With the way the economy has taken a downward spiral, many more people are going to be considering or have already started the process for filing bankruptcy. While some attorneys prefer to file their own documents with the courts, paralegals typically do this task for them. In fact, what most people do not know is that a bankruptcy paralegal is going to handle most of the paperwork for the attorney.
One of the main duties of a bankruptcy paralegal is to interview the clients and get their financial backgrounds. This is going to help the attorney decide what type of bankruptcy that they qualify for. Clients are going to save money over the long run on this information-gathering step as they are not going to have to pay the hourly attorney fee which is much higher than that of a paralegal.
Bankruptcy paralegals are also going to go over what the clients need to do in order to begin the process. In many cases, they are going to set up payment plans for clients who cannot pay up front. Many law offices offer this service so that they can help those clients who would not normally have the funds to start a bankruptcy.
Once the attorney accepts the case, the bankruptcy paralegal is going to handle all of the paperwork that is needed to file the cause. The client’s creditors are going to speak only to the paralegal as once the filing is started, the clients never have to speak to them again. The paralegals are the ones who handle all of these tasks and more.
Bankruptcy paralegal training covers many skills that a bankruptcy paralegal needs in order to specialize in this field. This includes a firm grasp of the bankruptcy procedures. It also means understanding the laws nearly as well as the attorneys know them. In some cases, they are going to need more knowledge than the attorney as they are going to have more hands-on duties.
Bancruptcy paralegals should have a firm grasp on all of the filing duties with the courts, both by hand and electronic. This is because they are going to be doing most of the filing for the attorney unless the client specifically states that they want to pay the extra costs for the attorney to handle all of these tasks.
Most clients who file for bankruptcy typically do not have the means for this, which means the paralegal is going to handle these duties. Other knowledge that a bankruptcy paralegal is going to need to have is Concordance database which includes blue booking as well as cite checking skills.
While attorneys do some work in bankruptcy cases, most of the work, if not all are done by the paralegals. This is to save on the costs that are going to be spent to file the action. A paralegal’s time is not going to cost as much as an attorney’s so this is going to save clients money.
