What is a paralegal?

A paralegal is one who assists attorneys or lawyers in their legal work. The paralegals are simply called as lawyer assistants as they assist lawyers in each and every aspect of their legal duties. The paralegals are the most crucial members of any legal team, playing vital roles in all the legal processes. They work closely with Barristers and Solicitors as part of their job duties.

Certification: Certification is a process in which a private or non-governmental association approves recognition to a person who has undergone certain examinations to acquire predetermined qualifications notified by that association.

What is paralegal certification?

A paralegal certification is a process which demonstrates a professional commitment to employers and recognizes mastery of knowledge and skills of an individual in the field. The knowledge and skills of an individual are tested through certification tests which include tests on knowledge on legal procedures, substantive laws and ethics. They also test the oral and writing skills of a candidate in order to certify a paralegal as good communication skills plays a vital role in the profession of paralegal. There are numerous tasks that are to be performed by a paralegal such as filing law papers, preparing case documents, interviewing witness etc.

Most of the paralegals get their professional designations only after the couple of years of experience. Paralegal certification helps paralegals to enhance their professional credibility, income potential and employment prospectus. Possessing a certification is not mandatory for paralegals, but being certified will help in many ways such as skill development, capacity, salary increment, higher communication abilities, professional ethics, professional writing skills etc.

Getting a paralegal certification is very rewarding thing to make. It is not very difficult to obtain a paralegal certification but it takes a great dedication and time for successful completion of certification process. Paralegal certification programs are offered by various educational institutions from private universities to public community colleges. Generally, private universities offer a certification course of four years where as public community colleges offer two year certification courses. Several colleges offer online certification classes.

Paralegal certifications are the certifications that can be obtained from various certification programs, associate certification program in bachelor’s study, post- baccalaureate, or from a Master’s program. All the official documentation of paralegals is presented in certifications. These paralegal certifications are generally obtained only through college degree programs.  Finally, paralegal certification is a great way to advance the careers of paralegals. Though this certification is not a mandatory requirement, it is highly recommended as one can find a great advancement in his/her paralegal profession.

Paralegals in different countries:

The paralegal certification processes and the requirements of a paralegal differ from the Canada to United States, as the paralegals working in United States perform different duties from the paralegals working in Canada.

Paralegals in United States: The paralegals who are certified in United States are considered only as legal assistants. These paralegals assist lawyers in their day to day works. They do not have the right to prepare legal paper works or documents and cannot give any kind of legal advices to lawyers. All these things are the duties reserved for lawyers.

Paralegals in Canada: The paralegals who are certified in Canada have an independent status along with job role of lawyer assistant. These paralegals can become the licensed paralegals in Canada by obtaining a license from Law society of Upper Canada. This licensure gives the status of lawyers to the paralegals and allows them to perform independent legal services to the clients. In some cases, they have the right to deal as legal representatives in court rooms.

What it takes to become a paralegal certified?

Following are some of the common certifications of paralegals.

National Association of Legal Assistants: NALA is simply regarded as a non-profit organization which is highly dedicated to provide various services to paralegals or legal assistants. The major programs undertaken by this institute are educational classes, occupational research and certifications of paralegals.

Certified legal assistant (CLA): The certification required to become a certified paralegal is issued by National Association of Legal Assistants. Oklahoma is the head of this institute who began to sponsor certification tests in 1976. This institute has certified over 15,000 paralegals and has given the designation of certified paralegal or certified Legal Assistant.

Paralegal certification requirements: An individual should have certain educational qualifications in order to write paralegal certification exam conducted by NALA. There are three mandatory educational qualifications than an individual should possess in order to attend this program.

Major three educational requirements to attend the exam of paralegal certification issued by this institute are:

• An individual should posses a graduation from any associate degree program or paralegal program that is approved by ABA. (or)
• An individual should hold a post-baccalaureate in paralegal studies .(or)
• An individual should hold a certificate which states successful completion of at least 60 paralegal semester hours.

