Having been recently laid off, I took a career assesment survey, and it came back with “paralegal” as job number one for me. (Right before “librarian” and “college professor”). So, what is a paralegal? There’s lots of information about paralegals on the web, but it’s all so vague. What do they do? And how does one qualify to become one?
The website of the National Federation of Paralegal Associations is probably a good place to start. This page seems to answer many of your questions.
I think I got those same three choices when I took that test in high school.
I ended up being a librarian. More status, but much less pay. However, people don’t react with hatred when you tell them you work at a law firm, no matter how noble your work is.
DRY is a paralegal. Here’s hoping he’ll see this thread. I’m sure he could answer your questions.
A paralegal basically does the same work that an attorney does (minus the court appearances) without all the hassle that comes with making lots of money like an attorney makes.
You can take a course to become one, or you can just get on-the-job training, like I did.
A paralegal is to an attorney as:
A bookkeepper is to an accountant
A coder is to a programming analyst
A nurse’s aide is to a registered nurse
In most professions there are a lot of tasks that can be performed without the benefit of an advanced degree. Paraprofessionals “stretch” the productivity of the actual professional, by freeing him/her up to do those tasks that actually require higher expertise.
A paralegal would do things like write up “standard” contracts, motions etc., or modify them according to the attorney’s instructions. You might assist with research, either looking up citations the attorney might need, or going down to the courthouse to research a deed or other such thing.
The benefit is such. Imagine that the attorney could handle an average of 2 cases per week at a cost of 500 dollars each. He would make 1000 per week.
If he could pay a paralegal 500 per week to perform the simple but time consuming stuff, he could accept 4 cases per week at a total of 2000 bucks. Subtract the paralegals salary and he is making 1500 clams for the same amount of work.
Thanks, this is exactly the information I was looking for. (I can’t imagine why that URL didn’t turn up the first time I went looking.) The career assessment thingy was quite interesting, as nothing I’ve done for the past 7 years showed up on it. Unfortunately, it looks like becoming a paralegal is too time consuming (two year AA program) and doesn’t pay well enough. Heck, may as well go to law school.
You could go to library school for two years. That degree usually lets you get some some sort of tech-related job. You don’t have to work in a library setting. But you would still have knowledge of the Anglo-American Catloging Rules.
A paralegal does all the work in a law firm and doesn’t get any of the credit but all of the blame. How do you become one? You get a masters degree in government, then try and fail to find a job, so, in desperation, you take the paralegal job “temporarily”. A year and a half later, still stuck in that job, you realize you’ve wasted a year and a half. No, I’m not bitter.
Seriously, though, that site should be useful. Personally, I’m a paralegal at a small telecomunications law firm that mainly does regulatory stuff, so most of what I do is preparing and filing forms with the FCC. I also do research, mainly with the CFR and Lexis, and I have most of the contact with the FCC staff. I also, a lot of the time, serve as “backup”. If a client wants to call for one of the partners, and he’s out of the office, but the client doesn’t want to leave voice mail, he sometimes talks to me.
What skills do you need to be a good paralegal? You need the ability to read quickly and understand what you’re reading, as well as the ability to summarize what you’ve learned. You also need the ability to express yourself clearly, and the ability to talk to people without upsetting them. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Guilty. As charged.
It has been my experience that the job description of a “typical paralegal” is virtually non-existent. Paralegal job duties vary greatly based on the size of the firm, the area or areas of law you work in, and even what your attorneys hate doing.
I’d basically liken the position to an administrative assistant in a law firm. It’s my experience that many paralegals have that “I do little bit of everything” work duty scenario that administrative assistants often have.
I pretty much agree with the descriptions of paralegals as given by the other posters.
As to pay, your profile lists you as a “QA Test Engineer”. I’m guessing that you get paid significantly more now than you would as an entry level paralegal.
I should correct one misconception–a paralegal does not necessarily need a two year AA degree to practice. My course at UCLA extension lasted six months. It’s possible (but not easy) to become a paralegal without any specialized courses whatsoever (it helps if you were an administrative assistant or legal secretary before making the switch).
