Should I Become a Paralegal?

DO YOU ENJOY?

Here is a short check list of things that a paralegal personality type will generally enjoy:

Details, detailed work, and follow up
Discretion and keeping the secrets of others
Operating from a humble position, yet entrusted with a fair amount of power
Overtime and going beyond the call of duty
Letting others have "the last word"
Research and a certain amount of private investigating
Case research and referencing case law for your attorney
Client relations and soothing client concerns
Deadlines and court appointments
Hot-headed attorneys and those who need to be the center of attention and always right.

DO YOU HATE?

Here is a short list of things that a paralegal personality type will generally hate:

1. Tardiness

2. Sloppiness

3. People who make excuses for everything

4. Gross injustice

5. People who seek to get one over on everyone they meet

6. Arrogance [although a certain amount from attorneys must be tolerated]

7. Presumptuousness and those who think everyone owes them something

Interested in learning more? Why not take an online Paralegal Studies course?

8. Prideful and boastful personalities

9. Indiscretion

10. Intolerant people

CAN YOU PROSPER UNDER A BOSS WHO…

Here is a short list of personality traits and quirks and behaviors common to many attorneys. You must be able to accept these things, not just tolerate them. You must be comfortable putting your own preferences or needs in second place to these things in order to get along well in a law firm.

Must always be right regardless of what you think, or if you are actually right
Must have the last word in everything large and irrelevant
Argues at the drop of a hat
Curses and perhaps blasphemes when he is angry at other attorneys
Yells frequently and loudly throughout the firm
Does not expect you to grovel or always apologize about your errors
Does not want to hear excuses for anything; he only wants to hear solutions from you regardless of what the nature of the error happens to be
Will tell you he never expects you to stay late, but he expects you to stay late
Will brag on you to other attorneys if he is extremely pleased, and you may never know it, except by the way other attorneys respect you
Gives rare kudos, but very sweet-year end bonuses

BEFORE YOU START INTO LAW

Before you seek to begin your journey into law, you will want to visit law firms and interview their employees during the company's lunch breaks. There is no harm in doing random interviews with firm employees during lunch as long as you are clear that your chat is to help you to personally decide on whether you will be happy in a career as a paralegal. You may also find one or two firms that have employees willing to give you clerking information; that is, when they expect to have clerk positions open.

Starting into a firm as a law clerk or a temp is another way to get exposure to the daily environment in law firms. It will give you insight into how things work in law firms, and how different those things are from what you are used to in your current job. A word of caution about trying to get hired in as a law clerk: Avoid late spring and summer in looking for work. Firms regularly hire in law students to clerk for them in the summer. This gives the firm cheap help and an opportunity to check out which young lawyers they may want to recruit. So, don't try to compete with a law student for a clerk position.

AFTER YOU HAVE BEEN A PARALEGAL FOR A WHILE

Somewhere between three and five years as a paralegal, a fair number of paralegals become disenchanted with their work. At this point, it is common for a few things to happen: He/she will begin to seek something more challenging within the firm, will seek to work in a different area of law, may seek to change firms, or may want something more. All of these are normal. Many times working in a different area of law translates to changing firms, unless you are working for a personal injury firm, or a similar type of practice, where a variety of areas are part of the practice.

For example, a personal injury practice will have departments that handle

medical, worker's compensation, and probate law issues. So, within a personal injury firm, it is possible to gain experience in a variety of legal areas beyond personal injury law. This means that a paralegal, who is bored with their department, because they've mastered it, can transfer within the same firm to another department and learn a new area of law. It also means that when the time comes to change firms, the paralegal will have X number of years' experience in medical law, X number of years' experience in probate/estate law, etc. They can apply to an estate planning firm and know they will be considered very qualified.

The alternative to changing within a firm, or from firm to firm, is to take the next step up to law school. It is estimated that approximately 5 percent of those who begin as paralegals in their mid to late 20s eventually take steps to go to law school and become lawyers. This is a great way to move into a career as a lawyer. It is also one factor that will make you an excellent lawyer, since you already know and understand the paralegal's position/disposition. It also makes you more likely to treat your paralegals well.

Qualifying, Education & Certifications

The initial and primary concerns of anyone who wants to become a paralegal are, "Do I qualify?" and "What type of education do I need?" These are important questions to be answered before setting sail into the world of legal services. Some of the answers to these important questions may surprise you, and some of the answers may make it easier than you believed for you to pursue your dream of a legal career. Take a look below at the various answers to these questions.

QUALIFYING

The qualifications for becoming a paralegal rest largely with the hiring firm and its human resources staff. Indeed, it is the firm's managing partner who will determine if what you have under your hat is sufficient to satisfy the firm's needs. Many firms have a policy of standardizing their paralegals' qualifications for the sake of compliance with EEOC laws. It is important to remember a firm is more likely to standardize the qualifications for the sake of federal laws than they are to give you "a break" in the application process. In other words, never believe that anyone on the hiring side of the table owes you any type of consideration or exception to "the rules." Simply put, they don't.

