POTENTIAL CAREER OPTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH PARALEGAL DEGREES
- Legal secretary/legal assistant: Legal assistants, particularly those who work in smaller law offices, have the opportunity to gain broad experience. This experience can help them decide whether they want to focus in a specific legal specialty area. The 2018 median annual pay for secretaries and assistants was $38,880.
- Clerks or administrative roles for local courts: You could also choose to put your paralegal training to practice in an administrative or clerical role for your county or municipal court system. In this role, you would likely conduct some research and handle client-facing interactions. Information clerks earned a median salary of $34,520 in 2018.
- Real estate/title insurance roles: Working in a real estate office or for a title company, paralegals perform duties including preparing real estate documents and forms, researching title issues, and assisting real estate buyers and sellers. The 2018 median salary for this type of financial clerk was $39,570.
- Corporate paralegal: Paralegals employed by corporate law firms may specialize in a particular area of law, assisting one or more staff attorneys on a day-to-day basis, or may be generalists, helping wherever needed. In 2018, paralegals earned a median annual salary of $50,940 per year. (Note: This salary data includes corporate paralegals, public defender’s office paralegals, not-for-profit paralegals and government paralegals.)
- Public defender’s office paralegals: Instead of working for a law firm that represents private clients, you could work for your local public defender’s office. Paralegals in these roles must understand criminal procedure and law, and must be adept at conducting legal research and writing tasks.
- Not-for-profit roles: Paralegals who choose to work at not-for-profit organizations are usually passionate about the type of work the not-for-profit does.
- Government jobs: There are a variety of exciting government jobs for trained paralegals, including specializing in insurance, housing or other areas.
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF CHOOSING A GOOD PARALEGAL DEGREE PROGRAM!
As you can see from the above list, if you were wondering, “What can I do with a paralegal degree?” the answer is a lot! There are many educational programs for paralegals. Don’t make the mistake of assuming they are all of the same quality. Your future career success as a paralegal starts with your degree program.
At Generations College, we have been teaching paralegals since 1973. Our Paralegal Studies degree program is designed to prepare students for life after graduation by providing real-world, hands-on learning opportunities. We pride ourselves on excellence in education, offering small class sizes with courses taught year-round by faculty who are all licensed, practicing attorneys. Our Associate of Science degree in Paralegal Studies is fully accredited and approved.
Please note that paralegals may not practice law or otherwise provide legal services directly to the public except as permitted by law.
Ready to learn more about what you can do with a paralegal degree, and about Generations College’s Paralegal Studies Associate Degree program? Contact Generations College today!