13.2 Client Relations & Law Office Practice

Most ethics questions on the NALA CP exam are not abstract — they describe a paralegal doing something ordinary, like answering a client's question about cost, and ask whether it crossed a line. This section supplies the lines.

Competence, Diligence, and Communication

Three ABA Model Rules frame the attorney's duties, and delegated paralegal work must satisfy the same standards:

• Rule 1.1 (Competence) — legal representation requires the knowledge, skill, thoroughness, and preparation reasonably necessary. A paralegal who takes on an unfamiliar task must be trained and supervised, not left to improvise.
• Rule 1.3 (Diligence) — the lawyer must act with reasonable diligence and promptness. For paralegals this means calendar discipline: statute of limitations dates, answer deadlines under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and discovery cutoffs are classic malpractice events, and the paralegal often runs the docket.
• Rule 1.4 (Communication) — the lawyer must keep the client reasonably informed and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information. Paralegals routinely serve as the client contact point, relaying status updates, explaining procedural steps, and collecting facts. What they may not do is convert information into advice — "here is what the rule says" is permissible; "here is what you should do" is the practice of law.

Scenario: A client calls and asks, "The insurer offered $40,000 — should I take it?" The paralegal may confirm the offer was received, describe what happens procedurally if it is accepted or rejected, and relay the attorney's recommendation. The paralegal may not recommend accepting or rejecting. The exam tests this boundary constantly.

Fees: The Attorney's Exclusive Domain

Only attorneys set fees. NALA Canon 3(b), the NFPA Model Code, and the NALA Model Standards all repeat it. In practice:

ABA Model Rule 1.5 governs the fees themselves. Core points the exam tests:

• Fees must be reasonable, weighed against factors like time and labor required, the fee customarily charged locally, the amount involved and results obtained, and the lawyer's experience.
• The basis or rate of the fee must be communicated to the client, preferably in writing, at or near the start of representation.
• Contingency fees (a percentage of recovery, commonly one-third to 40 percent) must be in a writing signed by the client, stating the percentage, how expenses are deducted, and whether the percentage is computed before or after expenses. At the end of the matter the client gets a written closing statement.
• Contingency fees are prohibited in criminal defense cases and in domestic relations matters where the fee is contingent on securing a divorce or on the amount of alimony, support, or property settlement.

Billing Ethics and Timekeeping

Paralegal time is legitimately billable. In Missouri v. Jenkins, 491 U.S. 274 (1989), the U.S. Supreme Court held that paralegal work is compensable under federal fee-shifting statutes at prevailing market rates, rejecting the notion that paralegal time is mere overhead. Firms therefore bill paralegal hours at their own hourly rates — which makes honest timekeeping an ethics issue, not just bookkeeping.

Standard practice and prohibitions:

• Time is recorded in increments, most commonly tenths of an hour (six-minute units), with a narrative describing the actual task ("drafted interrogatory responses" — not "attention to file").
• No padding — recording more time than a task actually took.
• No double-billing — charging two clients for the same hour (e.g., billing travel time to one client while drafting another client's brief).
• No upcoding — billing clerical tasks (filing, copying, scheduling) as paralegal work. Clerical work is overhead and generally not billable at paralegal rates.
• Entries should be made contemporaneously; reconstructed time at month's end is where errors and disputes breed.

Solicitation and Advertising Basics

Attorney advertising is protected commercial speech, but it is tightly regulated, and paralegals act within those limits:

• Model Rule 7.1 — no false or misleading communications about the lawyer or services. A firm brochure listing a paralegal as an "associate" or "attorney" violates it.
• Model Rule 7.2 — lawyers may advertise and pay the reasonable costs of advertisements, but may not pay anyone for recommending the lawyer's services (no referral fees to nonlawyers).
• Model Rule 7.3 — lawyers may not solicit professional employment by live person-to-person contact (in person, live telephone, real-time electronic contact) when a significant motive is pecuniary gain, absent a family, close personal, or prior professional relationship. A paralegal cold-calling accident victims on the firm's behalf is solicitation by the firm — a serious violation sometimes called "running and capping."
• Status disclosure — business cards, letterhead, email signatures, and LinkedIn profiles must identify the paralegal as a nonlawyer ("paralegal" or "legal assistant"), consistent with NALA Canon 5.

Common Exam Traps

• "The paralegal quoted the firm's standard $250 hourly rate from the published fee sheet" — permitted; relaying an established rate is not setting a fee.
• "The client negotiated the retainer down with the paralegal" — prohibited; negotiation is fee-setting.
• "The paralegal billed six hours for a task that took four because the client seemed wealthy" — billing fraud, full stop.
• "The paralegal posted on Facebook that the firm wins 'every case'" — a false or misleading communication under Rule 7.1, attributed to the firm.