An individual should possess a bachelor degree in the related field along with experience of one year as a legal assistant is must to get certification. To get equivalent degree of one experienced legal assistant, an individual must complete 15 semester classes of substantive legal courses.

This paralegal certification exam is a comprehensive test on federal procedures and laws. This exam is taken in two days as it contains two sections. The major subjects on which the first section of exam is based are legal research, legal terminology, ethics, analysis and judgment ability, interviewing technical skills, human relations, communications and legal studies. After that, the second section of the exam is based on substantive law which holds five mini-tests covering the concepts of American legal studies.

The five mini tests cover the following topics:

Communications: This domain test includes the test on your communication skills (oral and written skills). This is to check your capability of communication with clients.

Ethics: This domain is to test your ethical values and responsibilities. This domain is also subjected to check your awareness of ABA rules of Professional conduct and the ethics of NALA.

Legal research: This domain is subjected to check your ability in determining the required evidences in legal issues.

Judgment and analytical ability: This domain is subjected to measure your ability in determining relevant facts in the legal issues. This test also specifies a test on logical conclusions.

Substantive law: This domain is mainly subjected to check your knowledge on various parts of substantive law.

Registered Paralegal (RP):

The National Federation of paralegal associations certifies a paralegal as a registered paralegal by taking the examination of PACE (paralegal advanced competency examination). This is a non-profit organization, founded in the year 1974 with a core aim of advancing the professions of paralegals. This institute works with a great mission – “promoting global presence to the profession of paralegals and their leadership in legal community”.

Educational requirements to become a registered paralegal:

• An individual should possess an associate degree from any paralegal study institution or an approved ABA paralegal education test and should hold an experience of 6 years as substantive paralegal. (or)
• An individual should hold a bachelor’s degree of any study along with 3 years of experience as a substantive paralegal. (or)
• An individual should hold possess a embodied paralegal program in bachelor’s degree along with two years of experience as substantive paralegal.(or)
• An individual should posses an experience of four years as substantive paralegal.

Certification exam (PACE): The PACE test is two-tiered test. The Tier 1 test includes the subject areas of legal ethics and issues. It also subjects on laws of state specifics. Tier 2 includes the test on specialty sections. This pace test is of 200 multiple choice questions and of four hours duration.

The five various domains included in this pace test are as follows:

Administering of legal matters of client: This domain includes the issues like maintenance of files, databases and conflict checks.

Developing client legal matters: This domain includes the topics like interviewing and preparing the clients to attend court cases, filing and serving legal documentation or paperwork.

Legal / Factual research: This domain includes the test on your ability in determining and analyzing required evidences of the legal case.

Legal/factual writing: This domain includes the test on your communication skills, as effective communication in needed in dealing legal cases.

Office administration: This final domain includes the topics like billing, maintenance of legal resources and personnel management.

National Association for Legal Professionals

This is the paralegal certifications issuing body to paralegals and provides three certifications such as Accredited Legal Secretary (ALS- basic certification), PP (paralegal certification) and Professional legal secretary (PLS -advanced certification). The designations offered by this institute to paralegals are ALS, PLS, and PP.

ALS certification: Educational requirements to be certified as Accredited Legal Secretary (ALS)- An individual should posses any of the following qualification in order to take the test of ALS.

• A legal training course in NALS,
• General office experience of one year,
• An accredited legal or business course.

Professional paralegal (PP) certification: A non-degree paralegal individual should posses an experience of five years in performing legal assistant or paralegal duties. An individual with paralegal degree should possess three years 0f experience in this field to take the test of PP. An individual with post-secondary paralegal degree or any other paralegal certificate should hold an experience of four years in this paralegal field.

