Paralegal Programs – Tips on Finding the Right School
In the land of liberty, paralegals owe a great debt of gratitude to a couple of organizations. Of course, there are other professional organizations that have contributed to the evolution of the paralegal as a prominent career in the field of law, but the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) and the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) have stood out. Boasting tens of thousands of members between them, these competing organizations’ have helped sculpt and influence the language of the paralegal (also called legal assistant by NALA) field for decades.
Key factors to keep in mind when evaluating the quality of any paralegal program:
1. Teaching practical, usable job skills in combination with fundamental legal principals are an essential part of any quality paralegal schools curriculum. In addition, paralegal programs should also cover topics like contract law, legal research, business organizations and legal writing. A quality paralegal school will focus their courses towards the development of an overall higher quality, well-rounded student. This would be done by designing courses that develop students’ hypercritical thinking abilities, organizational skills and their emotional and mental capacity to handle delicate ethical issues.
2. Who are the individuals making up the faculty and the administration of the paralegal school you are looking to attend? Does the curriculum program director have a law degree or minimally have they had solid field experience along with an advanced degree in some aspect of paralegal education? Are the instructors considered to be “experts” in their sphere of influence as a result of their field experience and educational background?
3. Is the tried and true campus classroom learning model best for you or is the so-called “modern” online training environment a better fit? An essential question that needs to be answered before you take the plunge and decide to pursue your paralegal degree via the online learning model. Another key question includes how you’ll receive the training. Will it be through web based courses or telecourses or interactive video or something else? Furthermore, one of the most important questions is very simple, “Can you learn online?”
Unquestionably, exploring a paralegal career isn’t for every Tom, Dick or Harry or Sally or Susie for that matter but for those individuals that yearn to dip their toe into the field of law, and still enjoy the status and professional satisfaction of a law career without having to attend law school for 4 years, then becoming a paralegal is your ticket.
