Legal and Paralegal Online Schools

Online Legal and Paralegal Schools, colleges, and universities offer the option of preparing for this profession at times and locations that are convenience to the student. Professional certificates, associate degrees, and bachelor degrees in legal and paralegal programs are available completely through Internet studies!

Online Legal and Paralegal Schools, colleges, and universities train professionals to work under the supervision of lawyers. The Legal and Paralegal professional's responsibilities include many duties, such as drafting motions and subpoenas, reviewing documents, and filing papers with courts, and procedural functions of the Law firm. However, some Legal and Paralegal professionals work independently as freelancers and in private practice, as well as directly under the employment of individual lawyers and legal corporations.

Online Legal and Paralegal training and education can vary widely. Certificates are attained through schooling and passing tests that confirm legal or paralegal skills, understanding, and abilities. Legal and Paralegal Professional Certification is a voluntary process that proves one's skill levels and preparation for entrance into the profession. Legal and Paralegal certificates often increase the possibility of hire and of promotion.

Legal and paralegal practitioners may choose to pursue advanced certificates through associations or agencies that specialize in areas of certification, such as business and commercial law, corporate law, criminal law, real estate, tax and probate, estate planning, intellectual property. However, Legal and Paralegal certification is not required in many states for those who practice their Legal and Paralegal skills.

Online Legal and paralegal Schools, universities and colleges offer complete bachelor degree programs in Legal and Paralegal studies. Two-year courses of study can also be found in accredited community colleges. The increasing trend for law is to respond quickly to the needs and workloads of law firms and the manner in which a firm handles their business.

If you are interested in learning more about Online Legal and Paralegal Schools and other types of schools, please search our site for more information and resources.

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.

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

Online Paralegal Degree - Never Leave Your Home

Do you feel that the judicial branch of our government has been turned into a mockery of the system engaging in activities antithetical to their original intent by activist judges and apathetic legislators who stand by idly while one of the three pillars of the nation's government slowly cripples the society that it was created to serve? Then perhaps an online paralegal degree is for you.

A career as a paralegal is an integral one in the legal process of our country. You will be assisting courts and law firms prepare for cases by researching, drafting legal documents, doing appraisals, working with court procedures, and other essential functions. All of these skills can be taught to you through an online paralegal degree course. When you finish you will be ready to start your new career, that will offer you both a daily challenge and satisfaction that you are contributing greatly to an important sector of society.

Another reason why getting started on an online paralegal degree at this point is because of the ability to really focus in on an area that interests you the most. The reason for this is due to the fact that the legal field has become very specialized. Many lawyers, and even courts, have begun to work strictly on cases in their specific field. This way if you have an interest in domestic, criminal, corporate, environmental or many other areas of law, you can work exclusively in this area. And online paralegal degrees allow you to specialize in your field of interest, so you'll be ready to obtain a job that works directly with your interests.

The online paralegal degree programs are waiting for you, as is the desperately ignored judicial system. Get out there and make a difference in your life and in society.

Important Paralegal Services

Paralegals are legal assistants who spend most of their time helping to manage the massive paperwork generated by legal proceedings. Paralegals file, sort, index, photocopy, and draft legal documents. They may also hold hearings and interview witnesses. Most entry-level paralegals should have a bachelor?s degree, and additional certification may increase employment opportunities. The duties of a paralegal depend on the firm for which the paralegal works and the educational training and experience of the paralegal.

Many of the paralegal?s services are performed directly for the benefit of a lawyer, businessperson, or government employee. These services assist the employer with his or her duties. A paralegal may also work directly with the lawyer?s clients, drafting necessary contracts and paperwork. Some paralegals, however, provide legal services for people who cannot afford full legal services. Typical paralegal services include preparing all types of court documents, planning finances, including estates with will and trust plans, and corporate services.

Paralegals prepare a number of court documents, such as motions, briefs, and depositions. Motions petition the trial judge for particular rulings favorable to the lawyer?s team. Briefs are reports that describe and support the motion. Depositions consist of interviews of witnesses before the trial begins. All these documents must be indexed and organized, and often must be entered into a computer, by the paralegal.

With proper training, paralegals may draft wills and trusts, separation agreements, and mortgages. Paralegal services may extend into real estate by helping prepare tax returns and planning estates.

Paralegals with more business training working in a corporate environment may help handle bankruptcies filings, shareholder agreements, stock option plans, benefit plans, or tax returns. Some may keep finance records for the law firm. Others may help oversee business contracts.