Completion of PP certification demonstrates the following issues:

• A mastery of communication and procedural skills.
• Awareness and advanced knowledge of legal documentation, procedural laws and law library.
• A great knowledge of substantive laws and ability for professional interaction with attorneys, staff and clients.
• The ability to do substantive legal work that is specified and supervised by attorney.

Professional legal secretary (PLS certification): Any individual in the legal field holding at least three years of experience can attend the PLS certification test. Membership in NALS in not mandatory to attend this test.

Salary of a paralegal professional:

• The annual average salary of a paralegal is in the range from $45,000- $52,000.
• The initial average paralegal salary will be around $23,000- $30,000.

Possession of certification makes a lot of difference in the salary ranges of paralegal professionals. A certified paralegal has a chance of earning salary of 50% more than a paralegal uncertified. Though certification is not a precondition in this paralegal field, many paralegals prefer to get certified to develop their working skills, salary increment and to enhance their career in the field.

Cost of paralegal certification: The cost indulged in paralegal certification varies according to the certification programs and the institutions which they are taken from. Certification issuing bodies such as NALS, national federation of paralegal professionals and National association of legal assistants fix certain charges and costs to issue certifications to paralegals by taking specified certification exams .In some institutions, the certification cost per individual will be around $687. The certification exam fees of PLS is around $150 and for non-PLS is around $200.

The PACE test costs around $225 for members of NFPA. The same PACE test costs around $250 for non-members of NFPA.

A paralegal plays a vital role in any law firm. Paralegals give their assistance to the licensed attorneys and lawyers in order to move their legal services more efficiently. They need to have a complete knowledge on legal terms and services as their work is entirely relating to that. They should have a good command over basic procedures and methods of legal practices.

Paralegals are also called as legal secretaries as they are tasked to perform daily duties of law officers.

If you want to build your career in paralegal profession, you should know completely about paralegal job description where you can know the terms like educational qualification, duties, responsibilities, essential skills and abilities, salary, training and certification, job outlook in detail.

One can know everything about a paralegal career by going through a paralegal job description.

What are the tasks performed by a paralegal?

A paralegal has to perform numerous tasks simultaneously to make their attorneys work smooth and efficient. Some of the most important works handled by a paralegal are stated below.

They need to conduct huge research on the cases and drag the required evidences to the attorney. They make the attorney’s work simplified by helping him in all possible ways.
They need to cross check the client’s legal forms and ensure accuracy to the attorney.
They prepare the case filing, processing and declaration forms. They also speak to the clients and collect the required information for the case.
They need to maintain and follow up the case files regularly.

How paralegal salary is calculated?

The salary of a paralegal varies with several terms like experience, industry type, employer type, certification type, geographical location etc.

The below salary information is according to the experience they hold.

Paralegals who hold the experience of less than one year earns in the range $23,355- $40,560. The paralegal salary of those who are with 1-4 years of experience can earn in the range $25,945- $46,008. Those who are with 10-19 years of experience can get more than $50,000 per annum and those who hold the experience of 20 years can enjoy the income of about $64,434 per annum.

Are you interested to build your career in legal field??? There are many interesting jobs waiting for you in the law field. Legal profession itself is an interesting, challenging and rewarding one. Many people have the misconception that law field is just for lawyers and judges only. But there are many more interesting professions in this field.

Here are some of the interesting and unusual jobs in the law field.

Paralegal:

Paralegals are not fully qualified solicitors as the lawyers but they do work in law offices under the attorneys or lawyers. The paralegal duties includes document management, filing case files, drafting pleadings and contracts, legal research, meeting the clients, administrative work etc. They support the attorneys from all corners of work and make their loads of work easier and smoother. The starting paralegal salary will range from £15,000 to £22,000 per annum. An experienced paralegal who is employed in a reputed firm can make up to £40,000 per annum.

Salary of a certified paralegal will be much more than the paralegal who is uncertified. So, it is better to possess paralegal certification to improve paralegal skills and also to enjoy good amount of salary.

