How To Prepare Yourself For A Paralegal Career Or Advancement

Did you know that these days when professional opportunities are declining, the Paralegal field is blooming with opportunities you can grab with two hands? Yes, opportunities are positively expanding in the paralegal field.

This, obviously, is because the practice of law is expanding necessitating the need for Paralegals. There has never been a better for a Paralegal job. As more and more lawyers graduate so also is the need for Paralegals mounting on a daily basis.

As should be expected, this great need for Paralegals has also brought about the mushrooming of both accredited and none accredited Paralegal schools and institutions, both online and offline.

Therefore, selecting a Paralegal institution, whether online or offline entails some research on your part. What you must know in the first instance is that Paralegal institutions that are worth your trust must be ABA (American Bar Association) approved, belong to National Paralegal Organizations, and have, among other levels of Paralegal courses, a foundation course for beginners in which you will be taught the rudiments of Paralegal concepts following which you can then decide to specialize in areas such as litigation, real estate, estate and will, trust, and corporate law.

If you are desirous of doing a Paralegal course on a part time basis, the online option is advised, because of the following reasons:

1. An online Paralegal course will allow you the convenience of taking the course at your own pace.
2. There is flexibility and the benefit of studying at home using your PC and Internet connection.
3. Fees are paid per course module for most Paralegal online courses.

Obtaining an online paralegal degree will provide you with opportunities for advancing your career or finding new employment opportunities with law firms, the judiciary or the legal departments of organizations and the private sector, give it a thought in 2007.

Neshah writes for your Success. Recommended: Online Paralegal Degree Success blog or Online Paralegal Degree Programs Success, the road maps to successful online paralegal degree programs

Beware Of Diploma Mills - If You Are Interested In Studying A Paralegal Course Online

If you are looking for an online paralegal course, you must have decided to finally give your career a boost or you're a fresher who has interest in becoming a Paralegal.

If you have been working and decide to up your career by returning to school to earn your paralegal degree online, then you must be careful not to make the mistakes most people in your shoes readily make.

It's important that you carefully seek out your options before entrusting yourself to an online college or university; most of them are mere diploma mills.

Of course there are several advantages in doing an online paralegal degree program. Below are some of the advantages:

• An online course allows you to continue to work while studying.
• You also have the advantage of studying at your own time and pace
• Fees for online paralegal course may be paid in modules.
• Your degree is not inferior to degrees from conventional Universities

However, as said earlier, you must ensure that you choose your online institution or University right. The best online institutions are, usually accredited Paralegal institutions are members of National Paralegal Associations, especially online institutions that run American Bar Association approved Paralegal courses. Yes, those are the ones that should catch yours eyes as you search for your ideal Paralegal institution online.

After you have picked a desirable online paralegal institution, you can source for a financial aid package, such as Stafford Loans or Perkins Loans, for your Paralegal course program.

Let me emphasis this:

No degree is worth the paper on which it is printed if the holder is unable to discharge responsibilities expected from the holder of such a qualification. And there is no way you can justify your degree if you were not a diligent student, so, if you are prepared to advance your career or pick a Paralegal career, work your course to equip your self for the challenges of a Paralegal job. It is a challenging job, but the reward is huge.

Neshah writes for your Success. Recommended: Online Paralegal Degree Success blog or Online Paralegal Degree Success Website, the road maps to successful online paralegal degree programs

Legal and Paralegal Education

Prospective students who are interested in attaining legal and paralegal education should know that many community colleges, online schools and trade schools offer these academic law programs.

While some vocational schools do offer Bachelor and Master Degrees, most vocational academic institutions offer Associate Degree programs in legal and paralegal education, which are designed to provide students with the basic skills to earn professional certification.

Of the many law schools and legal and paralegal schools in the U.S., nearly a quarter of them are approved by the American Bar Association. Typical curriculums (in addition to standard academics) would include legal software applications, legal terminology and documents, and other relevant subjects of study.

