Paralegal Certification

What is paralegal certification? The American Bar Association defines paralegal certification as “a person qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.”

Paralegal certification usually requires that an individual pass an established organization’s examination. They must also meet the specific educational and experimental requirements. However, certifying is not mandatory process. The passing of the examination is not an obligatory step to becoming a legal comsultant.

There are several tasks  which a paralegal performs, many of which are administrative. These tasks may be anything from filing papers to the occasional interviewing of witnesses. What is done, however, mainly depends on the employer.

A paralegal certification displays to the employer that you have attained specific knowldege and skills related to the paralegal proffesion. These skills include increased knowledge of legal procedure, substantive law, writing skills, and communication skills. After gaining a few years of experience in these skills, paralegals attain proffesional designations.  Although certification is not mandatory, it can increase income, employer possibilities, and credibility.

The National Association for Legal Proffesionals, also known as NALS offers three different paralegal certifications. The first and most basic of these is the ALS. For paralegals, there is the PP, and the PLS is for advanced certification. There are requirements that must be met to take any of these three exams.

There are many benefits to becoming a paralegal. For example, it can help towards getting into law school, because the school knows that the career is being taken seriously. It can also assist towards leading to a better job such as becoming a paralegal at a big company and moving up throughout its ranks. Working hours are often flexable and you can decide how many hours that you overall would have to work.