There are many reasons why many people are turning to a career as a paralegal. For instance, did you realize that the average paralegal salary is about $34,000 a year? Paralegals who work for the Federal government have the potential to gross twice as much. Along with the high pay, you might not choose to pursue a traditional paralegal degree in order to qualify for a position. Paralegals are in hot demand at law firms and in government positions. In fact, paralegal employment opportunities should grow at a much faster speed than many opportunities through the year 2014.
As you can imagine, it is for these reasons that paralegal careers are growing to be more in style. Want to discover what you would do as a paralegal?
In case you didn't already realize, paralegals are actually legal assistants. It is a fact that the words can be substituted for the other. One thing a paralegal cannot do is offer legal advice. But, they do aid attorneys in almost every other area of their jobs. A paralegal job may consist of preparing legal papers, performing crucial legal studies, and doing a great deal of the prepatory work for attorneys. Legal assistants have the chance to work in a number of niches; from medical law to patent law. Approximately 70% of all legal assistants in the U.S. are employed within a law firm.
There are not too many (if any) requirements for working as a legal assistant through much of the U.S. While there is no set standard in paralegal education, a paralegal certification is important and desired by numerous legal firms. Here are two popular exams leading to certifications:
CLA Exam (or Certified Legal Assistant Exam) which is offered by the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA).
PACE (or Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam) offered through the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA).
In addition to taking the certification exams, you might want to gain an advanced paralegal education. There are dozens of undergraduate paralegal programs along with Bachelor's and even post-baccalaureate degree programs.
It is possible to land a job as a paralegal even without a certification or education, but you may have a more difficult time getting a job and it will likely be for lower pay. Many law firms do seek out those with training and past experience in paralegal work. So while it is a possibility to get hired with little to no qualifications, it will be easier to gain some prior to applying for your first job as a paralegal.
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