Can you really find work that pays with a paralegal certificate?

rachel m

It depends on where you live. If you're in a fairly small legal market, it will probably be enough to have a paralegal certificate in leiu of a degree. If you live in Washington, DC or New York or Chicago or anywhere of that nature it won't. You'll definitely need a degree to go along with that certificate to do real paralegal work and get paid for it and you can make good money doing it. I have a friend who works for a white shoe firm here in DC and he makes $108,000 per year. That is at the highest end of course but you can make a good living.

Online schooling is becoming more and more commonplace and, therefore, more and more acceptable.

lawgal

Paralegal are in demand, especially in cities where they pay very well. As long as you have the speed and attention to detail and can multi-task they do not care where you got your education from Good luck, and enjoy making 80K.

[BUMP] Coming July '09

A mere paralegal certificate from online will not help you land a job. An associates degree or more are the only educations worth it. And then, even with a degree, you need experience. Getting into the paralegal field takes time. You should put in a year or two at a law office as a legal secretary or clerk to get law office experience and while you are doing that, get your associates in paralegal studies. Your next step is to talk to your employer about the possibility of them promoting you to paralegal. The pay isn't that great until you have more experience. Starting paralegals make about 30K-35K a year. Once you have more than 5 years you can make much more. The pay depends also on where you work. If you work for the government you are going to make less but the benefits and retirement plan are far better. If you work for a small firm you aren't going to make as much as you would working for a large firm.

Here is general info about the profession: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos114.htm

Here is the link to the American Bar Association where you can find institutions in your area that have paralegal degree programs: http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/paralegals/directory/home.html

Good luck to you with whatever you decide! =]

Andre

You may do well where I work. They have hired paralegals before. It's in the midwest.

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