Paralegal School - A Little Wet Behind the Ears
It’s hard to believe, but in 21st century America, paralegals are still not required to be licensed or certified. In fact, becoming certified is still of ones’ own free will. Back in the 1960s, most wanna-be paralegals received their training on the job. However, in today’s world the trend is for employers to lean towards hiring those paralegal candidates that have been certified.
Essential fact-finding criteria to keep in mind when analyzing a paralegal program:
1. Teaching applicable, useful work skills in conjunction with cornerstone legal theory is an indispensable aspect of any quality paralegal school curriculum. Additionally, a solid paralegal school degree program should also embrace everything from torts and business organizations to ethics and legal writing. Furthermore, paralegal courses should focus on enhancing students’ critical thinking abilities, improve and hone communication skills and prepare them emotional and psychologically to handle ethical issues.
2. Who’s behind the paralegal curriculum? In other words, what kind of credentials does the program director and the faculty possess. The director should have some type of paralegal education, a law degree or related advanced degree and if they also have legal field experience that’s a plus. In addition, faculty should either have direct paralegal field experience or at a minimum, experience working with paralegals. Of course, they must be an expert in the subject they are teaching.
3. Are you looking for a traditional campus environment or online training? Online paralegal training is becoming increasingly popular but is an online learning environment right for you? In addition, you need to find out what type of training system will be used (i.e. interactive video or web-based, etc.) and how much interaction takes place between the teachers and you (the student). Additionally, if you’ve never taken online classes before, you need to decide if you have the motivation and discipline to do the assignments on your own.
As the old saying goes, “if you want more than just a job and you have what it takes” then in today’s uncertain economy a career in law as a paralegal, is about as good as opportunities get. Undoubtedly, opportunity knocks for those that have the required drive and training. So if you’ve been sitting on the fence; the time is now, jump down and go get your paralegal degree.
