INFORMATION GATHERING, ORGANIZATION, AND HELP! Gathering background information, facts, and case development are very vital to your Family Law Case. The Case Management Paralegal assigned to work the file with the attorney that you have hired will have day-to-day contact with you throughout your divorce or modification case. This contact will include the gathering of background information and necessary documents to build your claims. Beyond just obtaining the information, it must be kept in an organized manner which allows quick access to an email or text or picture that is needed to make the point needed. Your paralegal has the primary responsibility to build these data files so when it comes time to prove them before the Judge or a Jury all the facts and documents are ready.
Information gathering may include record requests for police reports, bank records, medical records, and counselor records – just to name a few. Going through a divorce or a custody battle may be one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, times in your life. There is so much for you to consider and decide about financial issues and parenting decisions. Your paralegal will have had done these thousands of times in the past and while you are dazed and confused at the onset of this situation, an experienced paralegal is trained to be calm, collected, and help you at every turn in getting the information the lawyer needs to handle your case. Close contact with the paralegal assigned to your case, especially at the start of the process, is not only invaluable but puts your case on the right track for a successful resolution. There is no question too small that your paralegal can’t answer and no question too big that your paralegal can’t get the answer from the attorney in charge immediately and put your mind at rest.
As the case moves through the process things will happen – they always do. Your paralegal is there every Monday thru Friday to take down everything that is going on for you. Somebody does not return the child on time? Get the information to your paralegal right away so it can be entered on the timeline. Hear from the kiddos that a new woman (or man) is spending a lot of time around the house on weekends? Let the paralegal know immediately. Just discover that your estranged spouse with no money bought a new sports car or took a vacation to Puerto Vallarta? Definitely get that information to your paralegal. The paralegal is the first radar for your case and when you get this important information that could impact your case to them, it will be efficiently stored and disseminated to the attorney and your team.
Keeping track of the facts and evidence is an equally important job and responsibility of a Paralegal. They must be organized in order to compile the research, background information, facts, and supporting documents necessary for the development of your case. The efficient organization of all this information is critical once the time comes for trial preparation, mediation, or a settlement conference. It is both frustrating and expensive to try and recreate a situation that happened 8 months ago. A proven paralegal who has managed cases for years knows how to organize and safely keep the important evidence and facts in your case. When matters of evidence are needed to make a persuasive presentation of your position for final resolution, your attorney only has to make strategic decisions on what to use – not spend his or her time trying to find what to use.