A Paralegal is a paraprofessional that assists a professional attorney in their legal work. Most paralegals earn either a two year degree or a bachelor’s degree in law related studies. Many paralegals also obtain a degree in other fields that are related to legal studies, and this is great way to raise your salary or obtain a more preferred job.
There are many schools that offer a paralegal degree, but only a small amount are actually considered to offer the best education to pursue these degrees. There a lot factors to consider when choosing a school to help you pursue a legal assistant career. Each school has advantages and disadvantages, and the best way to choose will be based on your specific needs and how each school can fulfill those needs.
Virginia College
Virginia College offers its students an associate or bachelor degree program in paralegal studies. The program is designed to e completed in a 24 moth period and can offer a 70% job placement rate. In some cases it may take around three years to complete depending on the students circumstances. This is great for students that need flexible schools that give them the time they need for a job or taking care of their family and still have the time to earn a degree from a well known accredited school.
University of Phoenix
The University of Phoenix is one of the largest in the world in terms of the amount of students. This online school allows you to become a legal assistant while learning at your own pace. The University of Phoenix requires a variety of classes to be completed before obtaining your program degree. You will take classes on legal research and writing, legal systems, computers and law, criminal litigation wills and trusts, consumer law, and real estate law. The length greatly varies since your course length depends on your own pace.
Brown Mackie College
This college has a program that does a great job in providing students the skills to pursue the legal assistant careers. They go in depth with fundamentals of legal studies and will give you a deep understanding of the job. Brown Mackie has over 26 different institutions and each offers a paralegal degree as either an associate of science or an associate of business.
Tulane University
Tulane university can offer its students an associates degree or a bachelor degree in this field. The program at this school is ABA accredited, which is important because employers seek people with degrees from accredited schools. The associate degree is a two year process and consists of 60 credit hours. The bachelor degree is double the time and the hours and someone with an associate’s degree can roll their credit hours into the bachelor degree program. Tulane offers its students three different degrees to pursue. The first is an Associate of arts in paralegal studies; the second is a Bachelor of Arts in paralegal studies, a post-baccalaureate certificate.
New York University
NYU is known for its distinguished law programs and is a prime choice when pursuing degrees as a legal assistant. NYU has two programs to choose from, the first is an intensive shorter option and the second is a two semester slandered option. This is also an ABA accredited school and will allow you o leave with all the knowledge you need to be a successful legal assistant.
The degrees from these schools can lead to become very successful in your legal assistant career. When considering these schools make sure to take the time and really research each school to see if they can help you meat your educational goals and also be sure they can match your financial needs as well as your schedule.