After completion of a legal and paralegal education, and upon attaining sufficient work experience, graduates may opt to take the National Association of Legal Assistants Exam (NALA). Once the candidate has passed the NALA exam, he or she is qualified to carry the "CLA" (Certified Legal Assistant) title. Students may also take the Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam after attaining a Bachelor's Degree, plus two years of on-the-job experience. Passing this exam enables students to use the title Registered Paralegal (RP).

Earnings for paralegals can be quite excellent, as the median annual salary of paralegals and legal assistants is roughly right around $40,000. With an extensive legal and paralegal education and combined work experience, professionals in this field can earn as much as $60,000 annually.

If you would like to learn more about Legal and Paralegal Education or even Online Legal and Paralegal Schools, you can find more in-depth information and resources on our website.

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.

Copyright 2007 - All rights reserved by SchoolsGalore.com, in association with Media Positive Communications, Inc.

Notice: Publishers are free to use this article on an ezine or website, provided the article is reprinted in its entirety, including copyright and disclaimer, and ALL links remain intact and active.

Michael Bustamante is a staff writer for Media Positive Communications, Inc. in association with SchoolsGalore.com. Find Legal and Paralegal Schools, Colleges, Universities, Vocational Schools, and Online Schools at SchoolsGalore.com, your educational resource to locate schools.

Want Adventure? Explore Paralegal Colleges

Don't assume just yet that the life of a paralegal is boring. In fact, it can be everything but. From working on high-profile cases to interesting investigations, those that graduate from paralegal colleges not only have rewarding careers, but exciting ones. If you want a taste of the thrills of paralegal careers, it may be time for you to enroll in one of many paralegal colleges. But before you send your application to paralegal colleges, here's a glimpse into paralegal careers. Are you cut out for the excitement paralegal colleges can bring you?

They Don't Teach This at Paralegal Colleges...
Such is the case for Bill Harrison, now a paralegal and legal assistant specialist for a reputable agency. Before his current position, Harrison spent part of his career tracking down fugitives, murder suspects, jail escapees as a paralegal during his tenure at a public defender?s office. "We were defending a guy recently charged with murder once," he explains. "The defendant allegedly held up the owner of a coin-operated laundry room." When the owner refused to hand over money, he was shot and killed. Upon the defendant's arrest, he asked for a public defender. And that's when Harrison and his agency steps in.

"While the man was in jail awaiting trial, he escaped as a result of a 'mishap' at the jail," he recalls. The fugitive squad of the sheriff's department gave Harrison the opportunity to go on a ride-along late one night as they attempted to apprehend the suspect. The defendant later surrendered when contact was made.

Opportunities After Education at Paralegal Colleges
If you work at the district attorney's office, Harrison attests, there are plenty of exciting opportunities for paralegals and legal assistants. From assisting with the investigation to attending and assisting with trial, just to name a few. And all it takes is a degree from one of the many paralegal colleges or something related. "I have a bachelor's degree in criminology and corrections. Normally, employers require either a four-year degree or a paralegal certificate," Harrison explains. Enrolling in programs at paralegal colleges can take you to the next step of employment in an exciting field like working with the district attorney.

Harrison also advises aspiring those considering paralegal colleges to be creative and understand the role they will play. "As a paralegal, you have to be willing to assist in every aspect of a case," Harrison explains. "Paralegal responsibilities are always changing so you can look forward to more responsibilities."

A Typical Day for a Paralegal
Keep in mind, it's not all thrills and excitement, car chases and crime scenes. When it comes to day-to-day duties, paralegals have to engage in some clerical tasks like filing legal papers at the courthouse, drafting legal documents (which can take up most of the day), and other paperwork. "This all depends on the field you choose," surmises Harrison. "There are paralegals at The Weather Channel that draft and assist in drafting contracts for video. There are also paralegals at Turner Broadcasting that research movie rights and clearances before a movie can be shown on TV."

For Harrison, he took a different approach to his career. Instead of going the route of many graduates from paralegal colleges -- to work as a paralegal -- becoming a legal assistant was just one of the levels to his ultimate goal. "For me a career as a paralegal was a step," Harrison asserts. "The final step is to become a lawyer. My ultimate goal is to practice law."

