Paralegal (1968)

[Baker, John]

        Here's slightly earlier, from the Report of the Conference on Legal Manpower Needs of Criminal Law, 41 F.R.D. 389 (June 24 - 26, 1966):

        <<The fullest defense of a criminal case involves the performance of functions following a conviction, which may be as important to the individual and to the criminal process as efforts to avoid the conviction. In particular, part of the job of counsel is to act on behalf of his client in cooperation with the court to work out a favorable disposition program. In many cases, careful development of a plan, including living arrangements and a job, may persuade the court to a disposition of the case which enables a convicted defendant to avoid imprisonment and yet enables society to avoid another crime in the future. The need for counsel includes these aspects of a defense as well as the more traditional functions of counsel. In the course of this discussion it was noted that some of these functions might be susceptible to performance by non-lawyer auxiliaries (paralegal personnel), thus reducing the need for lawyers. The suggestion was also thought to have bearing on the need for lawyers at some of the other stages in the process, for example, by using paralegal personnel to provide a point of continuous contact with a defendant for whom specialized services are being provided at the various stages of the process by different lawyers.>>

        The Conference was called and sponsored by three groups, The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, the American Bar Association Project on Minimum Standards for Criminal Justice, and the National Defender Project of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.  The tentative way in which "paralegal" was used shows that the term was not yet well-established, and the report probably played a role in its dissemination to the academic community.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Fred Shapiro
Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2005 10:52 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Paralegal (1968)


On Sun, 29 May 2005 bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

> We discussed "para-legal" or "paralegal," but that's in the old archives.
> ...
> Anyone have earlier than 1968?

1966-7 _University of Florida Law Review_ XIX. 553  Are new kinds of
sub-lawyer or paralegal personnel needed; and, if so, what kinds and
levels of training do they need?

Fred Shapiro