Paralegals: A Career Analysis

As years fly by, I fought myself what career I wanted to go in. So one day I have gotten a call from family that my cousin had passed her bar exams to be a lawyer. Then It dawn on me, as little kids me and her use to love getting into arguments with other people and love to win it. So I decided the legal field it should be. I know that I don’t want to be a lawyer because the schooling is too long and I’m already in my mid 30’s. I have learned about different careers in the legal field. Paralegal is part of the legal field that has been one of the fast growing careers since the early 2000s. What paralegals do, the amount of education, and their salary intrigued me to pursue this career.
As I research the possibilities to become a paralegal, I learned the education varies in many different ways. Future paralegals are able to attend a variety of two year colleges to receive an Associate degree in paralegal. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of schools where I can
With the aide of paralegals, lawyers are more successful. Paralegals take up a wide range of tasks such as assisting in the preparation of legal procedures, investigating case facts, analyzing and organizing information, drafting contracts and legal documents and preparing written reports (Gibbs 2013). Even though paralegals work side by side with lawyers, they are not allowed to offer legal advice and participate in a court trial nor set legal fees. While taking care of legal cases, paralegals should up hold high standards like a lawyer. They should be able to work under pressure, meet deadlines, and withhold confidential client information. May 1993, NFPA created and adopted a Model Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility (“Model Code”). The Model Code provides paralegals with ethical guidelines and standards for professional conduct to which all paralegals should aspire. (2006-2011 National Federation of Paralegal