N.M. R. Gov. Paral. Serv. 20-101
Increasing the availability of legal services to the public at a cost the public can afford is a goal of the legal profession and one which finds its support in Article 5 of the Rules of Professional Conduct. The employment of paralegals is a particularly significant means by which lawyers can render legal services more economically, in greater volume and with maximum efficiency while maintaining the quality of legal services. Rapid growth in the employment of legal assistants and paralegals and the trend in the legal community toward the use of the designation "paralegal" to identify highly-trained, highly-skilled legal support staff who engage in substantive legal work increases the necessity of providing guidelines for the qualifications and use of paralegals.
While the responsibility for compliance with the standards of professional conduct rests with members of the bar, paralegals should know and understand those standards. A lawyer using the services of a paralegal is obligated to inform the paralegal of the restraints and responsibilities incident to the employment and to supervise the performance of the paralegal. These guidelines are intended to promote the proper development and expansion of paralegal services, and to provide guidance to both the lawyer and the paralegal so that increased use of paralegal services will be in accordance with the Rules of Professional Conduct, statutes, court rules and decisions and rules and regulations of administrative agencies.
N.M. R. Gov. Paral. Serv. 20-101
ANNOTATIONS
The 2004 amendment, effective January 30, 2004, substituted "paralegals" for "legal assistants" in the second sentence and rewrote the last sentence in the first paragraph, and substituted "paralegals" for "legal assistants" and "paralegal" for "legal assistant" throughout the second paragraph.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. - 7 Am. Jur. 2d Attorneys at Law §§ 115, 216; 60 Am. Jur. 2d Penal and Correctional Institutions § 72.
7A C.J.S. Attorney and Client § 253.