Paralegals are essential to every legal team and assist attorneys with assigned work.
Being a paralegal is a faster route to a legal career than attending law school and passing the bar exam. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that there will be an increase of 12% for paralegals between 2020 and 2030. Paralegals are in high demand, particularly in urban and metropolitan areas.
This allows you to start a career as a paralegal, which is an expanding field. California expects much job growth in the private sector in some big cities.
There are reasons you might want to specialise in paralegal work despite the demand for them. This article will discuss paralegal career options and why you may want to consider them.
WHAT PARTIES PLAY PARALEGALS IN THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Paralegals often work on projects that need a lot of research, such as doing legal research for a case.
A paralegal’s primary responsibility is to support attorneys. Paralegals are a common type of lawyer who works in different settings. They are often responsible for a lot of other tasks.
Legal advice, client representation in court, or paralegal activity are prohibited. They serve as attorneys’ assistants and are crucial to any legal team.
WHY FOCUS ON BEING A PARALEGAL?
Your qualification to work as a generalist paralegal is demonstrated by your certification. It would be best to become an expert in a few niche areas while pursuing a paralegal job. This may be the case because you are passionate about or interested in those subjects of study or that area of law. Specializing in one place can help you learn more about that topic than other people. This could be useful when requesting a job or negotiating a pay raise in the paralegal industry. The two main paths to specialising in a particular paralegal profession are education and experience.
11 Different Paralegal Specialties to Think About
Corporate in-house legal departments and insurance companies also use paralegals.
1. BUSINESS PARALEGAL
Instead of representing various clients, a corporate paralegal, as a rule, works within a single organisation. Rarely seen in public, their work is wholly unnoticed. Paralegals tell corporations about compliance, powers, and duties in corporate settings. Corporate paralegals can help lawyers with contract drafting and other legal tasks. Paralegals are a part of the corporate legal team and help with many jobs.
2. OFFENSE PARALEGAL CRIME
The public is most aware of criminal defence practice through crime dramas on television and news stories about cases. This job involves a lot of collaboration and working together with other professionals. Prosecutors are the lawyers who work on behalf of the government. They try to find evidence to show someone guilty of a crime.
This may include drug offences, white-collar crimes, or violent crimes. This specialization allows paralegals to support attorneys in the best way possible.
A paralegal for the criminal defence attends every trial stage. They may be required to conduct client interviews, get police reports and arrest records, get medical histories, gather evidence and information, and prepare documents for attorneys during the pretrial phase.
The lawyer may give the criminal defence paralegal instructions on creating motions and answers to requests for discovery or submitting paperwork to the court (under their supervision).
The paralegal may change the trial notebook throughout the proceedings, including entries for motions, pleas, exhibits, test findings, and research. After the trial, the paralegal could assist the lawyer with document preparation, filing, and appeals.
3. EXTRALEGAL PROPERTY PLANNING
An estate planning paralegal assists clients in planning how to divide their assets. These paralegals help draft real estate planning documents, probate pleadings and deeds, complete tax computations on plans, and prepare wills.
Assisting clients with handling inheritance taxes, recording deeds, and creating beneficiary notifications, estate planning paralegals can also assist in setting up trust allocation schedules and distribution strategies.
You must complete an ABA-approved paralegal programme and get a certification, Associate’s, or Bachelor’s degree to work as an estate planning and probate paralegal (depending on your state). Additionally, it is advised that you do a six-month paralegal internship.
4. PARALEGAL BANKING AND FINANCE LAW
Learning accounting, financial regulations, and banking rules and regulations is necessary for paralegals working in the finance law field. When counties or municipalities issue bonds for infrastructure projects so they do not need to take out loans, this form of the paralegal is one use for them. Ensuring that the bond documentation complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws is your responsibility as a paralegal. Drafting agreements, financial documents, contracts, and deeds relating to the bond issuance may also be required of you.
Financial paralegals might also practise corporate or bankruptcy law and economic law.
5. BANKRUPTCY LEGAL ISSUES
Paralegals in bankruptcy practice for attorneys that represent creditors or debtors. Since bankruptcy actions can only be brought in Federal Courts, these paralegals must be knowledgeable about the US Bankruptcy Code and have experience with the Federal Court system. The paperwork for the debtors or creditors will be prepared with help from a bankruptcy paralegal.
6. PARALEGAL FAMILY LAW
The paralegal field of family law may be a suitable fit for you if you have excellent communication abilities. In cases involving divorce, child custody, child support, property settlements, and at times restraining orders, family law paralegals support attorneys. Too to taking notes during hearings, a family law paralegal may gather evidence, examine assets, draft forms for filing, speak with clients, analyse financial data, and deliver files to opposing counsel.
Family law paralegals should have empathy, people skills, emotional stability, and communication abilities because family law cases are always very passionate.
7. PARALEGAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
In intellectual property law, paralegals focused on defending their clients’ trademarks, patents, and other original works and designs. These paralegals may work for a corporation inside or in sizable offices. To help get patents and trademarks, some people work right with businesses. Additionally, IP paralegals may be called upon to respond to PTO proceedings, file applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), or assist in planning litigation for copyright or trademark infringement.
8. LAWSUIT PARALEGAL
Any legal action where one or more parties argue that they have been harmed by the intentional or negligent actions of another party or parties is known as litigation. In a legal dispute, the parties seek the court to decide whether the victim has a right to compensation. L litigation involves personal injuries, business conflicts, and contract disputes.
When working with litigation lawyers, paralegals may be entrusted with organising evidence, summarising depositions, or preparing papers and documentation for a case.
If you excel at organisation and multitasking, you should specialise in litigation as a legal area.
9. A PARALEGAL REAL ESTATE
A real estate licence, as a rule, enables a real estate paralegal to use their understanding of the real estate sector. Writing rental or lease agreements, creating contracts, inspecting financial transactions, and creating a correspondence between the selling and buying parties are all examples of real estate paralegal duties.
10. IMMIGRANTS’ UNLAWFUL
Immigration paralegals work in law firms or inside corporations with immigration attorneys. These paralegals might also work for nonprofit organisations that assist immigrants or refugees in navigating the correct procedures to, by law, live and work in the United States. Fluency in more than one language is helpful for the immigration paralegal.
An immigration paralegal may organise and file visa applications, check public access files, research immigration/asylum law and the naturalisation procedure, or aid lawyers with deportation defence cases, among other tasks. For individuals who are enthusiastic about this issue, immigration law is a fast-paced but rewarding profession.
11. DAMAGE TO PERSON PARALEGAL
Paralegals were specialising in personal injury work with attorneys to handle tort law cases, which deal with harm to people or their property. In civil litigation, which includes tort law, the harmed party sues the wrongdoer to recover costs like medical bills or other damages. Even though the parties may be involved in separate criminal case proceedings, personal injury claims involving monetary damages can always fall outside the purview of criminal courts. Medical malpractice, wrongful death, industrial injuries, and corporate guilt are a few examples of personal injury claims.
A personal injury paralegal may be in charge of tasks like gathering medical records, investigating insurance details, conducting client interviews, and researching state laws.
