What you need to know when hiring a Redlands paralegal service
If you are looking for a trusted paralegal or a document assistance service located in Redlands, you are in the right place. Hiring a professional can be intimidating, especially when it comes to the legal profession. It is important that before you hire someone you first understand there is a difference between a Paralegal and a Legal Document Assistant (LDA). A Paralegal works directly under an attorney. An LDA works strictly for the public. This is important to know, because a Paralegal requires different credentials than that of an LDA. As a Paralegal is covered under the Attorney’s license an LDA is not so they require their registration.
If you are not an attorney, chances are that you are looking for an LDA. When hiring an LDA, you should consider the following:
• Are they Bonded? An LDA is required to be bonded. This is an added protection to the consumer, and assures that the LDA is compliant with California Law.
• Are they Registered with the County? Any person, outside of an attorney, who helps in the preparation of any legal document is required to be registered as an LDA with the County in which they work. This Registration is different than a Fictitious Business Name Filing. It is an LDA registration. When a Legal Document Assistant is registered, they are given an LDA number and this information should be available to you before you hire them. Upon obtaining this number, you can make sure it is current and valid, as registrations do expire.
• Have they ever worked under an attorney? There are LDA’s that have never worked under an attorney. I believe this is an important detail, as working with an attorney assures that they understand the full legal process and understand the importance of quality, versus preparing documents to a bare minimum. By having that experience, the level of excellence required to complete a task is to legal standards. They also gain the experience of learning how preparing documents incorrectly can cause problems years down the line. In selecting an LDA, you should always keep this in mind.
When you are looking for any professional, it is always good to do your research. You are entrusting this individual or company to handle sensitive material. Whether you are looking to hire a paralegal or an LDA for your divorce, child and spousal support modifications, or business related matters, we can help. Our experienced team has over 20 years of experience assisting attorneys and clients in the Redlands community and surrounding areas.
When you hire a Redlands paralegal service or a Legal Document Preparation service, recognize and be aware of the scope of service the professional is qualified to provide. Paralegal and Legal Document Assistants can help you prepare a variety of documents in a wide variety of legal areas. One thing you may not be aware of, is the fact that when you hire an attorney to prepare legal documents, the majority of the time the attorney relies on the services of a paralegal and/or an LDA to draft most, or all the documents. They often will bill you for the services of the paralegal at the rate of $75 to $175 an hour. It is customary when you hire an attorney to receive a lengthy questionnaire that will help them prepare your legal documents such as bankruptcy, divorce, etc. This questionnaire asks all the questions that your attorney will use to “prepare” your case. In fact, the questionnaire is usually turned right over to the paralegal and he/she will be the one to prepare the documents for your case, billing you for the attorney’s time as well as the paralegal’s time.
Hiring a Redlands paralegal or a Legal Document Assistant may be the solution for you in most cases, depending on the complexity of your case. There are cases that are complex and may need the services of a licensed attorney. The good news about working with us at Legal Ease Document Assistance is that we work with trusted attorneys that can provide the legal advice should you need it. In those cases, you will have the benefit of proper legal advice where needed, as well as saving money since most of the work for the documents will be provided by us at a substantial savings over having an attorney handle the entire case process.
If you have a legal matter that you need help with and want to find out if our legal services can be the right solution for you, contact us any time. We will be happy to discuss your case and determine if our services is the right fit for your legal matter.
