Citation

Lively KJ. Work Occup. 2002; 29(2): 198-225.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0730888402029002004

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the effect of client contact on the emotional labor performed by paralegals employed in both consumer- and commercial-oriented law firms. Consumer-oriented law refers to specialties that deal primarily with the interests of corporations. The consumer-oriented paralegals in this study identified three themes in their interactions with clients that increased their likelihood of engaging in emotional labor: the clients' emotional states, clients' lack of knowledge regarding legal proceedings, and their own roles as organizational buffers. Whereas consumer-oriented paralegals are held to a higher standard of emotional labor performed for the benefit of clients, their increased level of substantive involvement may, in fact, release them from the emotional labor that commercial-oriented paralegals are required to perform for the benefit of attorneys.