Paralegal

A paralegal is a non-attorney who works under the supervision of a lawyer whose work is usually billed to clients. Paralegals have many job duties, including drafting motions and subpoenas, document review, and filing papers with courts. Paralegals have traditionally dealt more with procedural law than with substantive law.

Educational Background

In the United States, paralegals have taken many different paths to their careers. These paths comprise an array of varying levels of education, different certifications, and on-the-job-training. They work in government, for law firms, for corporations, for real estate firms, and for nonprofit organizations. Where they work and what they do often depends on what mixture of experience, skills, education, and certification they possess.

Related Topics:
United States - Law firm - Corporation

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There is no specific educational requirement in most U.S. states for legal assistants or paralegals. Some paralegals have only on-the-job experience. Many paralegals have completed a bachelor's degree in paralegal studies. Others have completed a bachelor's or even a master's degree in another field, and quite of few of these have also completed a regular or post-baccalaureate paralegal certificate. Many have completed a two-year course before working in the profession, and still others have certificates.

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Paralegal or legal assistant courses of study have long been available in associate's degree or certificate programs at community colleges. However, similar programs exist at four-year universities and have expanded over the years. More and more prestigious universities offer bachelor's degrees and post-baccalaureate certificates in the subject. One guess to the increasing trend might be that as law responds to rapidly changing technology, social, and business environments, the workload of law firms and even their way of doing business changes as well.

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Levels of Paralegal Education & the Marketplace

Over the last decades, four distinctive levels of paralegal education have developed: on-the-job (OJT) training, associate's degree or undergraduate paralegal certificate programs, bachelor's in paralegal programs, and post-baccalaureate certificate programs. Many problems with professional recognition of the paralegal profession are due to the lack of certification standards for paralegals and the unevenness of paralegal education levels over the past decades. This section describes each level of education and current trends.

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• Paralegals having only on-the-job training are rare; while this was the way in which the first paralegals were trained in the 1960s and 1970s, most remaining OJT paralegals are older paralegals who are coming to the end of their careers. Lawyers and other professionals prefer degrees and formal certifications, so the path for the majority of modern paralegals involves some legal education. Additionally, employers in general like to hire people already trained and certified for jobs, and on-the-job training is in a general decline in all professions.
• Many paralegals currently in the field have completed associate's degrees or undergraduate paralegal certificate programs at local community colleges. Many have also added years of paralegal experience. However, as the paralegal profession has developed, emerged, and struggled for recognition and distinction, the bar of education has been raised: many corporations or law firms require their paralegals to have at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited paralegal program, or a post-baccalaureate paralegal certificate. Thus, people without a bachelor's degree will find it increasingly difficult to obtain employment or placement in an entry-level paralegal position.
• Despite the market demand, there is still a relatively low number of four-year colleges offering a bachelor's degree program in paralegalism or paralegal studies. Several colleges have discontinued their programs, while others have sought official recognition by the American Bar Association. This has created an opening for institutions offering post-baccalaureate certificate programs. Occasionally, a bachelor's degree in legal studies (sometimes called "pre-law") is sufficient for entry into the paralegal profession, but since there are few official standards defining qualification to work as a paralegal, the qualifications criteria is left to the individual employers.
• Humber College in Toronto Ontario, since 2002 has been offering a degree program in Paralegal studies. The program is supported by: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CANADA, ONTARIO MINISTRY OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, CITY OF BRAMPTON ? PROSECUTIONS OFFICE, CITY OF MISSISSAUGA? PROSECUTIONS OFFICE AND THOMSON CARSWELL. The School is also in talks with the Universty of New Brunswick to allow students with degrees in paralegal to apply to thier law school. The Paralegal program also offers a 14 week paid work term offered in year 3 of the program.
• The post-baccalaureate programs offer the most flexible and exciting approach to paralegal education and certification. As the title suggests, students enrolled in these programs must first have a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution and often must also possess years of "professional experience" before being accepted into the program. However, there is little or no restriction on what kind of degree or experience is required; therefore, students in these programs will enter with a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds, which they then carry into the paralegal profession upon graduation. Additionally, students entering the paralegal profession through these programs tend to be much older than those graduating with associate's or undergraduate paralegal certificates. This is a significant advantage because maturity and stability are considered to be the hallmarks of professional behavior in any profession.