Paralegals and legal assistants are an integral part of the legal system. These professionals support lawyers, law firms, agencies, and corporate entities by preparing legal documents, conducting legal research precedents and case investigations. Paralegals and legal assistants work in all areas of legislation, offering a form of clerical support. To become a paralegal or legal assistant, you will have to have a deeper understanding and advance knowledge of how legal systems work.

As a paralegal or legal assistant, your work can differ depending upon the niche of your employment. Daily, a paralegal has to provide legal client documents, which also involves clerical work. A lot of paralegals have expertise in their related fields. For instance, trial paralegals will have a significant amount of trial-related work experience. Simultaneously, the company’s in-house legal staff will spend a lot of time writing board resolutions and filing business-related paperwork. Although the job is hectic, it is equally rewarding in terms of money.

Pros and cons of being a paralegal

Talking about the pros first, as a paralegal, you will not have to pay hefty amounts of money to attend school, and there is no need to apply for office loans as it is inexpensive. The profession allows you to have a stable job with a wide range of job opportunities. And unlike lawyers, you will not have to give very long working hours to your job. As a paralegal, you can maintain a balance between personal and office life.

Now, the first con is that as compared to a lawyer, the profession does not pay much. Although you will have many job opportunities, the job doesn’t allow you to have greater public appreciation and recognition. Particularly for the fresh paralegals, it can be very boring, tedious, and repetitive. If you love to stay at home, then the job can be a nightmare for you because there is a lot of traveling and investigation involved.

I have been a paralegal for two and a half years now. I enjoy it for the most part but I am excited to go to law school in the fall and “move up” in the legal world.

I would highly recommend taking some classes/getting a degree in paralegal studies from a community college. My city has a very exceptional program that I completed in 1 year since I already have a bachelor’s. There are a lot of things specific to legal offices that you probably would not have experience with in your life already: how to look up cases/do legal research online, the specifics of how legal writing works especially legal citations (it is pretty different from normal writing), laws and procedures specific to your state/county, etc.

Here is the big secret of being a paralegal: lawyers have no idea how to do the day-to-day work of a lawyer! In law school they do not learn how to format a filing with the court (how to create the correct heading, what the court requires as far as margins), they don’t know the court costs, they don’t know where the probate/divorce/real estate/etc forms are located online, they often don’t know the time-frames they have for filing – that is all stuff that they expect you to be able to jump in and do because they literally can’t train you on it.

Also, in my experience, there are a ton of quite old attorneys out there still practicing. Many I have worked for are in their late 60’s early 70’s and they need paralegals for basic technology stuff. One I work for now cannot type at all. He needs me to check his emails for him, type letters every day. The other is better with technology but doesn’t know how to use the billing software or Quickbooks. Some only know how to do book research, which is becoming very antiquated not to mention costly to buy all those updates to law books every year. It is usually easier to get jobs with older attorneys (at least in my area for sure) because they are used to having secretaries -it was a lot more common when they started working. Younger attorneys might not have the incomes yet that older ones do to pay the overhead and they are usually more capable with the basics of using computers to get a lot more done.

One of the downsides I have experienced, and the reason I am excited to go to law school, is I don’t really like being treated like a secretary. Older men, which there are few older female attorneys have quite an old-fashioned idea about secretaries (although I have a paralegal degree so that’s what I am!). They can talk down to you a bit which can be frustrating if you are really smart. My attorneys have realized that I am smart and can do a lot on my own but it took a little while. I would rather be on a more equal playing field in the office, not have to get anyone’s coffee or answer the phones, not have to watch everything I say in case it might be construed as legal advice, etc.

A paralegal is a rewarding career for some. It is a great way to start working in the legal profession. I have been a paralegal for almost 12 years. Paralegals get to do some interesting work, working in law firms and in-house corporate environments, and various government agencies, all under lawyers’ supervision.

You can create your career path depending on your area of interest (labor and employment, family law, bankruptcy law, real estate, IP law, etc.).

The pay varies from setting to setting and employer to employer. You will eventually discover after a few years where you best fit.

The paralegal experience and skills are transferable across a variety of disciplines – so nothing will be lost.

I  am a contract paralegal with my own business. I did a paralegal certificate but had already worked in a firm prior. I had other skill sets and college classes in human services and MH, finance, marketing, and media along with my paralegal knowledge. I took all my skills and legal studies and went out on my own after 8 years, but worked in firms to get experience first like general practice, bankruptcy personal injury, estate planning, criminal and traffic, family law. I have now 15 yrs under my belt. I love working from home, setting my own schedule, and make more now than I was in the office setting. There are many lawyers and businesses that need paralegals to help them with their legal and business transaction needs.