8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

1/23

PARALEGAL 101 A beginner's guide to the paralegal

profession

By Julian & Samantha S

1

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

2/23

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION 3

SECTION ONE THE BASICS

Overview 4

Defining Paralegal hat is a paralegal! 5-6

Duties and "esponsabilities hat does a paralegal do! 7

#ypes of Paralegal hat are your options! 8-9

SECTION TWO PARALEGAL TRAINING

Overview 10

Paralegal $ertifi%ation hat your need to now 11

Paralegal $ertifi%ation ho to %onta%t for your %ertifi%ation 12

Paralegal Programs $hoosing the right s%hool 13-14Paralegal Salaries ow mu%h will ( earn! 15-17

Paralegal Job Outloo ill ( be able to find wor ! 18

SECTION THREE - RESOURCES

Overview and )inal #houghts 19

*eneral Paralegal "esour%es 20

Paralegal Blogs to )ollow 21-23

2

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

3/23

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

4/23

SECTION 1 - THE BASICS

Ov !v" #

(n this first se%tion of the guide, we'll %over the basi% 8uestions surroundingparalegal wor for those who may not now what a paralegal or legalassistant does- e'll begin by e5plaining e5a%tly this, what a paralegal

does and how they do it- )ollowing this up, we'll e5plain what tas s ayoung paralegal might e5pe%t to underta e on a day to day basis-"ounding everything up, we'll run through some different types of paralegalareas of interest-

4

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

5/23

D $"%"%& ' ('!') &') W*'+ ", ' ('!') &')

So, what e5a%tly is a paralegal! #here are many definitions whi%h varyslightly depending on the organi9ation- Below are three definitions fromleading legal entities within the :nited States-

A. !"/'% B'! A,, /"'+" %

"A legal assistant or paralegal is a person qualified by education, training

or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office,corporation, governmental agency or other entity who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible"

N'+" %') A,, /"'+" % $ L &') A,,",+'%+,

"Legal assistants, also known as paralegals, are a distinguishable group of persons who assist attorneys in the delivery of legal services. Throughformal education, training and experience, legal assistants haveknowledge and expertise regarding the legal system and substantive and

procedural law which qualify them to do work of a legal nature under thesupervision of an attorney"

A. !"/'% A,, /"'+" % $ P'!') &') E /'+" %

" aralegals perform substantive and procedural legal work as authori!edby law, which work, in the absence of the paralegal, would be performedby an attorney. aralegals have knowledge of the law gained througheducation, or education and work experience, which qualifies them to

perform legal work. aralegals adhere to recogni!ed ethical standards and rules of professional responsibility"

5

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

6/23

D $"%"%& ' ('!') &') / %+"%

(n plain 6nglish, a paralegal ;or legal assistant< helps a lawyer perform hisor her duties by handling a variety of tas s that the lawyer may not havetime to do- A paralegal may not provide legal advi%e but is trained inaspe%ts of the law, and is permitted to %ondu%t legal resear%h, draftdo%uments among other tas s relating to aiding a lawyer or legal firm- #heterms paralegal and legal assistant are used inter%hangeably and for all

intents and purposes, refer to the same role-Outside of the :nited States, terms su%h as legal aid or legal se%retarymay be used, with slight variations in the nature of the wor from %ountry to%ountry-

6

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

7/23

D +" , '% R ,( %,' ")"+" , W*'+ , ' ('!') &')

As some may have guessed, the duties and responsabilities of a paralegalinvolve primarily aiding an attorney in his or her wor - #his %an be done ina variety of ways, and in a lot of %ases, %an vary from field to field- #hosewho wor in environmental law may not have the same responsabilitiesthan those wor ing in litigation or %riminal law- $ompli%ating things further,%ertain firms may re8uire a paralegal to underta e additional training indiffering aspe%ts of law, and as a result the duties may %hange over time-

#his is one reason why paralegal wor presents an ever %hanging set of%hallenges to be over%ome, and why every year thousands of men andwomen de%ide to enter this e5%iting field- #he best way to see out pre%iseinformation regarding paralegal duties in a given field, is to underta eparalegal training at one of the many institutions available both online, oraround the :nited States-

)or your %onvenien%e, below is a sample list of duties that a paralegal

wor ing in )"+"&'+" %may e5pe%t. Prepare subpoenas

Prepare %ourt e5hibits

$olle%t information on 0urors

Draft settlement do%uments for lawyer's approval

Prepare noti%e of appeal

#here are many different areas of law a paralegal %an wor in, below we'lldis%uss some of these, hopefully giving you a bit of an idea of where youmight want to spe%iali9e- Some of these may also be higher paying thanothers, whi%h we'll dis%uss in Se%tion 1-

7

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

8/23

T ( , $ ('!') &') W*'+ '! ! (+" %,

(t would probably be more a%%urate to refer to this se%tion as differentareas of law studies, as the =type= of paralegal generally refers to theparti%ular area of law you de%ide to pursue- aving said that, there aremany different types of law, with a wide variety of lawyers and paralegalswor ing in ea%h field- #o help you along in getting an idea of what field youmay want to pursue, find below some %ommon types of paralegal and abrief des%ription outlining what e5a%tly these fields involve-

C ( !'+ L'# 7 +ay refer to dealing with disputes within a %ompany,handling litigation, as well as aiding %ompany lawyers in filing forban rup%y, among other related tas s-

C!"."%') L'# 7 Primarily refers to %riminal %ases, where a paralegal in thisfield may e5pe%t to handle 0ury resear%h, witness statements, appealnoti%es, and %ase studies-

