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It may come as a surprise to learn that law firms tend to be very stiff in their structure. From the very beginning, the law firm has maintained a layered structure that just seemed to work. As the years have passed, there has been little or no change to this structure. If you retain a law firm to represent you in any legal matter, you will want to know what people are incharge of what and what roles each employee has at the law firm to help understand what is going on.

At the top of the organization chart is the lead attorney on your case. This is where the buck stops when it comes to strategy, final decisions and problems. The lead attorney is often a partner in the firm, but not always. He or she is the attorney you will probably meet with when you first come into the law firm. The attorney is responsible for practically everything on your case, but has a team that does much of the leg work on day to day matters.

Below the lead attorney, one tends to find an associate lawyer. The associate is typically a less experienced attorney who is earning his or her stripes and trying to work their way up to a partner position in the law firm. When it comes to communicating with the firm on your case, you will inevitably talk with the associate on numerous occasions. He or she will often call with questions related to factual issues and will address many of your questions as they arise.
Next comes the valuable paralegal. The paralegal is not a licensed attorney, but is often very knowledgeable on legal issues and strategies. The paralegal role in a firm is to do most of the detail work. This can include hunting down witnesses, setting depositions, compiling filings and so on. He or she will often share work with the associate attorney.

Finally, the law clerk is a person in the firm that will probably work on your case a lot without you even knowing it. A law clerk is almost always a law school student. To pick up practical experience, the law clerk takes a part time position with the firm. The job duties vary from firm to firm, but often are focused on doing legal research on various legal issues. Much of the legal regulation of a situation is determined by case law opinions issues by appellate or supreme courts of the states and federal jurisdictions. As one of the entry level jobs in a law firm, the law clerk will be the one spending a lot of time doing research and looking up cases in the library. Although overlooked, the law clerk is responsible for a lot of the work behind your case.

One of the keys to understanding how to deal with a Denver law firm is to know who is who and what role they play for their firm.