By: Nick Smith, Jessie Plant,
Ceney Hernandez, Toni LaForge

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A Legal Assistant for Paralegal is a person qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.
“Consider the reason of the case, for nothing is law that is not reason.” – J. Powell

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Draft Pleadings
Prepare legal arguments
Interview clients
Assist in trial preparation
Research laws and previous cases
Summarize depositions
Investigate facts
Assist Lawyers
Locate and interview witnesses
“You are like the nurse to the doctor. The doctor plans and the nurse implements.” – Linda Michalik, Paralegal

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"Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind."
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Sir Francis Bacon

“As an attorney engaged primarily in litigation work, I utilize the skills of my paralegal on a daily basis in the areas of research, pleadings drafting and preparation for trial, depositions and witness interviews.” – W. Asa Hutchinson, attorney

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Private law firms
Corporate legal departments
Nonprofit organizations
Federal, State and Local Governments
“Law is order, and good law is good order.” - Aristotle

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Usually work in office
Some work from home
Hours usually follow standard 40 hours a week, with long hours sometimes required
Very independent work environment, often unsupervised
Work with computers often
Some work done in law libraries
“You get to put a lot of yourself into what you do and that provides a high level of satisfaction.” – Elizabeth Houser, Paralegal

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Strong work ethic
Detail management skills
Good oral and written communication skills
The ability to be self-directed and self-disciplined
Initiative
Excellent organizational and time management skills
Honest and ethical
“If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
- Charles Dickens

According to a survey conducted by NALA in 2004 the salary and benefits for Paralegals in our area is:
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$33,000.00-$45,00.00 salary and benefits
“Where there is no law, there is no freedom.” -John Locke

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High School students should take a broad range of subjects such as:
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English (highly important)
Social Studies
Government
Computer Science
Languages
“It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour.” – Thomas Jefferson

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On the job training
Certificate
Associate Degree (most common path)
Bachelor’s Degree
“In university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools." – Doris Lessing

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NWACC offers an Associate of Applied Science in
Legal Studies.
The different courses taken will include:
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Legal Research
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Torts
Contracts
Family Law
Civil/Criminal Litigation
“A law is valuable not because it is law, but because there is right in it.” – H.W. Beecher

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The U.S. Dept. of Labor projects that the number of jobs for Paralegals will grow faster than average at about 33% through
2010.
“Laws and institutions, like clocks, must occasionally be cleaned, wound up, and set to true time.” – Henry Ward Beecher