Paralegals work in different sectors of society. These include:

• Community advice centres – they offer a basic free legal advice service to people who cannot afford an attorney, they provide community education on the law and rights and referral service.
• Trade unions – Organisers, training officers and shop stewards need paralegal skills for their work. They also need to know the basic principles of labour law and labour relations.
• Service organisations and NGOs – Field employees working in service organisations, NGOs, CBOs and attorneys’ organisations need paralegal skills, for example, giving advice, monitoring abuses of rights, understanding and simplifying the law, and assisting with community education.
• Law firms – Paralegal employees in law firms take statements, refer people to other organisations if necessary, give advice, etc.
• Inside the legal system – Lay assessors are paralegals who participate in the criminal courts by helping magistrates reach fair decisions in criminal cases. Lay assessors should have a basic knowledge of the law and court procedures.
• Community Development Workers (CDWs) – CDWs are based in municipal offices. Their role is to provide a link between government and communities. They need to have certain skills including those for effective conflict resolution and they need a sound working knowledge of broad issues such as social development and welfare, disaster management, the responsibilities of local councils to communities and how to make local government accountable.