How A Paralegal Bachelor’s Degree Can Help You

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Becoming a paralegal can set the stage for a long and rewarding career working in a wide variety of positions ranging from being an assistant at law firms to being part of in-house legal departments for major corporations.

Paralegals are essential to the legal industry because they do much of the actual research necessary in building legal cases. And this is not to mention representing employing law firms at certain pretrial court hearings. Some legal procedures do not require that a licensed attorney appears with a client, and many times paralegals serve as firm representatives in certain cases. Paralegals are indeed in demand in the industry, which makes it a lucrative field of professional employment.

Corporate Employment

Working in a law firm is not the only potential career path for paralegals. Corporations and private companies alike often maintain in-house legal teams who have detailed knowledge of company intellectual property and operations legalities. All businesses have legal issues, and it is always best to avoid retaining attorneys who will be focused on going to court in many instances and do not know internal company information.

Government Employment

All laws originate from the government, which means that many government legal workers are actually paralegals instead of lawyers or attorneys. Paralegals often build excellent productive careers as government bureaucrats. Government pay is not as restrictive as many think either, and job security is also often another advantage of employment within a government agency that does not change over with administrations.

There are also extra perks commonly associated with government employment as well, not to mention excellent additional benefits such as healthcare coverage that all employers do not provide.

Law Firm Employment

Of course, the first consideration that most aspiring paralegals have is working for a law firm following paralegal education and training from trusted places like ParalegalEDU.org. This is assuredly where many students who earn a paralegal bachelor degree find themselves after graduation, many of which stay exactly where they are when they find the right fit.

Many small private law firms pay their paralegals well because they value their work team, which is a real operational issue with successful legal agencies. Cases can be intense and require significant research and case development, and all lawyers need experienced and educated assistants.

Potential for Becoming an Attorney

One of the real reasons that a paralegal bachelor’s degree is attractive is the possibility of actually becoming an attorney. The mere fact that attorneys hold a Juris doctorate is impressive in its own right, but being an attorney allows the student to become a true legal professional with full licensing to represent others who are in real need of legal help. Navigating the law is not easy, and paralegals and attorneys alike serve a noble purpose in many cases.

These are just a few possibilities for those who earn a paralegal bachelor’s degree. As the United States is evolving into a highly litigious society, there will be no shortage of potential employment for those with legal education.