Paralegal Studies Careers - Providing Critical Legal Services

by Jane Muder

The fast-paced excitement of a paralegal or legal services career is dramatically depicted in popular and syndicated television shows, such as “Boston Legal” and “Law and Order.” Meanwhile, the local and national news, as well as court and justice television programs, have provided coverage of high-profile trials and legal proceedings that have made major headlines over the past several years. With such easy access to law and legal action courtesy of the American media, it is no wonder that so many young Americans want to complete law degrees or paralegal certificates each year.
Like any career shown in the media �" medicine, business, advertising, and so on �" real-life law and legal careers do not always embody the back-to-back high-drama excitement portrayed on television. However, they are consistently interesting and engaging, requiring workers to devote focus to their careers. To get started in an entry-level legal or paralegal career (these terms will be used interchangeably throughout the article), a potential employee will typically need to have a degree �" or have completed legal studies training courses or a paralegal certification.

Entry-level competition for any career, including the paralegal profession, can be tough. Students who have pursued a paralegal certificate or degree are usually considered to be stronger candidates for entry-level careers in law. This is because completing an education demonstrates that a student is mature and responsible enough to handle a daily legal services workload. Many schools in the United States offer a paralegal studies degree program to prepare students for an array of exciting legal careers. Some of the stronger programs are also approved by the American Bar Association (ABA).

The legal studies or paralegal degree program: What do students learn?

The most important skill sets that a paralegal or legal assistant will employ are good reading comprehension and writing abilities. The majority of a paralegal's work involves reading and writing, and some legal documents or court briefs can contain fairly complex language and concepts. Besides English reading and writing courses, many paralegal studies programs require students to take specific classes in legal research and legal writing.

Strong research and documentation skills are other important components of a legal studies education. Upon completing a paralegal certification or legal studies career training program, students must be able to quickly and accurately find and interpret federal, state, and local laws, research legal precedents set by previous hearings or decided cases, and track down evidence that will support the case. Because the career opportunities for paralegals and legal assistants are very diverse, many legal programs require students to study several areas of law. Many ABA-approved schools offer classes in criminal law, family law, property and probate, torts, and civil procedure.

Many schools offer career placement options for students completing a paralegal studies or legal services degree program. These student-centered career resources can include resume-writing workshops and cover-letter coaching, as well as job leads �" and career placement. This placement is often targeted in the area of the country in which the college is located. For example, a Los Angeles college might offer students placement assistance in Long Beach, Huntington, Irvine, Cerritos, or another city in Los Angeles County, California. Students interested in legal or law careers are most successful at the entry level when they use all of the resources their school or college offers, including career counselors and legal or paralegal job resource boards.

After the legal studies education: What do paralegals and legal assistants do?

Upon completing a degree and career training program, legal studies students will enter jobs with varying descriptions and duties. Paralegals perform many direct tasks for the rest of the legal team. A paralegal or legal assistant might be assigned to one lawyer or to a team of lawyers. For example, a litigation paralegal might assist the legal team in preparing for trial, whichincludes gathering and organizing evidence and court briefs; doing research and writing briefs for the case, and even preparing courtroom arguments or evidence exhibits.

Some of the documents a paralegal will write are dependent upon the area of law in which he or she works. Estate and trust paralegals are likely to assist in writing wills and financial contracts. Family and divorce law paralegals help write divorce agreements, child custody briefs, and hearing summaries, or or work with the courts in obtaining child abuse testimonies. Financial and corporate paralegals can prepare tax forms, work in government compliance, or write business contracts.

A paralegal might also be employed in the public or the private legal sector. Legal assistants and paralegals might take notes in meetings, help to prepare employee tax and benefits forms, and file records and major papers for the law firm. Some employees might have more opportunities to perform more extensive legal research, as well. Other employees might be in charge of determining whether individuals are eligible for food stamps, housing subsidies, social security assistance, and other benefits.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the need for paralegals and legal assistants is expected to increase more rapidly than average through 2014. This is partially because Americans live in an increasingly lawsuit-prone society, and partially because it is more cost-effective for law firms to hire legal assistants to perform the work of an attorney. A comprehensive education in legal concepts and applications from an ABA-approved or accredited paralegal studies or certificate program, a thorough, post-college legal career search, and the desire to work hard at acquiring increasingly challenging job responsibilities will enable a legal studies student to begin a fulfilling legal career.