Generally, though, a paralegal job will require a greater knowledge of the relevant area of law than an AA job will. Also, paralegals don’t (in my experience) have to answer somebody else’s phones or do their expense accounts or things like that. It’s a much more independent position.
You raise good points. I myself work for a mid sized law firm, however, I know of people who work for sole practitioners or in small firms, and often, they don’t have specialized legal knowledge and often DO answer other people’s phones, do expense reports, etc. For small sized employers, the position is often a hybrid with that of a legal secretarial position as well.
I second what DRY said in that it totally depends on where you work. Big firm v. small firm, even one part of the country versus the other.
At least here in Texas, while it is possible (and quite common) to obtain a certification, very often the term “paralegal” just means someone who (usually by starting out as a secretary or a “legal assistant”) has learned the ropes to the point that he/she really could be a lawyer if he/she just went to school for three years, piled up $75,000 in debt, and passed the bar . . .
In my area (Ontario), there is a difference between law clerks and paralegals.
Both do the same sort of legal work – essentially simple and routine matters, including low level court appearances. Law clerks work for lawyers, so their work is supervised and insured. Paralegals work for themselves, so their work is not supervised and not insured. Presently there are no regulatory standards for paralegals in Ontario.
Although some paralegals are good at what they do, others have bitten off more than they can chew, which has led to a fair bit of hostility toward them from lawyers who end up picking up the pieces. Paralegals are trying to address this by working toward obtaining certification and government regulation, so as to be better able to ensure quality work.
The bad actors have become such a problem that a retired Supreme Court of Canada justice looked into the matter. He concluded that: “There are incompetent and irresponsible individuals claiming to be paralegals. Their misconduct is disgraceful [and] their actions mislead the public and disrupt the proceedings of courts, boards and tribunals. However, it is also clear that there also able, conscientious and efficient paralegals who provide a needed service to the public in a number of areas.”
Cory recommended that a regulatory regime be put in place to permit paralegals to address boards, tribunals and low level courts, and to process simple and routine matters in a number of areas. Most importantly, a regulatory regime would have to be put in place to ensure competency exams, professional conduct reviews, and errors and omissions funds.
As a lawyer, I would love to see such regulation, for it would make it easier for to farm off dull and low paying work, but at the same time ensure that the public receives quality service despite not using lawyers. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner paralegals in my province become self-regulating, the better, but until then, I will stick with in-house law clerks rather than refer outside to unregulated paralegals.
DRY, yes, the pay thing is a bit of a sticking point. Another QA gig looks like it would pay roughly double what a first year paralegal makes. Still… I’m a wee bit tired of QA work, it’s not an ideal fit for my strengths. I also spoke with an attorney I ran into last night, and it sounds like it wouldn’t be that much more of a stretch for me to just go to law school for three years. (It’s not like we have a dearth of them hereabouts.) It’s also a little unclear how long the Associates degree would take for me to complete, as I do already hold a bachelors. The description from the local community college is a little confusing in describing the difference between an AA and a Certificate. More research required.
Sliv,
If you already have a bachelor’s degree, why do you need to go back and get an AA? I think most law firms would hire you with a bachelor’s.
So, what kind of money could a paralegal expect to make in the first year? Is it salary or hourly? Overtime? Travel? I am in search of a new career, but I dunno if paralegal is a good long term one…
I used to work at legal aid, and all the paralegals had law degrees (but hadn’t passed the bar). It’s kind of weird - like they were all failed attorneys.
I don’t know anything about paralegals, but if you want to become one, you just sit cross-legged and say “aaaauuuuummmm . . . aaaauuummm.”
Captain Amazing, my degree is in the oh-so-useful field of Art History, not something usually applicable right out of the box at a law firm. More’s the pity. The page dealing with becoming a paralegal at the local community college is poorly laid out, and the difference between getting an AA degree and a certificate (which looks like it should only take about 6 months) isn’t very well spelled out. Though if I’d have to take the two years, then law school seems a far more logical option.