Lynda ArtesaniLegal Accountant and Data Migration Specialist at The Proper Trust

The Hidden Cost of Making Paralegals Do Your Books #legalaccounting #lawfirms #paralegal

19 May 2026 · 0 min

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In this segment, Lynda Artesani warns law firms about the hidden costs and operational risks of reallocating paralegals—trained for billable legal work—to non‑billable bookkeeping or accounting duties. She argues that this role mismatch forces paralegals to work outside their expertise, leading to lost billable revenue, potential errors, and increased reliance on AI tools that may produce inaccurate financial entries. The speaker frames these practices as "epic failures" that can jeopardize both firm efficiency and client trust.

There's a lot of places where this can become an epic failure. And mostly because the person that's a paralegal went to school to be a paralegal. And now you're having somebody that should be doing paralegal work, which a lot of times is billable work. Right. And you're putting them in a non-billable space, giving them a job that's beyond their capabilities. They do the best they can, and God help them if they use AI to figure out where things go. Right. 'Cause that could be wrong too.