E%v"! %. %+') L'# 7 Dealing primarily with issues of the environment, inmany %ases, enfor%ing international treaties against individuals or%orporations who may be harming the environment-

I%+ !%'+" %') L'# 7 #his %ould involve enfor%ing international agreementson a %riminal or %orporate level- Paralegal wor related to this %ould involvetas s su%h as reviewing and summari9ing do%uments, finding pre%edent%ases, and a host of other tas s-

8

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

9/23

T ( , $ P'!') &') / %+"%

+ore ni%he related studies in%lude.

ealth >aw

*aming >aw

(ntelle%tual Property >aw

+usi% >aw

Patent >aw

Priva%y >aw

and many more

)or a good idea of different areas of law and how it all fits together, pleaserefer to the list in%luded here

http.//en-wi ipedia-org/wi i/>ist?of?areas?of?law

(t's important to note however that in most %ases, firms will offer manydifferent options for studies with many firms offering in7house training ifneeded- Another point to mention is in may %ases, paralegals might findthemselves helping around the firm with %ommon tas s su%h as filing orlegal resear%h, whi%h may not be spe%ifi% to a parti%ular field-

9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_areas_of_lawhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_areas_of_law

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

10/23

SECTION 2 - PARALEGAL TRAINING

Ov !v" #

)or most who are see ing out wor as a paralegal, the first step is to%onsider where, and how to pursue training- Although it is was possible inthe past to =wal in= to a paralegal 0ob without any formal training, this %anbe 8uite rare as the profession see s trained professionals to handle thein%reasing demand in paralegal wor - (n this se%tion, we'll begin by%overing some basi%s of paralegal training, involving the prin%ipal bodies of paralegal %ertifi%ation as well as some %ommon options of degrees and%ertifi%ates-

)ollowing this up, we'll %over different ways you %an a%8uire %ertifi%ation,briefly tou%hing on online training programs, running through someadvantages and disadvantages of both in7person and online training-)inishing off this se%tion, we'll dis%uss some average salaries of paralegalsaround the %ountry as well as the %urrent 0ob outloo for the paralegalprofession-

10

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

11/23

P'!') &') / !+"$"/'+" % W*'+ % + % #

Probably the most important thing to note, is that at the time of writing;June 123@< there is presently only one state that regulates paralegaltraining in the :nited States ;that state being $alifornia

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

12/23

P'!') &') C !+"$"/'+" % W* + / %+'/+ $ ! ! / !+"$"/'+" %

Please find below a list of organi9ations whi%h provide paralegal%ertifi%ation, there are four main bodies whi%h %ertify paralegals in the:nited States, these are ;in no parti%ular orderegal Assistants ; A>A, websitehttp.//www-nala-org/ egal Se%retaries ; A>S, websitehttp.//www-nals-org/ abor Statisti%s has also dis%overed that the spe%iali9edarea of study as well as the type of employer is also a de%iding fa%tor ingetting an estimate of a paralegal salary- >arger firms tend to pay outgreater salaries than smaller pra%ti%es, with te%hnology industries being

the highest in terms of average paralegal pay- Below is the B>S list of thetop G average paralegal salaries by industry- (t is important to note thatsome of these industries are %onsiderably smaller in si9e than the ma0orparalegal industries- Also in%luded is the top G industries by levels ofemployment ;how many 0obs are available

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

17/23

P'!') &') S')'! / %+"%

T ( 5 'v !'& ,')'!" , "% ,+!

3- Software Publishers ; II,3@2 abor Statisti%s pro0e%ts a growth rate of 3IMfrom the period of 1231 to 1211, whi%h is higher than the average a%rossall professions-

One reason for this is the global growth of the legal industry as a whole,whi%h as a result, spar s a dire%t growth in the support me%hanism whi%hallows the industry to %ontinue to operate effi%iently- $urrently, there areappro5imately 1II,222 paralegal and legal assistants employed in the:nited States and this is pro0e%ted to rise to H1H,H22 by 1211-

:nli e some industries, there doesn't appear to be a need to worry aboutstability in the legal industry, with every year there %omes a need for moreand more well trained legal assistants to help along the pro%ess in avariety of se%tors- +any %ompanies are beginning to handle their own legal

wor , with an ever growing %han%e of finding wor outside of a law firm andwithin a private %ompany unrelated to law-

As always, there will be %ompetition when finding wor , but 0ust be sure toma5imi9e your %han%es by wor ing hard and ta ing the right steps toensure you will be su%%essful in your paralegal %areer-

18

8/12/2019 Paralegal 101

19/23

SECTION 3 RESOURCES

Ov !v" # '% ;"%') T* &*+,

#he best strategy when ma ing a de%ision on your future %areer is to doyour proper resear%h and to never rely on any single pei%e of information-#o help you along in %hoosing whether being a paralegal is something you

might want to pursue, we have %ompiled a list of useful resour%es relatingto the paralegal industry as well as a list of hand7pi% ed blogs byparalegals whi%h will give you a good idea of what life is li e Nin thetren%hes -

#his will be the last se%tion of this eBoo so we would li e to than you allfor reading through it and sin%erely hope you have managed to ta esomething useful out of it- Paralegal wor %an be e5temely rewarding andlead to a long and fulfulling %areer- $ertain %ases %an really ma e adifferen%e in people's lives, and with the wide range of fields to wor in, theoptions are always open to e5pand in to new and e5%iting areas of law-

Please feel free to %he% out our site ; http.//paralegal0obdes%riptions-org