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Law firms were the major employers of paralegals untill a few years ago when the need for paralegals in the legal departments of different organizations came to the fore. A professional paralegal should be able carry out his or her duties whout the supervision of a lawyer.
Experienced paralegals work without the need to be supervised by an attorney. NGOs, private commercial companies and Governent offices now compete in the hiring of paralegals to handle their legal departments, where they take charge of legal issues, the drawing up of contracts for the company, researching and interpreting legal imports of steps to be taken by the organization and overseeing the legal aspects of the company's pension plans etc. Paralegals in these companies do all the work an attorney could do except representing the company in a court of law.
You are only considered a qualified paralegal if you have obtained your degree from an American Bar Association approved paralegal training institution, school or university. The American bar association is the lawyer's body that designs and supplies the paralegal training curriculum to the paralegal training institutions.
Before the advent of the paralegal profession as it is today, being a lawyer's clerk was an all comers game, becuase there was no basic qualification for being employed as a lawyer's clerk, but today you have to be eminently qualified to make professional contributions in your position as a paralegal before you can get a paralegal job. However, the situation has change drastically. There are banking paralegals, immigration paralegals, insurance paralegals etc. These postions are held by paralegals who were trained and qualified eminently in the specific laws governing those aspects of human endeavor.
It is in your best interest to have a comprehensive knowledge of the particular area of paralegal profession you intend to work in. However, the employing company will usually give you an on-the-job training to familirize you with the responsibilities of your responsibilities and schedule. Never mind that most firms would as a policy provide new employees with fresher-courses as soon as they are employed. Only the parealegals who are trained in an accredited parealegal institution are given certification by the National Association of Paralegals. In other words you are not qualified to sit for the National Association of Paralegals certification exam.
It is a mark of proficiency for a paralegal to be able to draft all legal documents. A competent paralegal will not find it difficult to draft a legal document of any type. In the past if you wanted to dig up facts on any legal matter you had to browse through law reports in heavy hardcover books in the library, but now all you have to do is go online and use loads of legal reports on the internet for your research. It must be clear to you that you cannot function successfully as a paralegal without adequate skills in both written and spoken English.
All the above qualities of an efficient paralegal is obtainable from both online and offline universities and training institutions. Online and offline universities and paralegal schools teach paralegal courses and also set qualifying exams for the award of paralegal degrees. But note that nothing I have said so far implies that you should enroll in the first paralegal school you find online or offline. You are not to get your paralegal training and degree from any online or offline university or paralegal school that is neither accredited by the National Association of Paralegals nor approved by the American Bar Association.
Phoenix College Paralegal Training
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