How to Become a Paralegal

As a paralegal, you may work for one attorney, several partners, or an entire firm, hospital, or bank. Any of these entities will dictate your specific role within the company, but you can count on a number of duties that remain consistent. One of your primary responsibilities is to communicate your status as a non-attorney. Since you are the one most likely to establish regular client communication, it is easy for people to assume you are a licensed attorney. Other duties include:

• Maintaining the security and organization of client files
• Helping plan cases with the attorney, company policy, and workload dictating how large your role is in case development and management
• Securing transport of case files and documents to and from the courthouse
• Gathering information relevant to your cases, including previous court decisions, client and witness statements (expert, character, and others), and technical analyses
• Using a compilation of information to help attorneys make informed decisions
• Playing a supportive and assistant role to attorneys during a trial
• Filing documents with the court in a timely fashion
• Preparing trial notes - points to emphasize, a list of questions for witnesses, and recording evidence that comes from witness statements, potential arguments, and tracking of events
• Locating and utilizing primary sources (scientific journals and legal databases, for example) for legal research
• Maintaining effective client communication - keeping clients informed and returning phone calls

When you work as a paralegal, portability will be a top priority regarding much of your equipment. You will have a briefcase and file folders for your documents and cases. You will also carry pens, notebooks, and a perhaps laptop computer. Other equipment that paralegals use includes:

• A smartphone to capture photographs, record notes, and keep your daily schedule
• Desktop computer to access large databases for legal research
• Plenty of note paper to track ideas and record notes
• Tape recorder to accurately track statements and promises
• Document software providing a template for important papers such as title forms, invoices for billable hours, and signature forms
• Email hosting services to enhance communication with clients
• Other office supplies, including scissors, hole punches, and highlighters
• Research software to make legal research more manageable
• eDiscovery to help in your quest to compile relevant information on a case
• Multi-line land telephone as your primary means of client communication
• Electronic scanner and a copy machine

Paralegals work mostly indoors. Occasionally, a case requires the investigation of evidence out in the field such as on a crime scene. As a paralegal, you do not have mundane work at a desk all day. A typical shift would involve you working throughout a climate-controlled office compiling information from the computer and printing or faxing it. You will also likely make trips between meetings, government buildings, and courts. Other than the risk of falling or tripping from rushing and eye strain from prolonged screen time, paralegals face minimal occupational hazards. There are opportunities for remote work for paralegals that strictly compose documents or review files. More positions exist for hybridized roles.

Although paralegals often seem too busy to work with anyone, your role is interactive. At some point, you will communicate or work with numerous people across a wide range of occupations. Your colleagues include:

• Attorneys you work for
• Legal secretaries to hand off faxes as they relay messages back to you about client calls
• Legal assistants (Firms and companies that can afford to and efficiently use their paralegals also have legal assistants with clearly delineated duties to support and assist paralegals who help lawyers.)
• Court secretary – can provide valuable notes if you miss something during a trial

As a paralegal, you can expect to work at least 40 hours a week and often more to meet the expectations of your caseload. Paralegals most frequently work weekdays, although they may have to tie up loose ends or perform additional research over the weekends. Your courtroom work schedule will typically be between 9 and 5 but may not occupy that entire time frame. For every hour before the court, you can expect to spend one to three hours in preparation. Drafting and reviewing documents and legal research will take up the majority of your hours in most paralegal positions. You will likely work more hours in the private sector than you will for large companies or the government. Remote positions also require a lot of dedicated hours since the end goals for all paralegals revolve around deadlines rather than set hours.

Paralegals gain so many valuable experiences in the law office and courtroom that they have several career moves that open up for them. These include:

• The intuitive move upward is to go to law school and become a licensed attorney.
• Make a move from a private law firm to become a paralegal for a government or financial agency.
• Gain secondary education to become a paralegal professor.
• Become a paralegal specialist - family, civil, or criminal law.

If you are seriously looking for a job or just want to check out what is out there, Spherion is the best place to base your search. We will assist you with your search for employment by matching you with a paralegal job that matches your skills. As one of the leading staffing companies, Spherion has connections with a wide range of businesses and organizations. The Spherion team offers numerous networking opportunities, so you can find the right office for your work style. Whether you prefer to work with a small family business or a major company, Spherion has options for you.

Working via Spherion offers you several advantages. For example:

• Being paid weekly
• Flexibility
• A contact person you always can fall back on and ask for help
• Numerous training opportunities
• A range of jobs in your area                
• Personal contact to assist you with your job search
• Training opportunities for gaining more advanced paralegal skills
• Flexible scheduling options
• • Quick and seamless interviewing process

Even if you obtain your associate degree, you will put yourself in a more competitive position for higher wages with certification (paralegal certificate) from the American Alliance of Paralegals, Inc. (AAPI) or the National Association of Legal Assistants, also known as the Paralegal Association (NALA). Accredited schools in your state can issue you national credentials once you complete a certification program and pass the pertinent tests, but paralegal programs are limited. Some online certification programs also exist. Finally, you can opt to obtain a four-year bachelor's degree in paralegal studies and then go on to gain certification. The higher the prospective job pays usually means the higher the educational requirements. 

Employers also prefer applicants who have prior experience. You can gain valuable experience with volunteer work, helping on pro bono cases, and internships. Some paralegals get their start as legal assistants or secretaries or as law clerks. They gain invaluable insights and useable skills in the law field.

Paralegals need several skills and competencies to help them carry out their job efficiently. These are skills related to computers and database research to locate answers to relevant questions in the preparation of a legal case. In addition to relevant certifications, your ideal personal skills include:

• Time management
• An ability to be decisive and accurate under pressure
• Great client communication skills - the ability to be clear and direct, to stress important information, and to deliver facts multiple times in varying ways
• Able to work staring at a screen or small print for hours at a time
• A love of research 
• Technological knowledge to upload data and files and separate unimportant and irrelevant information from crucial facts
• An ability to interpret court documents and analyze past cases and decisions
• An innate capacity to notice and read body language
• Ability to maintain a clear head and calmness during a confrontation and the chaotic hustle and bustle of your work

As previously mentioned, government paralegals usually make more money than others. However, within your field, you can increase your salary exponentially by becoming a paralegal manager. Your duties include oversight, assigning cases to other paralegals, and training. It requires a bachelor's degree, certification, and several years of experience but commands an average of about $104,000 a year. Other high-paying paralegal jobs are project managers and those specializing in intellectual property. Both make over $6,500 a month. 

A career as a paralegal has several advantages over being an attorney. Becoming a paralegal has fewer liabilities than those presumed by an attorney. Moreover, paralegals require far fewer years of education and training. They do not have to pass a strenuous bar exam to practice their profession as attorneys do. With experience, paralegals can take on many of the responsibilities and duties of a junior attorney even though they do not possess a license. 

Applying for a job as a paralegal is easy with Spherion. You can search for paralegal jobs on Spherion.com by job title and location. If you don’t see the perfect role, you can submit an open application. Once you submit your contact information and resume through Spherion’s open application, a recruiter from the office closest to you will reach out with details about potential paralegal roles that fit your skill set and professional goals.