SADLY, some law clerks have passed away due to Covid-19.
Those that are still alive, healthy and strong are finding it difficult to get work. I’m speaking about a class of workers that before the pandemic was crucial to having a functioning legal office. They are legal clerks, also called law clerks.
Law clerks are those persons who would be responsible for almost all of the attorney’s work required to be done outside of the law office. They are not to be confused with legal assistants/secretaries who are more or less stationed in the office doing any odd set of duties the lawyers choose to assign to them.
Law clerks normally do all the work necessary to register deeds in the Land Registry; they pay stamp duty (a type of government tax that must be paid before deeds etc. can be registered), get documents stamped and signed by Commissioners of Affidavits; they file legal documents in the Court Registries; they sometimes even act as process servers, by serving court documents on opponent parties for a court action on behalf of attorneys.
Before the pandemic, this was normally a full-time position at a law firm (comprising two attorneys at minimum) attracting an average salary of $6,000. Since Covid-19 became a reality, many law clerks have been laid off. Why? Approximately 60 to 70% of their work comprised physically filing and serving court documents.
Now that filing and serving court documents have become virtual as a consequence of the pandemic, taking place through an online court platform (eservices.ttlawcourts.org) and emails, much of their work have become redundant.
Outsourcing law clerks to register deeds and the like and paying them per job are proving to be more economical for lawyers, rather than having a legal clerk as a full-time position in their organisational structure. Having been laid off, many legal clerks are plying their trade as freelancers. Their success would depend on whether they can secure sufficient jobs to make ends meet.
Legal clerks comprise one field of jobs, like so many others, that were severely underappreciated prior to the pandemic. I thank you all sincerely for your efforts and dedication to your duties.
Having taken such a huge hit from the pandemic, it would be welcome to see an organised entity created and marketed as a go-to for attorneys looking to hire persons to do their outside work, such as that of a law clerk recruitment agency. Law clerks could possibly find work much easier that way, particularly if their services are freelance in nature. Food for thought …
Civil Litigation Attorney at Law & Certified Mediator.
Disclaimer:The contents of this article are for general informative purposes only and/or contain the opinions and/or thoughts of the writer only. It does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. For legal advice on your specific situation, please contact an Attorney-at-Law of your choosing directly. Liability for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever allegedly incurred a consequence of relying on content in this article is thus hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Pandemic Hits Law Clerks Hard
SADLY, some law clerks have passed away due to Covid-19.
Those that are still alive, healthy and strong are finding it difficult to get work. I’m speaking about a class of workers that before the pandemic was crucial to having a functioning legal office. They are legal clerks, also called law clerks.
Law clerks are those persons who would be responsible for almost all of the attorney’s work required to be done outside of the law office. They are not to be confused with legal assistants/secretaries who are more or less stationed in the office doing any odd set of duties the lawyers choose to assign to them.
Law clerks normally do all the work necessary to register deeds in the Land Registry; they pay stamp duty (a type of government tax that must be paid before deeds etc. can be registered), get documents stamped and signed by Commissioners of Affidavits; they file legal documents in the Court Registries; they sometimes even act as process servers, by serving court documents on opponent parties for a court action on behalf of attorneys.
Before the pandemic, this was normally a full-time position at a law firm (comprising two attorneys at minimum) attracting an average salary of $6,000. Since Covid-19 became a reality, many law clerks have been laid off. Why? Approximately 60 to 70% of their work comprised physically filing and serving court documents.
Now that filing and serving court documents have become virtual as a consequence of the pandemic, taking place through an online court platform (eservices.ttlawcourts.org) and emails, much of their work have become redundant.
Outsourcing law clerks to register deeds and the like and paying them per job are proving to be more economical for lawyers, rather than having a legal clerk as a full-time position in their organisational structure. Having been laid off, many legal clerks are plying their trade as freelancers. Their success would depend on whether they can secure sufficient jobs to make ends meet.
Legal clerks comprise one field of jobs, like so many others, that were severely underappreciated prior to the pandemic. I thank you all sincerely for your efforts and dedication to your duties.
Having taken such a huge hit from the pandemic, it would be welcome to see an organised entity created and marketed as a go-to for attorneys looking to hire persons to do their outside work, such as that of a law clerk recruitment agency. Law clerks could possibly find work much easier that way, particularly if their services are freelance in nature. Food for thought …
Be safe Trinidad and Tobago.
Copyright © 2022 Neela Ramsundar, LL.B (HONS), L.E.C
Civil Litigation Attorney at Law & Certified Mediator.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are for general informative purposes only and/or contain the opinions and/or thoughts of the writer only. It does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. For legal advice on your specific situation, please contact an Attorney-at-Law of your choosing directly. Liability for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever allegedly incurred a consequence of relying on content in this article is thus hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.