Paralegal

The law business is becoming a very popular and common profession to go into. However, law school is a very difficult, expensive, and time consuming endeavor, and many people simply do not have the time or the money to dedicate three years of their lives to becoming a lawyer. A great alternative to law school is to become a paralegal. Paralegals are also often called legal secretaries, as they work in law firms and often do much of the same work that a lawyer does. The major difference between a paralegal and a lawyer is that a paralegal has not gone to law school and does not have any formal training or certification in offering legal advice. For this reason, paralegals cannot officially give legal advice to clients or represent a person in court, but they still play a vital role in the legal process.

Paralegals work in a wide variety of different law firms, and a person interested in being a paralegal can easily go into a category of law that interests them. The salaries for a paralegal vary greatly with the type of law firm they are employed with. For example, a paralegal at a private corporate law firm is likely to be paid more than a paralegal at a non-profit organization that specializes in environmental law. However, for someone dedicated and passionate about environmental law, the cause the job is associated with may be worth the lower salary.

Some of the major tasks that paralegals have include basic secretarial work such as answering the phone and managing the law firms calendar, conducting or assisting with basic interviews of clients, and gathering information for cases that the lawyers of the law firm are in charge of. Paralegals are often working behind the scenes, doing a great part of the extremely important jobs that lawyers often do not have time to accomplish on their own. Much of the work that is done when a case is presented at a trial or a hearing would not have gotten done had it not been for the hard work of the paralegals on staff. Becoming a paralegal does require a degree of training and certification, but significantly less than that required to become a lawyer. Many people can complete paralegal training in as little as two years, sometimes much less. To find out if being a paralegal is right for you, consider taking an apptitude test to see if your interests allign with a paralegal career.