Model Guideline for the Utilization of Legal Assistant Services
The following advisory guidelines were adopted by the Idaho State Bar membership during the 1992 resolution process. These
guidelines are an attempt to identify the proper role of a legal assistant, and to define the lawyer’s supervisory role. Because
the Model Guidelines are advisory only, they do not conflict with the Idaho Rules of Professional Conduct. There are 10 guidelines, covering a lawyer’s supervisory and training responsibilities, the permissible scope of delegation, how legal ssistants are held out to clients, the courts and the public, and guidelines for the billing of a legal assistant’s time.
State courts, bar associations, or bar committees in at least
seventeen states have prepared recommendations1 for the
utilization of legal assistant services.2 While their content
varies, their purpose appears uniform: to provide lawyers
with a reliable basis for delegating responsibility for
performing a portion of the lawyer’s tasks to legal assistants.
The purpose of preparing model guidelines is not to contradict
the guidelines already adopted or to suggest that other
guidelines may be more appropriate in a particular
jurisdiction. It is the view of the Standing Committee on
Legal Assistants of the American Bar Association, however,
that a model set of guideline for the utilization of legal
assistant services may assist many states in adopting or
revising such guidelines. The Standing Committee is of the iew that guidelines will encourage lawyers to utilize legal assistant services effectively and promote the growth of the legal assistant profession.3 In undertaking this project, the Standing Committee has attempted to state guidelines that conform with the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, decided authority, and contemporary practice. Lawyers, of course, are to be first directed by Rule 5.3 of the Model Rules in the utilization of legal assistant services, and nothing contained in these guidelines is intended to be inconsistent with that rule.
Specific ethical
considerations in particular states, however, may require modification of these guidelines before their adoption. In the commentary after each guideline, we have attempted to identify the basis for the guideline and any issues of which we are aware that the guideline may present; those drafting such guidelines may wish to take them into account.