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Paralegal Degrees

Paralegal degrees are considered an added advantage in the contemporary legal field. With paralegal degrees, individuals become qualified to analyze the facts needed for legal disputes and prepare documentations.

Paralegal degrees include Associate in Science, Bachelor of Science, and Master of Science in Paralegal Studies. Associate degree courses are of two years duration. Bachelor degrees take four years to complete. These are well suited for those persons who are keen on getting jobs in large organizations or continuing education at law schools. All these paralegal degrees are available through various colleges, schools, and universities as traditional or online courses. Online degrees are beneficial for those individuals who want to learn at homes and other convenient places. These are also well suited for individuals doing full or part time jobs.

There are certain things to consider before opting for paralegal degree courses. The institutions offering paralegal degrees should have approval from the American Bar Association (ABA). You have to check the credentials of the degree granting institutions before applying for the course, especially online.

Paralegal degrees help individuals to specialize in a particular field in law. Individuals can specialize in different areas such as family law, corporate law, personal injury, health care, estate planning, civil litigation and civil rights, immigration, real estate, environmental protection, and criminal law.

Paralegal degrees are beneficial for students who want to begin a career as paralegals. Individuals in non professional legal positions can secure job advancements with these degrees. Degree holders can work in law firms, court houses, government agencies, banks, and insurance companies. They can work with attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and public defenders. Moreover, these degrees have great recognition in the legal field as well as in the business world.

Paralegal provides detailed information on Paralegal, Paralegal Jobs, Paralegal Schools, Paralegal Training and more. Paralegal is affiliated with Notary Public Supplies.

Legal Assistants And Paralegals - A Closer Look

One of the most important tasks legal assistants and paralegals perform is to assist lawyers as they prepare for corporate meetings, closings, trials and hearings. Although the lawyers take ownership for the legal work, they will often delegate many tasks to legal assistants and paralegals. As a result, they continue to take on a growing range of tasks inside the nation's legal offices and perform many of tasks traditional done by lawyers.

On the other hand, they are still strictly prohibited from performing any duty that is considered to be the "practice of law" - such as setting legal fees, giving legal advice, and presenting cases in court. Legal Assistants and paralegals also do much of leg work like verifying and looking into the facts of cases to ensure that all points are thoroughly covered. They also identify appropriate laws, judicial decisions, legal articles and other materials that are relevant to assigned cases.

After they analyze and organize the information, paralegals may prepare written reports that attorneys use in determining how cases should be handled. Should the decision be made to file a lawsuit, a paralegal may then be given the responsibility to help prepare the legal arguments, draft pleadings and motions to be filed with the court, obtain affidavits and assist the attorneys during trial. Paralegals also organize and track files of thee all important case documents and make them available and easily accessible to the attorneys.

In addition to preparatory work, legal assistants and paralegals also perform a number of other vital functions. For example, they help draft contracts, mortgages, separation agreements and instruments of trust. In addition, may assist in preparing tax returns or estate planning. Some may even be given the responsibility to coordinate the activities of other law office employees and maintain financial office records. Of course, additional tasks differ, depending on the employer.

Legal Assistants and paralegals are found in all types of organizations, but most are employed by law firms (about 70%), corporate legal departments and various government offices make up most of the remaining 30%. In these organizations, they can work in many different areas of the law, including litigation, personal injury, corporate law, criminal law, employee benefits, intellectual property, labor law, bankruptcy, immigration, family law, and real estate.

As the law has become more complex, legal assistants and paralegals have responded, like many professions, by becoming more specialized. And within specialties, functions are often broken down even further so that legal assistants and paralegals may deal with a specific area. For example, legal assistants and paralegals specializing in labor law may concentrate exclusively on employee benefits.

