One of the benefits of using a lawyer instead of an accountant or paralegal is that what you tell your lawyer cannot be revealed to others.
Many people don’t realize that if they have evaded income tax and speak to their accountant about it, the accountant can be required to give evidence about that conversation – a lawyer cannot.
Similarly, if you retain a paralegal to represent you in Small Claims Court, nothing you say is confidential and the paralegal can be called to give evidence about what you have told them.
The better way to handle the above situations are to retain a lawyer who will then retain the account – all of the conversations are then covered by privilege. In the case of the paralegal – the better way is to retain our firm: we handle Small Claims on a flat fee basis and we’re good at what we do.
Inga B. Andriessen J.D.