Paralegal Career Options
Do you like watching the crew of Law & Order? I do, so I looked into a paralegal career.
Transforming yourself into a paralegal is one way to enter the law field. It might not be as trendy as Law & Order, but less appeal does not necessarily mean less respect or fulfillment.
Paralegals prepare lawyers and handle research tasks and legal writing. Also referred to as legal assistants, paralegals could also work for a corporate organization, government entity, or any institution that handles legislation.
An entry-level paralegal will maybe spend most of her or his time helping draft legal documents and interview witnesses. Read up on what do paralegals do if you want the details.
Usually, there’s two groups of paralegals, that is, corporate and litigation.
Litigation paralegals provide for documents for trial cases. Some of the monotonous work that falls into the hands of paralegals includes arrangements and indexing the files required for hearings: motions, briefs and depositions and the like.
They also interview witnesses, perform investigations, research, and draft legal documents. Corporate paralegals, conversely, may spend their time working on specific tasks, including copyright or trademark violations.
A paralegal’s educational background will help to define the type of work he/she will be doing. If, as an illustration, the legal assistant’s education focused on elder law, he/she may specialize in that.
Paralegal earnings differ based education, training, location, experience and the sort of firm they enter. Example: A corporate paralegal in the big city with a bachelor’s degree may earn considerably more a litigation paralegal in a rural area with associates degree.
For those who go through a bachelor’s or master’s program and have a wide-range of experience and training in the field, they will make more money.
Rural areas will generally pay less than big cities.
The sort of firm and specialty can be another determining factor of how much income you may be receiving annually. Those involved with intellectual property and trademark may receive median salaries of $50,000 to $55,000. Those working for hospitals may earn a mean wages of about $46,000.
With more exposure and experience, you may receive higher salaries compared to the median. Example: If you are promoted to become a senior litigation paralegal, you can make about $59,000 annually.
