Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

Today's Quote: I Have a "Paraprofessional" Headache

By Lynne DeVenny

?Paraprofessional is a generic term and may refer to any and many professions, such as paraprofessional legal assistant. We lose the sense of the profession when we shorten it. By using paralibrarian, the profession is clearly explained.? ~ Allison Sloan, LJ Paraprofessional of the Year, as reported by Library Journal's editorial "Not Yet Equal"

Paraprofessional legal assistant? Please say it ain't so.

As if there are not enough difficulties already trying to figure out the differences, if any, between the terms legal assistant and paralegal, now we have to deal with the word paraprofessional, which according to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary means "a trained aide who assists a professional person."

Does this definition bother anyone else? I consider myself to be a professional person, too.

What about "a trained professional person who assists and is supervised by another professional person with a more advanced degree in a specialty area?"

Source: Library Journal

Full post as published by Practical Paralegalism on February 24, 2010 (boomark / email).