What is a Paralegal? Fast Introductory Course for Beginners

Name: What is a Paralegal? Fast Introductory Course for Beginners
Rating: 4.4 (52 reviews)

Introduction and overview of the paralegal occupation, including skills, law office settings, salary, daily duties

Created byHarvey Zeytuntsyan, J.D., Informed Educational Insights LLC

Last updated 4/2024

English

What you'll learn

What employers are looking for in a successful paralegal (skills, abilities, etc.)
Legal services and the societal role and practical contributions of law offices and legal departments
The companies, offices, or job settings where paralegals work
The duties and tasks of paralegals and related training
The important people in a law firm or legal department and their relationship to paralegals
What it's really like to work as a paralegal (shadowing exercise)
The meaning of the term paralegal
Recent employment statistics and paralegal salary
Resources for further reading and learning
Captions other than English are machine translations

Course content

4 sections • 6 lectures • 1h 2m total length

Welcome to the Course!1:54
In this brief introduction, we welcome you to the course and introduce the paralegal profession, which has a "bright outlook" based on recent growth projections. Specifically, we'll review the major sections of the course and the individual modules (lectures).

The Paralegal Professional13:49
In this module we look at the paralegal as an individual. We consider various definitions of the term. Next, we look at the most important skills and abilities that paralegals should possess. The module includes an additional skills and abilities exercise to help students assess their current skill and ability set and create an action plan for improving.
The Context: Law Offices and Legal Departments12:42
In this module, we look at the role of law in society and then focus on the specific categories of law practice (e.g., litigation, transactional). We explain why the attorney is the focal point of a law office and describe the relationship between the paralegal's responsibilities to those of the attorney. We briefly cover the "knowledge paradox" that sometimes exists. Finally, we consider law offices and legal departments in organizations and the key people who work in the office.

Requirements

No previous knowledge needed about law offices or paralegals. You will quickly have a great overview of paralegals, their work, salary, skills, and weekly work.
Focused and time-saving course. You'll learn the most important information and get engaging exercises and a game plan for learning more.
Useful if you recently completed a college program, you are in college or university, or even experienced office workers who are considering a career change to the paralegal field.
Importantly, while the course will briefly discuss professional association guidelines and regulatory terms and concepts, please be sure to do your own independent and up-to-date research to ensure that you understand the requirements of your jurisdiction. While this course strives to be accurate and relies on reputable sources of information, it is intended to be concise and not exhaustive. It can also contain the occasional mistake. It’s important that you do your own further reading and research to be fully-informed. Also, please note that the course is not legal advice. For legal advice, you should hire a licensed attorney. This course will give you a good overview from various different perspectives using engaging content and supplementary exercises.

Description

What does paralegal mean? What paralegal skills do employers demand? What is the paralegal salary? Do I need a paralegal certificate? What training do paralegals need? If these or similar questions cross your mind, this short but informative beginner's class will help answer those questions and even give you a way to start assessing your skills and planning how to train to be a paralegal.

Paralegals (also called legal assistants or legal specialists) are an important part of the legal team at law offices and in legal departments of organizations. They work in a variety of settings from private law offices to corporations and public agencies. If you have a good foundation of general education and have writing skills, you like working in a structured environment, and have an eye for detail, this career path, which is expected to grow much faster than average in the next several years, may be a great option.

This concise course is designed for those who have little to no knowledge of the legal system and what paralegals do, and who want to learn more about this line of work. The course introduces and examines the paralegal career from three perspectives:

The Paralegal as a Person: Key Skills and Abilities
The Context: Broad Role and Specific Functions of a Law Office and Legal Department
The Work: Virtual shadowing exercise of a week’s work schedule

The course is concise but informative, focusing on the most useful information and uses creative ways to illustrate what employers are looking for and provides a virtual shadowing module where we examine a paralegal’s work calendar. The course closes with some current statistics, useful resources, and further reading on the next steps needed to start the journey to become a paralegal.

Who this course is for:

College Students
College Graduates
Office Workers
Legal Assistants
Legal Secretaries

What is a Paralegal? Fast Introductory Course for Beginners

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction1 lecture • 2min

The Paralegal and Law Office or Department2 lectures • 27min

The Paralegal on the Ground1 lecture • 14min

Conclusion2 lectures • 20min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: