Paralegal Education and Paralegal Training - Career and Employment Opportunities

The typical paralegal has a wide range of responsibilities. In most cases, a paralegal will be assigned a caseload in which he/she is in charge of maintaining. Within any case file assigned to a paralegal, there is a need for:

1. Client Contact – it is extremely important to keep a client abreast of matters that deal with her/his legal action. Clients like to ‘speak’ to the people that are employed to protect their interests.

2. Correspondence – A paralegal must make sure that opposing attorneys, court officials and possible parties are properly notified by mail. For this reason, effective letter writing is important.

3. Court Documents – Paralegals are often expected to manage Pleadings (complaints, motions, etc), Discovery (subpoenas, interrogatories, etc) and Orders (from the judge or for the judge to sign).

4. Inform Attorney - Keep the attorney up to date of work that has been done on a case, what needs to be done on a case and the overall progress of the case.

Paralegals serve as the right arm of an attorney. This frees the attorney to focus on theories, methods and decisions of pursuing litigation, while the paralegal makes sure that the attorney’s ideas are obtained through following the Rules of Civil Procedures. Like in a medical atmosphere, the doctor (attorney) decides the method of treatment and the nurse (paralegal) administers the treatment. This is why communication is extremely important.

By understanding and effectively administering the attorney’s decisions, the paralegal saves the attorney time, which equates to money. This increases the value of the paralegal because it allows the attorney to deal with more clients, earning more revenue for her/his practice. This will allow the attorney to adequately compensate the paralegal.

The national mean for paralegal salaries in the United States is $30,000 to $50,000. Again, this varies with location (i.e. a paralegal in New York or California will typically earn more than a paralegal in Alabama or Iowa) and the type of law practiced (i.e. a paralegal for a sole practitioner will typically earn less than a paralegal working for a large law firm).