About the Author
Fremont College is a Cerritos, California education center offering several career training programs, including a paralegal studies associates degree program. For more information, visit the school's Web site, www.fremont.edu.

Paralegal - Do You Have What It Takes?

by Shelby Ryan

As job opportunities in many professions continue to be downsized and outsourced in the new global economy, the paralegal field has continued to grow in stature and importance along with the job opportunities.
Sounds great for anyone who's interested in a career as a paralegal but regardless of the opportunities if you're not cut out for the work, it's of little importance. As a result, if you've been contemplating a paralegal career you may want to ask yourself if you've got what it takes to be a top notch paralegal.

To help you along in your self evaluation I've listed some of the top characteristics you'll need to excel in this challenging, rewarding and in demand profession.

People Skills

In today's workplace, most professions require the ability to work well with others and working as a paralegal is no different. Although research is a big part of the job and I'll go into that aspect of the job next, you will also be required to work with a wide variety of people. As a paralegal you are the liaison between the client and the lawyer for many duties. For instance, you may be asked to take statements from clients and then assist in directing their concerns and questions to the lawyer.

Research, Research, Research

The bottom line with research is that if you don't like it, you should run away from this career as fast as you can. You must love and excel at research if you want succeed as a paralegal. In addition, you need to be the kind of individual who can think outside the box in order to find the hidden facts that will help the cases you are assigned to research. Today, much of your research can be done online via the internet but good old fashioned research at the county courthouse or scrolling through old newspapers on microfiche down at the public library.

Self Starter

Are you a self starter with the ability to work at a high level with limited supervision? If you are the type of person who requires a boss standing over your shoulder "cracking the whip" pushing you to get busy and meet deadlines you may want to reconsider becoming a paralegal. Most attorneys and other business owners you may be working for simply do not have the time to be following the progress of your work on an ongoing basis. They will give you a task and then expect you to meet your deadline.

Pressure and More Pressure

All jobs have pressure but some pressure is more real because it's backed by a real world deadline that doesn't move and must be met. The type of work paralegals do usually falls into the category of work that needs to be completed on time because there's a deadline to meet. On that note, you need to be aware that as you are doing research and gathering information, facts may pop up on occasion that change the entire course of your research and then you may be forced to start anew, from a completely new angle. Therefore, you must have the ability to handle deadlines, adapt on a moments notice and be able to handle it all without getting frustrated or you'll burn out.

Organization

Because all the research you do can either make or break a case you must be able to organize all that information into a usable, user friendly format that anyone and can use and understand. This is vital because you'll be required to present your research to lawyers or case workers or to whomever and if they are confused the consequences could be disastrous.

That's it - arguably the top five qualities any highly skilled, competent paralegal needs to survive and thrive. Do you have what it takes? Be honest and if you do - congratulations, because with the right training your future should be bright.

If the allure of a paralegal career is calling you, check out the links below.

About the Author
Visit paralegal school or online paralegal training or paralegal training for more information.

Legal Assistants, Paralegals And Lawyers - What's The Difference?

by Kevin Erickson

If you've ever dreamed of one day becoming a lawyer but you've been hesitant to take the plunge, a viable alternative would be a legal assistant or paralegal. Both are two peas in a pod and thus either one is probably as close as you can get to becoming a lawyer, without actually being a lawyer.

In addition, employment in this field is projected to grow much faster than average. The current trend of employers trying to reduce costs by hiring paralegals to perform duties formerly carried out by lawyers is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. As a result, employment opportunities are projected to grow much faster than average for the next 10 years or so.
From doing extensive research on various cases to helping create legal drafts and filing every important legal document, interested individuals can actually learn all that even in the comfort of their own homes through online paralegal training.

Online Training
From doing extensive research on various cases to helping create legal drafts and filing every important legal document, interested individuals can actually learn all that even in the comfort of their own homes through online paralegal training.

This is where you'll actually get the basic knowledge that you'll need in order to become a full-pledged legal assistant. However, be advised that law firms as well as other legal institutions are looking for highly skilled legal assistants who can outwit others with their keen sense of critical thinking.

Many online legal assistant and paralegal training programs will condense 27 subject units into 10 with 6 and 12-month certificate programs being offered. How you want to approach the training is really up to you and how the different options being offered best fit in your budget, schedule and how quickly you can master the subject matter.

Online paralegal training clearly has its' perks with the obvious one being convenience.

One must always keep in mind that even though the paralegals or legal assistants' primary function, whether working for a private law firm or government agency, is to assist the lawyers with their case loads. Duties include extensive case research and organizing all types of files, drafting contracts for clients, mortgages, drafting of separation agreements, tax returns, planning estates as well as other important legal duties.

However, there are actually some paralegals that do more than that. At times, they are also asked to organize and coordinate the schedules and activities of other employees in the law office, perhaps even to track law office financial records. Of course, this is clearly employer dependent and on the skill set each legal assistant brings to the table. On the other hand, it's always best to be prepared for such tasks, which is why you never place limits on yourself and why you should always be looking for ways to obtain additional training. In other words, even after you earn a 6 or 12-month certificate online keep going.

A few simple ways to enhance your knowledge is by reading various law books as well as absorbing the legal environment by watching the news and keeping abreast of current events. One should always strive to keep themselves up to snuff with whatever is happening in the news and try to challenge yourself even further by coming up with arguments and other legal discussions concerning whichever cases you've been assigned to handle.

Online training boasts of some of the best minds in the legal profession. They can offer their expertise in creating drafts for whichever situation that they may have a use for it and basically just give legal assistant hopefuls the basic knowledge behind law.

Due to the current and projected abundance of work opportunities is one of the primary reasons why there's been a literal mushrooming of online paralegal training sites popping up. Many of the traditional brick and mortar training schools and facilities are now offering online training.

Browse through all sorts of online paralegal training sites, compare training fees as well as how extensive their online paralegal training programs are. You'll make a wise chose if you put the same effort into finding the right source to train you and as plan on putting into the learning process once you choose who to receive your training from.

A great place to research and find answers to everything "paralegal" is Total Paralegal. Simply click the Online Paralegal Training link in the resource box below.

This article may be reproduced only in its entirety.

About the Author:
Kevin Erickson is an entrepreneur and writer. For other articles he's written visit: Online Paralegal Training | Travel Nursing | Medical Transcription

Paralegals And Secretaries – An Exploration Of Earnings

Submitted By: Laura McDonald

Income for paralegals and legal assistants varies, depending on education and training, work experience, geographic location, and the employer by size and type. Typically, paralegals working for large metropolitan law firms earn more in salary and benefits.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor in May 2004, “full-time wage and salary paralegals and legal assistants had median annual earnings, including bonuses, of $39,130. The middle 50 percent earned between $31,040 and $49,950. The top 10 percent earned more than $61,390, while the bottom 10 percent earned less than $25,360.” In addition to their salary, many paralegals receive bonuses. It is unclear whether bonus reporting was included in the statistics; if not, those earnings would rise even higher.

Continuing with the Department of Labor statistics: “Median annual earnings of legal secretaries were $36,720 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $29,070 and $46,390. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $23,270, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $56,590.”

Thus, by comparison, paralegals have greater opportunity to earn a higher salary than legal secretaries.

Do legal secretaries earn approximately the same as other types of secretaries? No, it is higher. Referring back to Department of Labor compilations: “Medical secretaries earned a median annual salary of $26,540 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $21,980 and $32,690. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $19,140, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $39,140. Median annual earnings of secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive, were $26,110 in May 2004.”

