What is a Paralegal? Fast Introductory Course for Beginners

Introduction and overview of the paralegal occupation, including skills, law office settings, salary, daily duties

Ratings 3.40 / 5.00

What is a Paralegal? Fast Introductory Course for Beginners

What You Will Learn!

What employers are looking for in a successful paralegal (skills, abilities, etc.)
Legal services and the societal role and practical contributions of law offices and legal departments
The companies, offices, or job settings where paralegals work
The duties and tasks of paralegals and related training
The important people in a law firm or legal department and their relationship to paralegals
What it's really like to work as a paralegal (shadowing exercise)
The meaning of the term paralegal
Recent employment statistics and paralegal salary
Resources for further reading and learning
Captions other than English are machine translations

Description

What does paralegal mean? What paralegal skills do employers demand? What is the paralegal salary? Do I need a paralegal certificate? What training do paralegals need? If these or similar questions cross your mind, this short but informative beginner's class will help answer those questions and even give you a way to start assessing your skills and planning how to train to be a paralegal.

Paralegals (also called legal assistants or legal specialists) are an important part of the legal team at law offices and in legal departments of organizations. They work in a variety of settings from private law offices to corporations and public agencies. If you have a good foundation of general education and have writing skills, you like working in a structured environment, and have an eye for detail, this career path, which is expected to grow much faster than average in the next several years, may be a great option.

This concise course is designed for those who have little to no knowledge of the legal system and what paralegals do, and who want to learn more about this line of work. The course introduces and examines the paralegal career from three perspectives:

The Paralegal as a Person: Key Skills and Abilities
The Context: Broad Role and Specific Functions of a Law Office and Legal Department
The Work: Virtual shadowing exercise of a week’s work schedule

The course is concise but informative, focusing on the most useful information and uses creative ways to illustrate what employers are looking for and provides a virtual shadowing module where we examine a paralegal’s work calendar. The course closes with some current statistics, useful resources, and further reading on the next steps needed to start the journey to become a paralegal. Now includes a bonus lesson previewing continued paralegal skills courses from the same instructor.