When you earn a paralegal degree, you will have gained a foundational knowledge that allows you to be successful in a variety of careers. Of course, you could choose to work in a traditional paralegal role at a law firm. Instead, you could work in one of these exciting jobs:
- Title insurance professional: In real estate, paralegals play an important role in real estate firms and title companies. If you go this path, you can expect to put your research abilities to the test, as well as your writing and organizational skills. You’ll need to understand real estate-specific regulations, terms and processes as you help prepare real estate transactions for closing.
- Office manager: Being an office manager takes a certain skill set including advanced organizational capabilities; a comfort with office technology tools; the ability to research, gather and process information, and make decisions; communication efficiency; and more. These skills mirror those taught in most paralegal studies degree programs, making the officer manager role a natural fit.
- Corporate legal assistant: Some paralegals opt to use their paralegal training to work inside the legal department of a corporation rather than working for a law firm. As a corporate legal assistant, you will likely support one or more attorneys by organizing files and records, researching the law, maintaining records, writing reports, preparing affidavits, filing documents with the courts or regulatory bodies, etc.
- Government agency paralegal: Our federal, state and local governments are full of agencies that need trained paralegals and other professionals to complete tasks related to the specific area of law handled by the agency. You can use a variety of skills as you help serve the public — whether that’s in an agency that deals with housing, insurance matters, environmental law or another of a long list of possibilities.
- Financial services paralegal: Investment advisers, brokerage firms, insurance companies and similar organizations are highly regulated. These types of companies have an ongoing need for trained legal professionals — both attorneys and paralegals — to help them stay on top of filing and disclosure requirements. Paralegals can put their training into action while keeping investors safe.
- Compliance specialist: Compliance roles are continuing to grow in number and popularity across a variety of industries including health care, finance, insurance and manufacturing. Paralegals in compliance roles work to help ensure the company is meeting its obligations under the law. To be effective in this type of role, paralegals need to be confident and comfortable conducting research, analyzing information and communicating the results of their work.
As you can see, pursuing your paralegal studies degree does not mean you have to work in a traditional law firm environment. These are just some of the many opportunities available to trained paralegals. To learn more about becoming a paralegal, and to take the next step toward an exciting and rewarding career, contact Generations College today.