In Tanzania, Paralegals Play a Bigger Role in Upholding Justice

When we think of paralegals, we often imagine someone who’s in a starchy corporate attire, buried in a tower of paperwork. But paralegals are out there and work out in the field a lot too—more often than not, they interact with a lot of people for their research. In a country like Tanzania, paralegals play no second fiddle to any lawyer—they are frontliners, extending their services to people who thirst for justice but could not afford the expensive services of a lawyer. 

Michal Haonga of IPPMedia.com provides a glimpse of the role of paralegal in Tanzania and how their local government is helping shape up the legal scene with grants for paralegal training in an article titled Paralegals Vital in Government’s Justice for All Initiative. According to Haonga, standardized paralegal training on a national level, especially if “well-utilized” can give hope to millions of Tanzanians who long for justice—considering that paralegals provide legal aid too to individuals needing of legal help in the East African country.

Paralegals in the country are allowed to provide legal aid to the less fortunate since 1990s (hence the term paralegalism). Unfortunately, back then, Haonga notes, the government and other related agencies were not keen on focusing on paralegal training because there were a lot of things that they had to mind like socio-economic problems and illiteracy. This forced the government to allow untrained paralegals to provide support to the less fortunate. Some of these paralegals are operating today. 

Tanzania’s Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC)’s Human Rights Report in 2009 stated that 80 percent of Tanzanians, who were mostly victim of human rights violation, could not afford to hire a lawyer to represent them in court. Thanks to the Legal Services Facility (LSF) which provided a grant to the Tanganyika Law Society, standardized paralegal training would reach more people who want to, well, become a paralegal. The organization will also channel some of funds into recruitment activities for paralegals and monitor the quality of paralegal training in the country. Haonga says that these steps will help the government materialize its dream of providing legal services for all who need it and the establishment of a bill that would further it.  

In the US, where standardization of paralegal training isn’t a gaping problem, paralegals are self-governing individuals as well; in most states, there is no particular agency that governs the profession. This doesn’t mean however that paralegals can practice freely and provide advise to consumers on their own. They cannot—and most certainly have to do so under the supervision of a lawyer. But although paralegals cannot practice independently unlike in Tanzania, this doesn’t mean paralegals can’t help out the less fortunate who need legal services in their own way. 

So what are the ways that paralegals may do so? Working in the public interest sector is one. According to Paralegal Today editor-in-chief and About.com columnist Sally Kane, one’s career as a paralegal is a great opportunity to help others. It all depends on the paralegal’s area of practice, she said. So divorce paralegals help people who wanted to claim their lives (and sanity) from their partners and so on and so forth. Those in the public interest sector, she says, can help the disadvantaged individuals to rise above their legal issues, ranging from domestic abuse to preparing wills and testaments.  

Being a paralegal isn’t just clocking the hours, filing paperworks, making research and reaping more than $40,000 in compensation a year. You’re not just an assistant to an attorney as you or most of the people around you seem to believe. If you’re passionate about law, helping others and making a difference at the same time, the paralegal profession may just be the right job for you.