The life of a paralegal is often busy, usually rewarding, and rarely mundane.
As part of a legal team, they prepare legal documents, conduct research to assist lawyers, and even some advising in small claims and other legal matters. While they’re not lawyers themselves, they’re nevertheless well-trained legal experts who fill in-demand positions in the legal industry. In other words, it’s a great way to break into law without having to go to law school!
In the following article, we take a look at some of the advantages following a paralegal career path and why it’s sought after in postsecondary studies.
1. Career Outlook and Demand
Paralegals are part of a growing industry with plenty of positions to fill. Even in times of economic uncertainty and slow growth, there is always demand for legal services, including affordable ones. This in turn leads many law firms to hire more paralegals to help cover clerical work and advise on legal matters that do not require the expertise of a lawyer.
Should you graduate from a paralegal program, there is a good chance your future career outlook will look rosier than a lot of other professions.
2. Competitive Salary
Like most careers we pursue, we want our jobs to be rewarding both intellectually as well as financially. Fortunately, paralegals have strong salary prospects the moment they enter the field.
While salaries can vary pretty wildly from one province or city to another, the average salary for paralegals in Ontario is over $50,000 a year, with any of the more experienced ones able to earn $80,000 or more a year depending on their employer and seniority.
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3. Tasks and Responsibilities
One exciting thing about the profession is how much the roles and responsibility of paralegals have been increasing. In decades past, many of their responsibilities were more secretarial in nature, but has recently expanded into becoming multifaceted members of active legal teams.
As such, paralegals perform a wide range of tasks in a given day, which often means there’s less room for monotony to set in than with other careers. Typical duties can range from administrative tasks like filing case paperwork and delivering documents to clients, to more complex ones like translating forms and other text, and even preparing court motions or meeting with witnesses.
4. Positive Reputation
While lawyers are the punchline of more old-timey jokes than most professions, any professional working in the legal field is typically looked upon well by the general public.
Paralegals, in particular, as valued members of legal teams, with a wide breadth of legal knowledge under their belts, often score high in terms of their own job satisfaction as well as in the opinions of people looking from the outside.
5. Accelerated Study Programs
Unlike going to law school to become a lawyer, which can take years of intense postsecondary study, paralegals benefit from having much shorter educational requirements. In many cases, colleges even offer accelerated paralegal programs that can let students complete their studies in a single year!
Even better is that as soon as they graduate, paralegals are often career-ready – especially if their college offers in-person placement hours to accompany their theoretical training. This means that paralegals are often able to start their careers without much downtown between being a student and a working professional.
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6. Work with Clients
Working in the legal field does involve a lot of digging around in books and old case files for precedents and background, but increasingly there’s a more dynamic and people-focused aspect of the work. Notably, a growing part of a paralegal’s duties at most law firms is the need for them to represent the firm while meeting clients.
As such, working as a paralegal involves a mix of quiet time performing research or preparing documents, as well as more active engagement with clients, witnesses, and other people involved in court cases. Many paralegals find working with people the most rewarding part of their job.
7. Ability to Make a Difference
One of the most rewarding elements of life as a paralegal is the ability to make a tangible difference in the lives of their clients. Many people turn to legal firms for help in righting wrongs or for working through difficult periods in their lives. Part of the work of a paralegal is to bring resolution to the clients, and ensure they are better off than when they first approached for law services.
Are you interested in pursuing an exciting and rewarding career in the legal field? Our accelerated Paralegal program provides you with the theoretical knowledge and the practical experience you need to thrive in this industry. Best of all, you can be career ready in just one year!
If you’re interested in learning more about this program, fill in the form on the right side of this page or send us an email at [email protected].