Tackling the legal process can be nothing short of overwhelming. If you don’t already have a lawyer, you may need to find one. Then, you’ll have to consider what kind of legal action to take. Once all that’s done, you’re left with potentially mounds of complicated legal paperwork that need to be completed and filed perfectly with all the right agencies in a timely fashion. It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. However, there’s more help out there than just your local attorney. A legal document assistant (LDA) can also provide guidance when it comes to organizing and filing those legal documents.
What Does an LDA Do?
Legal document assistants know legal documents inside and out. Whether you’re filling out a divorce petition or a probate inventory, an LDA can help you complete your paperwork correctly before filing and ensure they get to the proper entities once finished. But it isn’t just about automating your complex paperwork. While there are plenty of online document preparation services, these preparers often provide the bare minimum in service to their customers. You may discover later that you’ve completed the wrong form, or you’ve filed your petition with the incorrect entity, leading to more money spent on re-preparing and re-filing your documents. Talk about a headache!
Local, personal LDAs can help prevent this problem because they are familiar with your area’s unique court requirements. They can also get to know you and your needs personally, so you always know you’ve completed the correct documents for your situation.
It’s important to remember that LDAs are not attorneys, however. They haven’t undergone the same training and education as lawyers and are, therefore, not qualified to provide legal advice in any capacity. If you have a legal question, your attorney can help you. Meanwhile, your LDA will make sure you sign on all the proper dotted lines.
Legal Document Assistant or a Paralegal?
Paralegals and legal document assistants provide very similar services. In fact, many clients and lawyers refer to LDAs as paralegals. Even some old-school LDAs call themselves paralegals! However, the difference is in the details.
Paralegals are legal professionals that work in a law firm or for a lawyer, specifically. They may draft and complete all of their documents and ensure they are filed correctly (sound familiar?). By providing this service for a lawyer, though, they deem themselves a paralegal rather than an LDA.
LDAs offer document preparation services to the public, rather than to a law firm or attorney. However, depending on an LDA’s clientele, they may complete paperwork for both public clients and lawyers. In this situation, they’d be considered both an LDA and a paralegal.
In-house paralegals don’t just stop at document preparation, though. They also provide other services like research, meeting clients, assisting attorneys in trials, and more. LDAs are much more specialized professionals, working solely with documents.
Providing Legal Document Assistance Throughout the Inland Empire
Despite being a specialized professional, an experienced, qualified legal document assistant isn’t hard to track down. Inland Empire neighbors can turn to ProSe Legal for assistance with all their legal document needs right down the street from their front doors. ProSe LDAs offer highly personalized service at reasonable flat rates so you can get that paperwork taken care of faster. Whether you want to connect remotely or in-person, a ProSe LDA is never far from your neighborhood. We can even come to you in our COVID-compliant mobile office!
If you have paperwork needing filing,
today or call (909) 497-1349.