The duties of legal assistants and paralegals also differ widely with the type of organization in which they are employed. Those who work for corporations often assist attorneys with employee contracts, shareholder agreements, stock-option plans and employee benefit plans. They may also help prepare and file annual financial reports, maintain corporate minutes' record resolutions and prepare forms to secure loans for the corporation.

Legal Assistants and paralegals often monitor and review government regulations to ensure that the corporation is aware of any new requirements and to ensure they are operating within the law. In addition, an ever increasing number of experienced paralegals are taking on additional supervisory responsibilities like monitoring team projects and serving as a communications link between the team and the corporation.

The duties of legal assistants and paralegals, working in the public sector varies between agencies. However, as a general rule, they analyze legal material for internal use, maintain reference files, conduct research for attorneys and collect and analyze evidence for agency hearings. They may prepare informative or explanatory material on laws, agency regulations, and agency policy for general use by the agency and the public. Legal Assistants and paralegals employed in community legal-service projects help the poor, the aged and those in need of legal assistance by filing forms, conducting research, preparing documents and when authorized by law, representing clients at administrative hearings.

Legal Assistants and paralegals in small to medium-sized law firms usually perform a variety of duties that require a general knowledge of the law. For example, they may research judicial decisions on improper police arrests or help prepare a mortgage contract. On the other hand, those employed by larger law firms, government agencies or corporations are more likely to specialize in one aspect of the law.

Being computer literate has also become an essential skill of legal Assistants and paralegals. Using the internet to search legal literature and extracting vital information stored in computer databases and on CD-ROM is also an important skill set. In litigation involving many supporting documents, paralegals usually use computer databases to retrieve, organize and index various materials. Imaging software allows paralegals to scan documents directly into a database, while billing programs help them track hours billed to clients. Various software packages are also used to perform tax computations and explore different scenarios of various tax strategies for clients.

As you can see becoming a Legal Assistants and paralegals profession is an exciting and ever-demanding field that requires a wide range of skills and knowledge. If you're looking for a career, not just a job and you have the willingness to push yourself then this field is ripe for the picking.

This article may be reproduced only in its entirety.: Kevin Erickson is an entrepreneur and writer. For other articles he's written visit: Legal Assistant | Travel Nursing | Medical Transcription

Online Paralegal Degree Preparing You For Employment

In an era when professional opportunities are diminishing, one area where opportunities are certainly expanding is in the field of paralegal work. Consequently, as the practice of law expands, and the need for professional paralegals grows, many argue that there has never been a better time to enter the field of paralegal work. To cater for this growing need for paralegals, a number of nationally accredited online paralegal degree programs have been developed.

Most nationally accredited online paralegal degree programs begin with a Foundation Course, setting out the legal concepts and practical legal techniques that you'll be expected to know and comprehend when the times comes for you to start looking for paralegal work. You'll also be taught how to undertake legal research, conduct interviews of clients and witnesses, and draft documents. But, an online paralegal degree is much more than this. Specially developed Advance Course follow the Foundation Course on which you'll have the chance to hone your online study skills by electing to specialize in key specialty subjects; such as, litigation, real estate, estate and wills, trusts, and corporate law.

With all the added benefits found on all online degree programs, such as (a) convenience to take the course at your own pace; (b) flexibility to complete work within your own time; (c) benefit of not having to live on-campus or commute to the campus; (d) and pay fees as and when you decide to study that module, completing an online paralegal degree course allows you the chance to find new employment opportunities either in the private sector or government sector as most legal employer will know that you are getting all the training needed to ready you for the daily tasks faced in the legal profession!

Today's online paralegal degree programs also offer students the option to study a Bachelor of Science in Management/Applied Management with a Law Office Management Emphasis, preparing you for an entry-level legal management position, or an Associate of Applied Science in Paralegal Studies program for those looking to undertake employment in a legal environment.

No matter which online paralegal degree program you elect to take however, the fun, joy and benefits of an online paralegal degree program are available for all to enjoy!

Amba is the owner of http://www.on-line--education.com a website that contains all the latest resources and information relating to on-line degrees. Visit http://www.on-line--education.com

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