Paralegal Certification
Take Courses on Paralegal Certification
If you already have a college degree and are interested in starting a career as a paralegal, you may be interested in completing a paralegal certification program. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are approximately 1,000 colleges and universities, proprietary schools, and law schools that offer coursework in paralegal studies. Some of these schools offer paralegal certification programs, but only about 260 of the paralegal programs are actually approved by the American Bar Association.
It is still possible to take a paralegal certification program through a school that has not been approved by the American Bar Association, but you may have a greater chance of finding employment if you complete your studies through a paralegal certification program that has been approved by the Bar. If you decide to pursue one of these paralegal certification programs, you might not have to have a college degree before you will be accepted. In fact, some of these programs will accept those with only a high school diploma or equivalent, while others will require you to have some legal experience before you will be accepted into the program.
After completing one of these programs, you can work toward obtaining paralegal certification through the National Association of Legal Assistants. Although many employers do not require having this type of paralegal certification, voluntarily working toward completing this certification can help you improve your employment opportunities within the field. In order to obtain this paralegal certification, you will need to complete a determined amount of education and experience. You will also need to pass an examination that takes two days to complete.
It is also possible to obtain paralegal certification in an area of specialization. In order to become certified in a specific area of the law, you can take additional testing through the National Association of Legal Assistants.
