Paralegals are not the same in every country. In the United States, they are not authorized by the government or other agency to offer legal services in the same way, nor are they officers of the court, nor are they usually subject to government-/court-sanctioned rules of conduct. In Ontario, Canada, paralegals are licensed and regulated the same way that lawyers are. A paralegal license allows for the paralegal to provide permitted legal services to the public and appear before certain lower level courts and administrative tribunals.

In the United States, paralegals originated as assistants to lawyers at a time when only lawyers offered legal services. In those jurisdictions, such as the United States, where the local legal profession/judiciary is involved in paralegal recognition/accreditation, the profession of paralegal still basically refers to those people working under the direct supervision of a lawyer. In other jurisdictions however, such as the United Kingdom, the lack of local legal profession/judiciary oversight means that the definition of paralegal encompasses non-lawyers doing legal work, regardless of who they do it for. Although most jurisdictions recognize paralegals to a greater or lesser extent, there is no international consistency as to definition, job-role, status, terms and conditions of employment, training, regulation or anything else and so each jurisdiction must be looked at individually.

Various legal organizations offer official definitions of a paralegal: these definitions typically have slight differences. Definitions offered by major organizations include:

The biggest differences between lawyers and paralegals are that lawyers can set fees, give legal advice, appear as counsel of record in court, and sign pleadings (and other court documents) in a representative capacity. If a paralegal attempts to do any of these acts, they will be in violation of the unauthorized practice of law statutes that exist in most U.S. states, as well as some other countries (though not the UK). In the Canadian province of Ontario, a paralegal may set fees, give legal advice and represent in court for the matters mentioned above. They are not allowed to represent for indictable offences or family law.

Other traditional differences between a paralegal and a lawyer (e.g. an attorney in the United States; a solicitor, barrister or legal executive in the UK or solicitor or advocate in India) is that:

In the UK there are now almost 4,000 government registered/regulated paralegal advisory firms offering services that would previously have been offered by lawyers. Similar results are found in Ontario, Canada, where again Paralegals are licenced by the same regulating body as lawyers.[citation needed]

Paralegals are found in all areas where United States lawyers work — in criminal trials, in real estate, in government, in estate planning. In the US, paralegals and legal document assistants (LDAs) are often mistaken for one another. In most other jurisdictions the profession is not yet developed enough to have a clear distinction between the two.

In the United States, a large percentage of paralegals and legal secretaries are also notaries public. In Canada, paralegals can become either Commissioners for Oaths (the equivalent of a U.S. notary public) or a notary public (having much broader powers than the U.S. form of notary), depending on their education and experience. This link is not necessarily the norm in other jurisdictions. In the United Kingdom for example, notaries are a distinct group, and tend to be solicitors.

In Canada, paralegals are legal agents who have the ability to represent on many matters, including all Provincial Offences, work for Provincial Tribunals and Boards, as well as Summary Criminal Cases. They are not "law clerks" in the province of Ontario, Canada and considered to be a formal part of the legal system. Paralegals may become Commissioners, Notary Publics and act as a Justice of the Peace.

In the Province of Ontario, a paralegal is an officer of the court (i.e. considered a formal part of the legal system). Paralegals in Ontario are licensed and regulated by the Law Society of Upper Canada, which also regulates and provides licenses for all lawyers in Ontario. A paralegal license allows a paralegal to independently represent clients in provincial offences court, summary conviction criminal court, small claims court and administrative tribunals such as the Financial Services Commission of Ontario or the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. The role that a paralegal has in the United States is similar to the role of a law clerk or legal assistant in Ontario. Many paralegals in Ontario work in the areas of permitted practice for paralegals and also work alongside lawyers in areas of practice that are only permitted to be practiced by lawyers. It is illegal for paralegals in Ontario to independently practice in an area of law that is permitted only for lawyers. An example of this is family law, or an indictable offence in criminal law.