Find an Online Paralegal Degree Programs

What is a Paralegal?

Paralegals, in essence, are legal assistants. These individuals are responsible for a wide range of tasks within a legal spectrum outside of the practice of law, the delivery of legal advice, and the representation of clientele. A Paralegal will work in tandem with attorneys, legal professionals or their representing law firms to provide the most comprehensive service to their respective clientele.

The basic paralegal job description entails a variety of duties and responsibilities that are commonly linked to the day to day responsibilities of an attorney or legal professional; a paralegal provide basic duties to streamline an attorney’s work. Paralegals may assist, research, and participate in legal processes and procedures; however, they are not permitted to provide legal advice.

Typically, a paralegal may provide the following duties: provide case work and legal research for their respective law firm or legal professional, interview potential clients to gauge which legal endeavors are worth pursuing, conducting thorough reviews of case studies and legal precedents for their respective legal professionals, accessing law libraries to reveal pertinent legal matters, organize a lawyer’s schedule to streamline their business and provide information to respective clients.

In a more specific sense, a paralegal may be responsible for the collection, arrangement, and organization of legal forms and documents with regard to a court case; individual clients may be required to fulfill a variety of paper work, claims, forms, text, and statutes with regard to any of all claims or defenses. A paralegal can authenticate the necessary documentation required, as well as the processing of the satisfied forms.

What are Online Paralegal Degree Programs?

Online paralegal degree programs refer to interactive coursework offered by various institutions, such as universities or specialized legal schools, throughout the United States. An individual wishing to become a paralegal, when accessing online paralegal degree programs, will learn how to write legal briefs, research lengthy court documents and how to properly conduct interviews with potential clients or witnesses.

The American bar Association and Online Paralegal Degree Programs:

The American Bar Association has approved online paralegal degree programs to assist students and prospective paralegals in finding quality paralegal education. The America Bar Association; however, has prohibited obtaining a paralegal degree solely through use of online paralegal degree programs. That being said, numerous programs offer one or more required paralegal certificate classes online and a few schools throughout the nation will offer completion through distance learning through the use of webcam or television technology.

The American Bar Association implemented various guidelines in 2008, which formally addressed online components to paralegal degree programs. To meet these ABA requirements, institutions now offer and require students to complete the equivalent of ten semester credits in a traditional classroom environments; classes offered online must in turn, meet certain requirements, instituted by the particular university in accordance with the ABA’s requirements.

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