Some firms will tell you straight up that "all" of their paralegals have fill in the blank qualifications and that they don't consider anyone who does not have that particular set of qualifications. Usually there is an exception somewhere in their staff, but you would be hard-pressed to get anyone to admit which of their staff may be that exception. So don't try taking that approach, either. Firms standardize their qualifications for a number of reasons other than federal laws. Many do it to establish a certain basic standard for their staff paralegals; sort of the "lowest common denominator," if you will.

The best way to qualify as a paralegal without having to obtain additional education is to have already established yourself in a particular profession and not to be seeking to change fields. If you are recruited from one profession into a law firm, then they are looking at your professional knowledge without regard to the specifics of the paralegal work. In other words, they already know from your professional experience that you are well capable of doing paralegal work and that it will be of no great challenge for you to step into it. They have assessed your skill set and determined that you will be at ease performing their work in the capacity of a paralegal. If this happens to you, consider yourself blessed, but do not take it for granted. In the event that you are recruited from another profession into law, remember to immediately get yourself enrolled into some sort of paralegal program as soon as your 90-day probation period is up. If you don't, then you could leave yourself vulnerable a year, 5 years, 10 years down the road when the current position closes out for any reason.

Of course, the flip side of that is that once you begin to have years of experience, that experience carries a heavy consideration with the next firm. This is generally true except in instances where the recruited professional holds no degrees at all. The non-degreed professional recruited to the legal field as a paralegal is the most vulnerable and has no reasonable course except to seek some avenue of advanced education; either a university degree of any category or a paralegal studies degree from a paralegal school or community college.

When applying to firms, you will want to first find out about them and what type of qualifications they require for their paralegals. There is no real point in applying to a firm that accepts only a particular type of degree from a particular paralegal institution unless you are educated at their institution of preference. Some educators would like you to think that the institution itself never comes into play in the firm's decision making, but it does carry weight in their ultimate choice. There are firms that will never post or print anything to this effect, but when questioned in a phone interview, they will tell you "we only hire __________ graduates."

EDUCATION

To find assistance in choosing an institution from which to get your certifications or advanced degree, go to the AAfPE's . This page will give you additional insights concerning the reputation of specific programs. Let's face it, if you're going to spend thousands of dollars and months or years of your life preparing for a career as a paralegal, then you will certainly want to make sure that the time and money you invest will be looked upon favorably by future prospective employers.

Alternatively, you may not be well-positioned financially to bear the costs of the better programs listed on this or similar sites. Do not panic. Many well trained and talented paralegals obtain their certifications from local community colleges and paralegal night schools.

When determining your education source there are many factors to weigh in your decision making process. Some of these factors include:

1. Do you already have one or more degrees from a four-year university program?

2. Do you have an associate's degree in paralegal studies?

3. Do you have any type of degree in justice or judicial studies?

4. Do you hold a degree in any type of field related to the primary business of your prospective firm? [Example: Estate Planning Firm + Financial degree = Good fit]

5. Can you enter into a degreed program without having to take loans? If not, how many years out will it take you to realize a return on your educational investment; that is, how long before your loans are paid off and your net pay is "clear and free" of residual debt?

6. Do you have small children [under age 7]? If so, are you a single parent? And if so, where will your support come from in the emotional care for your children during this educational process?

7. Are you prepared to continue to work full time while sitting in class every week? Will your family be able to endure the weeks/months/years without your availability to them? Will you be able to endure long working hours for weeks, months or years?

CERTIFICATIONS

Some community colleges have certification programs in which they grant paralegal certifications to their students who accomplish certain course work in the process of their associate degree. To be hired in by the larger, more prestigious and better paying firms, you will need a few years' experience to go with this type of a certification.

The other aspect to the issue of certifications is continuing education. As long as you are a paralegal, your firm will require you to attend continuing education courses. If you find yourself working for a firm that doesn't require these courses at least a couple of times a year, find yourself the nearest exit door as quickly as possible. If you have joined a firm and didn't find this out in the interview, then you may want to take a little time [a year max] before you exit. Don't hurt yourself trying to get out, but get out. In the meantime, fork out the few hundred dollars yourself to pay for the courses as they come to your town. Good firms want to see your certifications, and when you have been a paralegal for a while and interview with another firm, the new firm will want to know about your continuing education certifications.

Don't let a firm's passive position on your continual efforts to stay up to date keep you from staying informed. A firm that doesn't require continuing education of its paralegals is antiquated and outdated, passive and complacent about its staff training, or is otherwise "stuck" in their own ways. Such a firm is one that is not really a good pick, but a new paralegal doesn't always know to ask about the firm's continuing education requirements in the interview. Note to self: Always ask. If you made a mistake on this point already, then fear not; just take care of your interests between now and a well-chosen exit date.