Legal lecturer:

Many professional and experienced lawyers get the extreme satisfaction by turning their job role in to legal lecturers. They find satisfaction in preparing the law students for competitive exams through teaching. The starting average salary of a legal lecturer is around £35,000. According to the experience, the salary may increase to £50,000 and above. A large proportion of legal lecturers will be females.

Court administrative officer:

Court administrative officers look after the daily routines of court running. They manage the entire administrative works of court such as assigning court rooms, scheduling for case hearings, maintains the paperwork of daily cases, prepares the list of day’s case etc. some officers also look after the fees and fines that are to be collected from the clients and lawyers. They send summonses and also help the public in filling the related forms. The annual starting salary of a court administrative officer is between £12,000- £16,000.

Who exactly are these paralegals?

Paralegals are the individuals who lend a hand to attorneys in carrying out their legal works. They work in wide variety of firms – from government agencies to law firms, from armed forces to the trade unions, engineering and accounting firms, construction companies etc. They are employed in every firm where law-related work will be held.

Paralegal profession is quiet interesting profession in which you need constant dedication and hard work towards legal work. In addition to hard work and dedication, there are few more essential qualities that are needed to be a paralegal.

Investigative and research skills: The skills of research and investigation form the backbone to any paralegal. They should be capable of providing concrete and genuine information related to the case.

Analytical skills: A paralegal should own good analytical skills. They need to analyze each and every facts of the case. The way of analyzing should be very perfect so that you get the right evidences that are need to solve the case.

Excellent communication skills: paralegals will be in great need of good communication skills. There are many reasons for depending on the communication skills. One of the main reasons is that they need to conduct interviews with witnesses, suspects. They need to communicate excellently with attorneys, clients, witnesses and many others who are involved in the case.

Excellent coordination skills: Paralegals should possess good coordination skills as they need to manage various things in their job. They need to schedule appointments for their lawyers, meet people, communicate with the related people; collect the required evidences and many more works will be handles by paralegals in which they require high coordination skills.

Though a paralegal degree teaches you all the above skills, a paralegal certification program helps you greatly in providing intense training in all the above skills.

You can get the depth of the paralegal studies if you enroll in any paralegal certification program. Finally, to be a successful paralegal an individual should be intelligent, highly organized, and a quick worker.

Paralegals are the individuals who provide legal assistance to the lawyers or attorneys. They will be entirely responsible for all the tasks performed by a lawyer in his office. Generally, lawyers or attorneys employ paralegals in order to make their individual works smoother without any stress. Usually attorneys will be issuing paper works and drafting works to the paralegals and will be concentrating mostly on the works related to the clients.

The paralegal profession is constantly in demand as many of the lawyers prefer to have legal assistants or paralegals in order to move their legal works smoothly. A bachelor degree or associate degree in the paralegal field is always beneficial to posses. Apart from the paralegal degree, paralegal certification makes an additional benefit in the career of paralegals. Having a paralegal certificate makes you to get the best jobs in the reputed law firms. The certification programs help paralegals to possess advanced knowledge about the legal concepts. Comparatively, paralegal salary will be lesser than the salary of a lawyer or attorney.

As per the statistics of occupational employment, the average salary of a paralegal is pegged at $45,622 per annum. The top earning paralegal can make around $73,550 annually. The variations in the earnings of paralegals are completely related to the terms of education, training, employment size, employment type, experience, type of certifications etc.

The salary of a paralegal is hugely dependent on the employer type. A lawyer residing in a small town may not afford to pay much to his assistant as much as the lawyer paying who is in New York law firm. The paralegals that are making outstanding salaries will be of employees of reputed firms in the large cities.

Salary of a paralegal in United States: The pay of paralegals given by the U.S dept of justice will be in the range $51,000-$78,000.

The Popular Snell is the second largest company in the United States paying their paralegals in the range $48,000-$54,000.

What does a paralegal do?

