Discovering the Paralegal Profession

AuthorScott A. Hatch/Lisa Zimmer Hatch
ProfessionFounders of The Center for Legal Studies and developed their award-winning paralegal curriculum in 1980, offering it through 600 colleges nationwide
Pages7-18
CHAPTER 1 Discovering the Paralegal Profession 7
Chapter1
Discovering the
Paralegal Profession
With so much media coverage for attorneys and so little for the equally
important paralegals, you may not be entirely familiar with what a par-
alegal career entails. In this chapter, we tell you what paralegals do,
where paralegals work, and what it takes to become a paralegal.
Almost a Lawyer: What a Paralegal Does
Both paralegals and lawyers are legal professionals. The dierence is that an
attorney must supervise a paralegal’s work, and a paralegal can’t do certain
things, like give legal advice and represent clients in court.
But there are many things paralegals can do. Because using a paralegal instead of
an attorney can save a lot of money, law rms and corporations are increasingly
relying on paralegals. As a paralegal, you’ll likely be doing many of the tasks that
in past decades were accomplished only by licensed attorneys. We cover some of
these important tasks in the following sections.
IN THIS CHAPTER
»
Looking into what paralegals do
»
Familiarizing yourself with the kinds
of workplaces paralegals encounter
»
Getting the proper training to work
as a paralegal

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