away. We’ve already seen evidence of it. Where it will grow is in the technology skill sets, new niches and new legal services such as LegalZoom and virtual legal services. Licensing of paralegals will take place in many states for various duties such as delivering services directly to the public. I predict that the field will in some form, follow the nursing profession in that a new position, Paralegal Practitioner (much like Nurse Practitioner), will evolve. This position will allow the Practitioner to give limited legal advice very similar to that of a Nurse Practitioner diagnosing and dispensing certain medications. Lottie Walthen writes about Information Governance as a new and exciting arena for paralegals. The Paralegal Knowledge Institute (www.paralegalknowledge.com) is already offering a certificate program in this burgeoning field ripe for paralegals. PKI also offers technology courses in Litigation Support, Legal Project Management and eDiscovery. My suggestion is to ride the horse in the direction it’s going. You’ll end up at the finish line and not still wrestling with the decision to move while the horses are already circling back. Happy Reading! Chere Estrin [email protected] 4