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( votes)5 Best Reasons For Becoming A Paralegal. For a very long time, being a paralegal was equated to be the same as being a glorified secretary to an attorney. Many shied away from this profession for such reasons as too much time spent typing and so on. Well, now, with client demands rising and the economic necessity, being a paralegal is a very attractive position.
5 Best Reasons For Becoming A Paralegal
There are many reasons as to why being a paralegal is so amazing; here are a few:
Easy entry into a career
Much as you work in the law, you do not need to go through 7 years of law school to work as a paralegal. To become a paralegal, you simply need a few months of study. Besides, you can now obtain a degree in legal studies or a related degree from an ABA-approved paralegal program to become a certified paralegal. These will grant you the biggest avenue to attain employment.
Rising pay
In the past decade, paralegal compensation has risen quite steadily. The more paralegals get to legally perform, the higher the pay becomes. In some countries, paralegals are allowed to represent clients in the court and administrative tribunals. Currently, the average pay of a paralegal is $50,500 per year, though you can make more through bonuses depending on the organization you work for. An additional source of money is overtime hours that are billable to the firm, and these are bound to happen because being thorough with a case means long hours in the office.
Direct contact with clients
Some may see this as a disadvantage but if you look at the bigger picture, it is a great advantage.
Most paralegals may work under the supervision of licensed attorneys but once the initial contact has been made with a client, most paralegals are left to handle any direct contact with the client that follows. This creates an avenue for you to nurture your interview skills, communication skills as well as language skills. All these are qualities relevant to an outstanding paralegal. See here for more such qualities.
What this does is give you an avenue to counsel, support and provide help for troubled clients. There is no greater reward than this in such a career.
Challenge your intellect
There is nothing worse than being in the same job, doing the same thing every single day for decades. You get to a level where if you were woken up in the middle of the night and asked to perform your role, you can do it in your sleep without engaging your mind. Not with a paralegal job!
Every day is cause for a new challenge in your work. You constantly have to engage your mind, read up on relevant cases, research on legal documentation and conclusions just to keep up. You have to keep up with changing laws and new legal trends now and then. This grows your mind and your ability to perform the job more effectively every day.
Rising prestige
Gone are the days when being a paralegal seemed like being a glorified secretary. Now, paralegals are taking up management roles in businesses, leadership roles in law firms and such organizations as well as major corporations. The more roles paralegals perform, the more prestigious the job becomes.
Conclusion
You no longer need to fear becoming a paralegal. The ground has been set, come take off to your dream career!
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