Paralegals are the professionals who are working under attorneys or lawyers in many of the legal tasks. They are simply considered as the true assistants to the lawyers in their work and are regarded as ‘lawyer assistants ‘in simple terms. They take a special place in assisting lawyers in case hearings, trails and closings. A bachelor degree in paralegal studies is mandatory in order to become a paralegal while paralegal certification is not compulsory. Though certification is not mandatory, many paralegals prefer to hold paralegal certification in order to have a brighter career in the legal field. A couple of years of experience and a certification can really make a fruitful career in the law field.

Why certification holds the better side?

Good experience and certification degree holds the better chances in the paralegal career. They take a special position in the growth of a paralegal career both in monetary terms and administrative terms.

Currently, there is an intense competition for promotions, raises, leadership positions in any kind of professional organizations. Holding a certification in the particular field definitely pulls your resume to the heights. Certification also helps you in improving higher ethical standards and helps you to maintain higher standards through out the career. There will be a huge difference in the salary of a certified paralegal and an uncertified paralegal. Nowadays, many law firms are hiring the candidates who hold paralegal certification in additional rather than the candidates who are uncertified paralegals. The starting paralegal salary will be around $30,000 per annum. This pay will be given to the candidates who do not have any working experience in the law field. But the training, experience, geographical location, certifications etc plays a vital role in variation of paralegal salary. The annual average salary of a paralegal is about $46,000.

Paralegals who hold the experience of less than or 2 years earns around $42,700 per annum. The highest annual pay of a paralegal will be around $74,000 while the lowest annual pay will be around $30,000. Paralegals who are employed in private firms will be earning much than the paralegals employed in government agencies. In the present trend, the expected salary of a paralegal employed in a reputed firm will be around $1, 00,000 per annum.

A paralegal is one who performs substantive legal procedures just similar to the procedures performed by a lawyer. He is the one who possess appreciative qualification in the legal field and undergoes certain training in the particular field. There are many interesting legal concepts that are to be customarily performed by a paralegal.

Paralegal job description simply gives the detailed information about the job role of a paralegal in the legal system. Moreover, there are several terms like education qualification, tasks, responsibilities, certifications, training, experience and paralegal salary will be discussed in paralegal job description.

There are many major interesting tasks involved in the role of a paralegal. Some of such tasks are stated below. The duties of a paralegal will be widely differing according to the status of attorney’s office.

•  A paralegal mainly deals with a bulk of file works regarding briefs and documents of legal cases. Mostly, the entire paperwork of case procedures will be done by a paralegal.
• They need to investigate the case histories and submits the required witnesses’ information to the attorney.
• They need to perform major research skills in order to detect the right precedence for the particular case. The task of researching will be considered as the most interesting and rewarding part of the job.
• They need to collect statements from the clients and witnesses and prepares them for the trail case. They will be performing great organizational skills in this section of job.
• They also perform court filing works and help the attorney in every section of the duty. Drafting the legal documents is considered as the foremost task of a paralegal.
• In some cases, they may also interview the clients and witnesses to crosscheck the case data.
• They conduct the factual research and legal research to find the right evidences of the case. They also perform the administrative tasks such as scheduling attorney’s appointments, file documenting, settling the financial accounts etc.
• They ensure proper case report to the attorney and assist him in legal proceedings.

As much as the demand for the role of a paralegal is increasing exponentially, the average salaries are equally expected to be on the rise over the next decade. So if you’re debating within yourself whether or not it’s worth to go ahead chalking out a career path in paralegal studies for yourself, you can be rest assured that there’s no looking back and it’s definitely going to be worth the effort.

Although a great deal of experience can be obtained while on the job, it is highly recommended for a candidate to complete college-level training to hit the professional realm of legal services. By doing so, they can hone and take their knowledge and skills about the subject to another level.

