By MATT CHANDLER
mchandler@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1654

Amid economic uncertainty, layoffs and rising unemployment, one industry continues to see a high demand for workers and an opportunity to earn a good living: paralegal services.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the field is expected to see job growth of 28 percent in the next decade. Not bad in an industry where law firms nationwide have been laying off partners and delaying or cutting the hiring of law graduates.

With clients demanding more and cuts being made, the role of the paralegal has evolved as firms put added value on their services and expand their roles.

Far removed from the era of being a glorified secretary who made copies and filed paperwork, today's paralegals wear many hats and in some cases sit in at trial, serving as second chair to the lead attorney.

Beth Bialis of Hodgson Russ LLP said she has been in the industry for 20 years and has seen her role as a paralegal evolve tremendously.

"Paralegals have taken on a much more substantive role in the law firm," she said. "I think because of the economy, law firms are looking to get the most quality work the best way they can. You see more paralegals taking on more tasks that first- and second-year associates would have done years ago."

Bialis said with expanded opportunities to earn specialized degrees and take advanced classes, today's paralegals are more educated than when she began.

"I think we are very lucky in Western New York," she said. "We have very good paralegal programs. Being involved in the national organization, I meet paralegals from all over the country and a lot of them don't have all of the educational opportunities we do here."

Across town, Kim Stotz is a paralegal with Kenney Shelton Liptak Nowak LLP. She has 15 years of experience.

"There are certainly a lot more paralegals working today than when I began," she said. "It used to be you might work for six or seven attorneys, but today, with all of the added tasks the paralegal is given for a case, that doesn't really work."

Stotz works for three attorneys at Kenney Shelton, though she is ready to jump in and assist on other cases as needed.

It's all part of the evolution of the modern-day paralegal.

Laura Syzchowski, president of the Western New York Paralegal Association, works at Phillips Lytle LLP. A 20-year veteran of the business, she said people would be surprised to know how much work a paralegal does and, in many cases, how intimately involved they become.

"Our responsibilities vary quite widely and can be different at each firm," she said. "We can interview clients for a new case, gather facts in a case, investigate accident scenes, collect police reports and information, conduct jury verdict searches and medical records summaries."

While that's only a portion of the tasks that are routinely assigned, it shows that the modern paralegal is truly a skilled professional in a law firm. The position, however, requires no formal degree (though several are available and firms may be inclined to hire paralegals with advanced education, sources say). Unlike lawyers who are held to stringent educational requirements, paralegals can be hired with no more than a general equivalency diploma.

It is a point of contention in the profession and something that Syzchowski and her colleagues are looking to change.

"Because firms can hire people with no education, or from a two-year school or with an unrelated bachelor's degree, you get that mix," she said. "Anytime you have that mix, you keep the salary level and the professionalism kind of down."

Syzchowksi said her association is working with the statewide group to come up with a certification and licensure process to submit to the state Department of Education. It is a proposal that hopefully will level the playing field while increasing earning potential and respect for the profession.

Edith Maggiotto, also a paralegal at Phillips Lytle, has been working for two years on implementing certification requirements. She said the proposal has been five years in the works, and though she and others hope to have something ready to submit to Albany by the end of 2011, realistically it could take another five years to come to fruition.

"There is some opposition, primarily with older attorneys," she said. "But as our position has changed, we want to be seen as more professional and treated that way."

Maggiotto said there is also some divide in the paralegal community itself regarding certification.

"There would be some costs," she said. "We would likely have to give up overtime benefits because we would become exempt employees."

There is also the issue that paralegals, now covered under the malpractice insurance of the attorneys they work for, would have to carry separate malpractice coverage if they are recognized as certified professionals.

Despite the challenges, Maggiotto and Syzchowski said they are optimistic the certification program will eventually come to pass.

According to Syzchowski, another evolution of the profession comes down to the name itself.

"The terms paralegal and legal assistant were synonymous for many years," she said. "Today, paralegals like to be called paralegals, not legal assistants. And secretaries now want to be called legal assistants."

It may seem like a small point, but paralegals said it is an indication of their changing role and a reflection of the work they put into case preparation.

Given the work that they do on behalf of attorneys, do paralegals see themselves making the leap and returning to school to become lawyers themselves?

Some cited family commitments and a love of their current job as reasons why they don't see themselves tackling law school.

"Initially, I did contemplate law school," Bialis said. "At the time I was starting out, I spoke to an attorney and he asked if I had ever thought of being a paralegal."

She occasionally thinks about returning to school for a law degree, but said that in the end she is happy being a paralegal.

"We have a person here at the firm who began her career as a paralegal and now she is a partner at the firm," Bialis said. "So I think it is just a personal choice, and for me, I am content being a paralegal."

By the numbers

• Number of paralegals employed in the U.S.: 246,810
• New York has third-highest concentration of paralegals: 25,760
• Mean hourly wage, nationally: $24.08
• Mean annual salary, nationally: $50,080
• Mean hourly wage, New York state: $28.91
• Mean annual salary, New York state: $60,140

SOURCE: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.