Since paralegal services often involve paperwork, it is critical that a paralegal also be experienced in organizing and sorting information, as well as conducting research and interviews. Additional training in all these skills is available at colleges, universities, and online training programs.
 

How An Online Paralegal Class Works

The information covered in the online paralegal programs are much the same as their traditional campus counterparts. In this article I will discuss how paralegal online courses work in detail.

Once enrolled in the class, the student is able to enter the online classroom anytime they want. Here you complete assignments, quizzes, and puzzles related to paralegal work. These assignments will have due dates, and it is the responsibility of the student to meet the deadlines.

The progress of students will be measured using student assessment and other charts, which allow students to see their progression throughout the course. Classes may often be held during the spring and fall seasons, and intensive courses are usually offered during the summer.

Each course may take up to eighteen weeks to complete, and upon completion the student will be awarded with three credits towards their degree. The summer courses are much shorter, only lasting about 6 weeks instead of 18.

When taking online courses, students pay per class instead of all at once in a large lump sum. This is excellent for people who work full time but don't have a lot of money. They can save up money from their job, and pay for their classes individually.

The cost of online paralegal classes is very attractive to many students. Some online colleges charge as littles as $78 per class, much lower than what you would pay attending a traditional institution.

Some paralegal online classes use distance education software. This is basically open source software that numerous colleges have chosen to use, and it lowers the costs in taking the classes. This software creates an interface, which is easy for students to navigate. They also have discussion forums and email, which is easy for students to use.

The students can get feedback from the instructor for each project they complete, and their grades can electronically be sent to them. Group areas of the course can be built where a number of students get together and work on various projects.

A lot of multimedia is used in online paralegal courses. Students may be able to log in and watch uploaded videos of their instructors giving lectures and explaining assignments. Students often have the option of taking fully online courses or taking some classes online while physically attending the college to take other courses.

Paralegal students may also purchase ebooks for their classes and download them onto their computers. Because the books are electronic, their costs are much lower. A student can expect to spend between 2 or 300 dollars for books required for 12 classes. This is very cheap compared to traditional hardback college books, which individually may cost over 100 dollars.

Online classes have excellent advantages over their traditional campus counterparts, and as the Internet continues to advance, online paralegal courses will become much more interactive.

Mansi gupta recommends that you visit online paralegal class for more information

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: http://www.totalparalegal.com | http://www.eyeonnursing.com | http://www.total-transcription.com

Consider a Career as a Paralegal – The Various Positions and Education Needed

A career as a paralegal is definitely worthy of consideration. Young ladies and gentlemen soon entering the job market are wise to select paths of opportunity and advancement. Becoming a paralegal fits the bill in many ways.

Wherever there are people, laws are necessary to settle disputes and protect against crime. There are many areas of law in which paralegals can work, including corporate, estate planning, tax, bankruptcy, family and domestic, criminal, environmental protection, personal injury, civil litigation, trademark, international, intellectual property, and real estate. All these areas of law create a variety of work areas, and an abundance of learning opportunity. Taking advantage of learning opportunities creates more earning opportunities.

The U.S. Department Labor reports that paralegal careers are on the rise, and expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through the year 2014. The median for paralegal salaries range between $31,040 and $49,950. In bigger metropolitan areas, large law firms pay upwards of $60,000. Many paralegals receive bonuses. Benefits for these positions tend to be attractively competitive.

The educational and work experience requirements for paralegal positions vary depending on employer and position requirements. These days, a four-year degree is highly advisable in general. Employers often consider applicants with a bachelor’s degree and no work experience.

A four-year degree is not necessarily required for all paralegal positions. Another applicant with a two-year degree and more specialized concentration in paralegal studies and no work experience may be equally considered. Many employers also consider the work experience of legal assistants or secretaries who have had no college training.

Online degrees are gaining popularity and are being considered positively by employers. There are several online courses designed for paralegal training. People can earn online degrees while working full-time in the convenience of their own schedules at home. Such flexibility of training makes learning easier, and opens doors for paralegal job opportunities.

There are several other steps one can take to prepare for a career as a paralegal. Many of these steps are surprisingly easy, and will open interview doors wider. I will discuss the steps in upcoming articles.

In addition to various opportunities and advancement, positions as a skilled paralegal can maintain one happily through their entire work career, yet have the flexibility of being a stepping stone into other positions. Such other positions, to name a few, could be in law enforcement, becoming an attorney, or working in top level positions of other businesses, like becoming a successful realtor. Consider a career as a paralegal, it just might be right up your alley.

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....

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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