There are many paralegal services that offer legal services. What looks like a bargain, however, can quickly become a very costly mistake. Paralegals are not lawyers and are not qualified or legally allowed to provide legal advice.

I have encountered numerous instances when paralegals have incorrectly prepared documents pertaining to bankruptcy, divorce, immigration, wills and other areas of the law. Invariably, these mistakes caused problems to their clients in both expense and wasted time.

One illustration is typical. Not long ago, I met at my office with a man who had filed bankruptcy with the assistance of a well-known paralegal service. The paralegal service had committed such a serious error that the man was in danger of losing his home.Although I was able to save the man’s home, the error committed by the paralegal service cost more than it should have and caused the man to experience great stress.

Another drawback of using a paralegal is that, if there is a problem, either caused by the paralegal’s error or by unforeseen circumstances, the paralegal’s client may find him or herself alone in court with major problems. In bankruptcy, such a client may face criminal prosecution. In an immigration setting, a client may face confinement, deportation, or both. The divorce client may lose property and financial, custodial or visitation rights.

Although not every client of a paralegal service experiences such problems, they occur often enough that it is wise not to rely upon a paralegal to do a lawyer’s job. Paralegals are very useful when directly supervised by a lawyer, but they are not trained to make legal decisions. The saying that “a little knowledge is dangerous” is applicable here. If you have a legal need, seek out the counsel of an experienced lawyer that you can trust. By doing so, you may save yourself a lot of money and stress.