Let’s compare the median annual salaries.

Paralegals - $31,040 to $49,950

Legal Secretaries - $29,070 to $46,390

Medical Secretaries - $21,980 to $32,690

Secretaries (Except Legal, Medical and Executive) - $26,110

Which type of position is more attractive based on salary?

It is highly advisable for young people to earn college educations. Competition for jobs is fierce, and particularly with current technological advances, higher education is just plain required to land career jobs. Players in the game of Life who go straight to work rather than the college route, in reality, may wind up with dead-end jobs and victims of the saying, “he worked until the day he died.”

With paralegal salaries registering at a higher rung than the other office positions, it is reasonable that legal assistants would more than likely require the most education and training. Employers hiring any of the above positions may consider candidates with general course work, but specialized training would naturally be given greater consideration. Specialized training suggests a new hire will pick up the work ball already running. This may also be less costly to the employer during in-house training.

Explore your opportunities for higher education, and consider a career as a paralegal. Salaries are good. The work is interesting. With advancement potential, a paralegal career is an excellent choice. Is it the right one for you?

About the Author:

Are you fascinated by trials? Do you like helping people? A career as a Paralegal is challenging, rewarding, and NEVER boring. Sign up for free newsletters that show you how to step into this exciting career. Adventures await you.... http://www.paralegalsecretary.bravehost.com Laura McDonald is a paralegal. She is a member of NFPA (National Federation of Paralegal Associations). Laura is experienced in the areas of personal injury, civil litigation, family, environmental and corporate law, estate planning and bankruptcy. She works for Michael L. Hawkins & Associates, P.L.L.C., located in Frankfort, Kentucky. The firm's website is http://www.mlhlawky.com

Online Paralegal Schools Offer Comprehensive Training

by Michael Bustamante

Those who seek comprehensive training in legal assisting will find much to like about online paralegal schools. Just imagine studying online to become a certified legal assistant. To begin with, online colleges are so convenient! Paralegal schools online could be just the ticket for a quick and easy way to enter the field of law.
The judicial system encompasses a number of professionals who act as legal assistants (paralegals) for judges, attorneys, court clerks and others. Paralegals are trained to take on many important responsibilities in law, and to assist lawyers and others in many of the routine tasks involved in the justice system. Online paralegal schools teach students how to prepare for court trials by researching and gathering relevant information, and compiling all the facts involved in a case. Paralegal colleges can teach you to organize and compile criminal records and other legal documents in preparation for going to court hearings, criminal trials, meetings, and closings.

And, while the certified paralegal is qualified to assist in many of the vital functions of the legal profession (and even to accompany attorneys into the courtroom), it is important to note that legal assistants are not qualified to represent clients in a court case; nor is the paralegal allowed to give legal advice or set legal fees. Online paralegal schools offer a flexible learning path to fully understanding the nature of the job and to acquire the proper skill set. Good paralegal training can provide you with all of the knowledge and practical experience needed to be a certified legal assistant.

Many working adults have discovered online schools to be the most convenient way to obtain associate degrees, bachelor degrees and master degrees in paralegal studies. You can even find online paralegal certificate programs available to those with an undergraduate degree. Graduate degrees in paralegal are also offered online, and graduate studies are focused on a specific area of law, such as criminal justice studies or legal administration studies.

Are you ready to study online to become a paralegal? Why not find out more right now? You can make direct contact with quality online paralegal schools on our website today, and you will soon have all the information you need to make a good decision for a future in the legal system.


DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERAL OVERVIEW and may or may not reflect specific practices, courses and/or services associated with ANY ONE particular school(s) that is or is not advertised on SchoolsGalore.com.

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About the Author
Michael Bustamante is a staff writer for Media Positive Communications, Inc. and MediaPositiveRadio.com. Find Online Paralegal Schools, Colleges, Universities, and Vocational Schools at SchoolsGalore.com, your resource for higher education.