Need info on becoming a paralegal....

Hi all. I am hoping that I can get some info here.. I am planning on starting a paralegal program online and trying to figure out which one is best. I am hearing good things about the Washington Online Learning Institute and have heard it is one of the top paralegal schools and also regionally accredited, but I cant figure out if it is ABA accredited.. Also, once I get my certificate, will I be able to find a job with no experience? Of course most paralegal jobs that I have looked at require experience, and alot of them want 5 years and up... So this worries me a little.. Also, is a degree usually required to be hired as a paralegal? I am working on my associates but only about halfway through. I would really appreciate any advice on this. Thanks everyone!

On INDEED click on JOBS. Type in paralegal. Once you get to those jobs, then do another click on FORUM. That will give you most of the forums for legal.

Unless you're bilingual, forget spending any money on a paralegal program - especially for Florida.

mary in Tampa, Florida said: On INDEED click on JOBS. Type in paralegal. Once you get to those jobs, then do another click on FORUM. That will give you most of the forums for legal.

Unless you're bilingual, forget spending any money on a paralegal program - especially for Florida.

Why would a paralegal necessarily need to be bilingual? Though I do notice that is a requirement for alot of jobs down here.. It is pretty frustrating actually

Because you look at ALMOST EVERY SINGLE JOB ADVERTISED - and they said "BILINGUAL PREFERRED." It's not a job requirement. It shouldn't even be necessary.

But the "low-life" attorneys do that. supply minus demand equals price. There is an abundance of people looking for legal jobs, there are few legal jobs - so attorneys change the equation even more by saying bilingual preferred, therefore, they can pay less.

If you are not bilingual, you'll need to work in an area of law that doesn't depend on individual customers. Like in litigation, you would want to be on the defense side representing companies being sued. You don't need spanish for that. Your clients speak English.

If your clients speak Spanish or some of your clients speak Spanish then Spanish is important especially if your attorney doesn't speak Spanish. If an English only attorney who represents individuals can hire a bilingual paralegal, then the attorney can potentially increase their business by being attractive to Spanish speakers. If you have a lot of Spanish speakers in your area, you have to have a bilingual office or it'll be hard to survive. From a business standpoint it would just be foolish to have no one in the office who was bilingual in Florida, Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona.

It's true for doctor offices, too, in these states. Look at the staff - at least one receptionist is always bilingual. There are just too many Spanish speakers to ignore.

Thanks everyone... Well there are schools in my area that offer paralegal courses but it seems to go along with an associate's degree. I am working on that also but it will probably take me awhile. I am doing medical transcription from home right now and I still need to have time to do that, so that is why it would work best for me to do the course online...

Here is some more info on the course, I would appreciate your opinions on it...

This is a fast-paced program consisting of intensive concentration in legal research using Westlaw® (and other techniques), legal interviewing, legal investigation and litigation assistantship. The course also explores the use of computers in a law office and basic law office administration

I guess Westlaw class can be helpful but once you start working at a firm and they set you up with Westlaw your Westlaw rep will come around and show you how it works. I have never had a job that required me to use Westlaw, but other paralegal positions require it.

Legal interviewing. What? Interviewing who? I don't interview anyone.

Legal investigation? Would need more info. What kind of investigation?

Litigation assistantship? Is this an internship? Who arranges it?

Use of computers - yes, Word, Wordperfect, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, learning Summation would be helpful although I have never needed it. Time keeping programs vary by firm. Document management systems vary by firm.

Basic law office adminstration - what is this? It sounds like they are setting you up to work for a solo attorney doing personal injury work. Yuck.

jen78fl in Hollywood, Florida said: Hi all. I am hoping that I can get some info here.. I am planning on starting a paralegal program online and trying to figure out which one is best. I am hearing good things about the Washington Online Learning Institute and have heard it is one of the top paralegal schools and also regionally accredited, but I cant figure out if it is ABA accredited.. Also, once I get my certificate, will I be able to find a job with no experience? Of course most paralegal jobs that I have looked at require experience, and alot of them want 5 years and up... So this worries me a little.. Also, is a degree usually required to be hired as a paralegal? I am working on my associates but only about halfway through. I would really appreciate any advice on this. Thanks everyone!

I have my paralegal certificate from Washington Online. The school is not ABA-approved (unless that just happened recently), so my certificate isn't worth anything. In doing research now (that I should have done earlier), I found out that there aren't any ABA-approved schools with online programs. You can go to the ABA website and see their list of approved schools. Good luck!

jen78fl in Hollywood, Florida said: Hi all. I am hoping that I can get some info here.. I am planning on starting a paralegal program online and trying to figure out which one is best. I am hearing good things about the Washington Online Learning Institute and have heard it is one of the top paralegal schools and also regionally accredited, but I cant figure out if it is ABA accredited.. Also, once I get my certificate, will I be able to find a job with no experience? Of course most paralegal jobs that I have looked at require experience, and alot of them want 5 years and up... So this worries me a little.. Also, is a degree usually required to be hired as a paralegal? I am working on my associates but only about halfway through. I would really appreciate any advice on this. Thanks everyone!

Hi!

Here a little of what I know. Many offices would require 5 years or more of experience, but in my humble opinion, a certificate is good enough. For more information, you can go to the floridabar.org where you can find answers to most of your questions.

Hope this helps. May God bless you.

Mary