Do you want to become the next Erin Brockovich?
What is a Paralegal?
“A legal assistant or paralegal is 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 and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.”
-American Bar Association (ABA)
What do Paralegals do?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics paralegals and legal assistants typically do the following:
- Investigate the facts of a case
- Conduct research on relevant laws, regulations, and legal articles
- Organize and present the information
- Keep information related to cases or transactions in computer databases
- Write reports to help lawyers prepare for trials
- Draft correspondence and other documents, such as contracts and mortgages
- Get affidavits and other formal statements that may be used as evidence in court
- Help lawyers during trials
What schools can I attend?
The National Federation of Paralegal Associations encourages potential paralegals to select ABA approved programs. A list of schools in CA that are ABA approved can be found on the ABA website:
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/paralegals.html
In Riverside:
Riverside Community College Paralegal program
Educational Advisor: Bonnie Langley
Telephone: 951-222-8624
For more information: https://www.rcc.edu/programs/paralegal-studies.html
The UCR Extension has an ABA paralegal certificate program and a Fiduciary Management certificate program
Program Director: Stacy Sweeney ssweeney@urcx.ucr.edu
Telephone: 951-827-4105
For more information: https://extension.ucr.edu/certificates/paralegalstudies or Fiduciary Management certificate program https://extension.ucr.edu/certificates/fiduciarymanagement
Please Note: The information presented in this research guide is intended to provide a foundation for legal research. For information pertaining to your case please consult with an attorney, court facilitator or specialist.
This guide is also available on our website paralegal_basics03-02-2020.pdf
Rev. 11/20/2020