Luckily law’s not a democracy.

Delegation is one of the luxuries of career progression. Farming out the mundane, the repetitive or anything process driven to juniors and assistants means that the more experienced can concentrate on complex things like business development, management and golf swings.

But where does the line get drawn? A lot further up than it used to if new stats from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills are to be believed.

In its recent report, it found that the number of paralegals in England has increased from 24,509 in 2001 to 51,250 today – a rise of 109% whereas, the number of solicitors has increased by around 40% over the same period. Meaning ever more heavy lifting is being shoved onto the dutiful paralegal.

Now clients have finally worked out that much of the work lawyers do is process driven, or high-end administration as one of our contributors likes to call it, they are demanding cost savings.

And on the other side of the coin – for law firms, higher leverage (numbers of minions per partner) at lower cost (paralegals being cheaper than junor lawyers) increases profitability.

So where’s the catch?

As Law Society president Robert Heslett told the Gazette: ‘There is no clear definition of what a paralegal is, so these figures need to be treated with caution. The delegation of elements of legal work shows that solicitors are focused on delivering a cost-effective service for their clients. That is appropriate as long as the work is properly supervised.’

Which means that golf swings should not be improving 109% over the same period.