A paralegal is an individual who is employed by a lawyer, with a paralegal certification you can work as the assistant of a professional lawyer and is assigned the task of
- Doing research on a particular case.
- Recognizing the laws appropriate for the case.
- Categorizing what information is relevant and useful for a particular case
- Fixing legal fees for a client.
- Keeping a note of the trials for the referral of the lawyer.
- Maintaining affidavit records
- Assisting in arranging the divorce agreement and land deal papers.
- Organizing the financial documents.
Paralegal Certification
The job involves having a lot of knowledge about the legal matters in detail. A paralegal is actually responsible for most of the work done by a lawyer like preparing a legal paper and writing legal reports. Paralegal certification is necessary to become a paralegal.
Contrary to the popular belief about paralegal certification, paralegals do not need a lawyer’s degree. As they lack the qualification required a lawyer, their salary is certainly lower than that of the professional lawyers. Those who want to enter this profession must first complete their formal training in this subject from a recognised institute. Though the certificate of a paralegal is not necessary to fetch a job, it does make it easier to get a job. There are 3 types of paralegal certification programs offered to help individuals enter the field of a paralegal. A paralegal certification exam is a part of paralegal certification.
Paralegal Certification
Paralegal Certification Program
This is the most basic of all requirements. It takes about a year to complete and may take longer depending on the course material being taught and covered. Many other degree holders undertake this course to add another degree to their CV.
- Paralegal Associate Program
This program provides a more detailed approach of becoming a paralegal, by offering thorough knowledge on the various aspects. The course may take up to 3 years to complete. Some business classes are also taken, apart from the regular paralegal courses.
- Paralegal Bachelors Program
The program provides a comprehensive understanding of the role of a paralegal. It is a fully fledged bachelors program where other regular subjects are taught apart from paralegal courses.
Some of the institutes offer online paralegal certification programs. Online paralegal certification programs offer the flexibility of studying by sitting at home.
Salary for a paralegal depends on the amount of work done. If the paralegal works hard and does the job assigned by the lawyer properly, then the paralegal salary will be decent. The job involves a lot of hard work and research, to obtain a good salary. Of course experience and Paralegal certification does play a huge part in fetching a nice salary for a paralegal.
The average paralegal salary is $40,000 per year. The entry level salary in this profession is roughly estimated to be $2,200 per month. As a paralegal prospers in his job by showing the desired skills and performance, the pay scale is bound to rise. There are various levels of paralegals employed by a firm and salary differs for each position. The average salary for a lower level paralegal is from $28,000 to $45,000, that of a corporate paralegal is $43,000 to $60,000 and for a senior paralegal with paralegal certification can varies from $45,000 to $70,000.
