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If you’re looking for a career in law, working as a paralegal or legal assistant might be a great place to start. Paralegals are individuals who work in private law firms or in the public sector who directly support attorneys.
Responsibilities vary across the process of preparing for hearings, trials, or meetings. However, it’s important to mention that tasks that are considered practicing law, like representing a client in court, are not allowed for paralegals.
Whether or not getting into court is high on your list of achievements, working as a paralegal is a great job to assess the responsibilities and qualifications for different jobs within the legal field.
Paralegals often have their hands in a variety of different aspects of cases, including collecting documents, researching, writing reports, drafting motions, preparing important documents, interviews, and more.
If you’ve decided this is the career path you’re ready to take, there are a few considerations to be made before you begin your job search. First and foremost, consider formal education.
Paralegals are typically required to complete a two-year or four-year program specially designed for paralegals. Some organizations may hire paralegals with a two-year degree or a certificate.
However, the National Federation of Paralegals Association encourages employers to hire paralegals with four-year degrees.
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Next, you’ll want to decide what area of law you’d prefer to work in. There are a variety of different areas, each bringing its own sets of qualifications, challenges, and perks. Here are some examples:
Bankruptcy. An individual who enters a job as a bankruptcy paralegal will typically aid clients who owe money through an approved process that allows for the debtor to be relieved of their debt if they negotiate a bankruptcy deal.
Bankruptcy can be a complicated process, especially for a paralegal.
Corporate. These individuals are responsible for helping lawyers organize and plan corporate business matters. They ensure companies have the correct documentation filled out and are compliant with federal and state laws.
In this area, it would be beneficial for the paralegal to have knowledge of acquisitions, investments, employment laws, contract laws, as well as a general idea of how banking, finance, and securities work.
Criminal law. A criminal law paralegal helps criminal defense attorneys. Their duties are similar to previous jobs listed, but would specifically impact cases for or against accused criminals.
Be prepared to deal with a lot of upsetting cases if you decide to take on this type of work.
Immigration. Immigration paralegals assist immigration attorneys who help their clients navigate immigration laws. They may also help individuals who are looking to complete adoption processes or become naturalized citizens.
Legal assistant. Though paralegal and legal assistant are often used interchangeably, only those individuals who have earned certification as a Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) from the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) can use this term.
Litigation. For litigation paralegals, their job focuses on investigation, interviewing witnesses, and collecting facts.
Litigation paralegals are often heavily involved in pretrial and trial, often organizing evidence, performing research, and establishing the case by preparing witnesses, evaluating jurors, and acting as a liaison with court officials.
Personal injury. This is a broad category that encompasses various skill sets.
Job duties can vary based on the case but typically paralegals who service personal injury clients are tasked with interviewing clients, taking notes, creating records, performing research, and more. It’s a good idea to be familiar with medical terminology.
Now that you’ve made it past the initial steps and are ready to jump into a paralegal role, you’ll want to be prepared for your interview.
Since this profession requires a specific skill set, including things like personal values and project management skills, you will be met with a wide variety of questions.
It’s important to remember that your interviewer will most likely be an attorney, and one you’ll be working closely with.
In your interview, they’ll be looking for more information about your specific training, experience, and whether or not they get along with you and feel you’ll be a good fit and addition to their existing team.
You may also be tested on how well you compose yourself under pressure, how you perform with multiple deadlines, and what your availability looks like.
This is no reason to stress. If you want to be a paralegal, you’ll likely be skilled and prepared in all of these areas. Like any other job interview, you’ll want to review the job description to understand their preferred requirements and any keywords you may want to drop during your phone or in-person interview.
You want to be as articulate as possible, so consider preparing with a friend or family member or even in the mirror beforehand. Attorneys view this as a critical skill, as paralegals are required to answer phones and communicate effectively through oral and written communication.
You’ll also want to ensure you dress appropriately for the interview. This means business attire, minimal makeup, and being yourself.
Don’t try to force yourself into an organization. Stay genuine so that you can better understand if the firm is a good fit for you as an individual. Nothing is worse than needing to work long hours at a job you dislike.
Interviewing can be a great and exciting experience. These types of meetings are held so that you are able to showcase your skills, abilities, and personality to articulate the value you can bring to a team.
Making a stellar first impression is key and preparation can help. Here are some of the most common interview questions for paralegals:
Why are you pursuing a career as a paralegal? This question is important for your employer to understand your motivations behind your application to this job type.
This is a great opportunity to articulate how passionate you are about the specific field of law and how you came to be interested in the legal profession.
What is your experience like? What sort of legal tasks have you managed at previous jobs? This is a job that is specifically probing for skills. Typically, these skills will be listed in the job posting, so be sure you study it before you get into the interview.
You may need a variety of skills to fill any specific position, but if you don’t have one or two, be upfront and honest about that fact should you need further training.
For the most part, your potential employer will be looking for basic organization and communication skills as well as someone who is eager to learn.
Describe how you organize your day. This question is specifically looking for you to discuss your organizational skills. You’ll want to put your organizational methods in the spotlight here.
Use specifics and talk about complex projects you may have managed so that you can help yourself stand out against other candidates.
How do you deal with stressful situations or disagreeable clients? Another question that might be looking for specific examples on how you might manage an unruly client or a high-stress situation.
It’s important to showcase your ability to stay calm and professional, despite external circumstances or a frustrated client. A lot of paralegal work can be customer-facing, so your potential employer may ask follow-up questions to ensure you are truly comfortable in these types of environments.
Discuss your legal research skills. Research is one of the biggest components of a paralegal’s job. Your potential employer will want to understand your research process and that they can trust you to take a research project and run with it.
You should also discuss any paralegal software that you may have used in the past or are interested in learning.
What areas of law are you most interested in? This is a commonly asked question. It’s important to make a decision on a specific area of law before you start looking for a paralegal job.
Your potential employer is likely looking for how loyal you’ll be to them and their firm. If you bring up a specific area as an interest, be prepared to discuss some details about it.
Describe your ideal work environment. This is obviously not a question particular to paralegals, but another one that’s important to come prepared for.
The potential employer is looking for you to describe how you feel you thrive best in a work environment. This will directly impact if they think you are a good fit for their team or not.
Tell me about how you deal with confidential information. Since handling sensitive information is such a significant part of a paralegal’s job, this can be a common question asked to interviewees.
Discuss specifically how you safeguard confidential information and how you ensure the safety of not only important documents but digital files as well.
How do you ensure accuracy in your daily work? Since a paralegal is often sent off to work on their own to lift the workload burden from attorneys, your potential employer will likely be looking to see how much they can trust you.
Having a tried and true method of catching and fixing errors in your work is incredibly important as a paralegal. Prepare to articulate this in your interview. Remember to include specifics so that you’re more likely to stand out.
How do you prioritize your workload? Paralegals often have a variety of different cases going on at once, so prioritization is just about as important as organization. Be sure you can help your potential employer understand how your prioritization works so that you don’t miss deadlines.