Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/25416
WHEN DID LITIGATION SUPPORT START IN YOUR COUNTRY? Jonathan (U.K.): Around 1990. Kelly (Canada): In the late ‘90s, early 2000. The largest national litigation support vendor was established in 2000, and the first defined document management or litigation resource within a Toronto, Ontario law firm was established between 2000 and 2001. Scott (U.S.): I would put the start in the late ‘80s. Litigation support tasks took place before then, but they were undertaken by paralegals without any formal demarcation of a department or profession. Michelle (Australia): Paralegals or legal professionals have been helping lawyers manage their matters in various aspects since Australian law was enacted. One of the first documented mentions of litigation support was in the “Aboriginal Land Enquiry” in Perth during 1983 and 1984. Interestingly, some Western Australia (WA) Supreme Court judges were also managing electronic transcripts at that time. Around 1988, legal professionals were increasingly using databases and technology, combined with hardcopy management techniques, to support larger document-intensive litigation matters. DID PARALEGALS EXIST IN THEIR OWN RIGHT BEFORE LITIGATION SUPPORT AND THE TWO MERGED, OR HAVE THEY HAD TWO SEPARATE PATHS? Jonathan (U.K.): They did merge, but not in great number. In 1982, “paralegal” was not a term used in London. Legal assistants, as they were known, were mainly hard working Antipodean law graduates coming to the U.K. to work, so they could fund European travel for a couple of years before going back to Australia or New Zealand to start their formal careers. Those were great years in the ‘80s! The role of paralegal and litigation support merged during the hardcopy days and they decoupled when litigation support developed a significant IT element — that was even before e-disclosure. Our outdoor clerks became legal executives controlled and regulated by their own institute. Kelly (Canada): Well, we have paralegals and law clerks. Paralegals in Canada can work independently without the direct supervision of a lawyer. Law clerks, who must be directly supervised by a lawyer, have existed in Canada since the late ‘50s, early ‘60s. The Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario was established in 1968 and the title of law clerk was established by the Law Society of Upper Canada around that same time. Scott (U.S.): They definitely existed before litigation support. Actually, the first people to really perform litigation support tasks were called technical paralegals. I don’t think the two have merged, nor do I see them necessarily merging in the future. There is a certain degree of overlap in their individual functions, but there are more distinctions than similarities and I expect that to continue to be the case. Along the themes of practice management, however, these organizations are continuing in their alignment, which I think is going to lead to common management. In fact, this is a trend that has been underway for several years. www.iltanet.org Litigation and Practice Support 13