Levels of Paralegal Education & the Marketplace

Over the last couple decades, four distinctive levels of a paralegal education have developed: on-the-job (OJT) training, associate's degree or undergraduate paralegal certificate programs, bachelor's in paralegal programs, and post-baccalaureate certificate programs. Many problems with professional recognition of the paralegal profession are due to the lack of certification standards for paralegals and the unevenness of paralegal education levels over the past decades. This section describes each level of education and current trends.

• Paralegals having only on-the-job training are rare; while this was the way in which the first paralegals were trained in the 1960s and 1970s, most remaining OJT paralegals are older paralegals who are coming to the end of their careers. Lawyers and other professionals prefer degrees and formal certifications, so the path for the majority of modern paralegals involves some legal education. Additionally, employers in general like to hire people already trained and certified for jobs, and on-the-job training is in a general decline in all professions.

• Many paralegals currently in the field have completed associate's degrees or undergraduate paralegal certificate programs at local community colleges. Many have also added years of paralegal experience. However, as the paralegal profession has developed, emerged, and struggled for recognition and distinction, the bar of education has been raised: many corporations or law firms require their paralegals to have at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited paralegal program, or a post-baccalaureate paralegal certificate. Thus, people without a bachelor's degree will find it increasingly difficult to obtain employment or placement in an entry-level paralegal position.

• Despite the market demand, there is still a relatively low number of four-year colleges offering a bachelor's degree program in paralegalism or paralegal studies. Several colleges have discontinued their programs, while others have sought official recognition by the American Bar Association. This has created an opening for institutions offering post-baccalaureate certificate programs. Occasionally, a bachelor's degree in legal studies (sometimes called "pre-law") is sufficient for entry into the paralegal profession, but since there are few official standards defining qualification to work as a paralegal, the qualifications criteria is left to the individual employers.

• The post-baccalaureate programs offer the most flexible and exciting approach to paralegal education and certification. As the title suggests, students enrolled in these programs must first have a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution and often must also possess years of "professional experience" before being accepted into the program. However, there is little or no restriction on what kind of degree or experience is required; therefore, students in these programs will enter with a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds, which they then carry into the paralegal profession upon graduation. Additionally, students entering the paralegal profession through these programs tend to be much older than those graduating with associate's or undergraduate paralegal certificates. This is a significant advantage because maturity and stability are considered to be the hallmarks of professional behavior in any profession.