The prerequisite to hold a degree in paralegal studies is to earn an associate degree in paralegal studies or a bachelor’s degree in a related subject and obtain a certificate in paralegal studies. Earning an associate degree is one of the most effective ways to acquire a paralegal certification, as it takes only two years to complete. The course basically includes paralegal training and other related academic studies. If you happen to hold a college degree already, a paralegal certificate should be able to suffice. Although there are various certificate programs with varying length and prospectus, most of these include rigorous paralegal training for those candidates who already possess a degree, as they can further increase their employment opportunities.

Another method to earn a paralegal certification is to go through rigorous paralegal training, which includes a set of specific qualifying requirements that are to be undertaken by paralegals for a forthcoming job in a law firm.  Although the quality greatly varies, by enrolling yourself for a paralegal training course, you will not only get first-hand experience of that the job may look like but you can also find better ways to hone your skills to enhance your experience and knowledge in paralegal studies. Apart from including courses in legal research and the legal applications of computers, most of these training programs also offer an internship, wherein candidates get to earn practical experience by being part of a private law firm for instance. This experience can also be showcased as a valuable asset in the candidate’s resume.

Being part of a profession that you always wanted to be in makes it doubly enjoyable and exciting once you’re part of it. If you’ve always wished to work in the field of law but could never afford those huge dollars to go through a law school program, starting a career as a paralegal should be perfect. Instead of spending several years, you might as well invest in a paralegal course only to find yourself working like a lawyer’s right hand, which does the major work in any case or trial.

Although there are various levels in which paralegal studies are offered such as the degree of an associate, bachelor and master, the appropriate program however depends on your existing situation. Completing a four-year program is more suitable if you’re looking for post-high school education, since it provides relatively better job prospects and higher salaries in your paralegal career. Nevertheless, earning a two-year degree can also get you a decent job with an equally decent salary to start with, in case you’re looking at working full time or part-time alongside your education.

Although some law firms do not require paralegal certification, it is advisable to achieve one as it proves you as an authentic candidate as against other candidates who are looking for the same role. Broadly, there are three types of paralegal certification namely, National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA), National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) and American Alliance of Paralegals (AAPI). These courses are offered by many accredited institutions and universities.

You can also look for programs which offer evening classes, a perfect choice if you are already employed. While on the search for a suitable paralegal certification program, check and see if there are any institutions which assist in job placement. This is an added advantage as you get to receive the invaluable advice of counsellors who will also assist you in preparing your resume and refine your interview skills before you step into the professional world. Also keep your eyes open for any job fairs or interview sessions by colleges and universities which act as mediators with prospective employers.

You have a thing for a legal profession but at the moment, you cannot afford to invest your time and money to pursue a degree in law. If this is your case, why think twice when you have another choice of becoming a paralegal or a legal assistant, rather than becoming a lawyer. Before you go any further, let’s take you through the basic things you need to know about becoming a paralegal.

What is a paralegal?

He/she is a person who performs fundamental legal work and need to have in-depth knowledge of the law and procedures. Although they work for a qualified lawyer or barrister, they cannot be treated as equal since their responsibilities include everything starting from doing research and clerical work to setting up client interviews. A role of a paralegal although restricted to the background, forms the foundation and base for building up a case. The fact that a lawyer can never be as successful without his/ her paralegal’s support and dedication always stands true since it is the paralegal’s work to do all the research, paperwork and ground work related to the respective case, apart from handling various other responsibilities.

If you want to become a paralegal, you first need to acquire a paralegal certification. Your choices are –

An associate’s degree (2 years)
A Bachelor’s degree (4 years)
A Master’s degree
Other Certificate Programs, some of which take only about 7 to 8 months to complete
Online Programs (preferable by working professionals)

The most popular recognized institutions which offer courses and programs are –

National Federation of Paralegal Associations
National Association of Legal Assistants
American Alliance of Paralegals

Also note that it is compulsory for the candidate to pass a standardized exam in order to receive their paralegal certification, apart from also possessing relevant job experience and education.