Paralegal Certificate

The term ‘certificate’ in the context of paralegal studies is sometimes confusingly applied to degree qualifications even though it refers to a very specific qualification in its own right. It should also be distinguished from ‘certification’ which is an entirely different concept.

The Certificate in Paralegal Studies is, in essence, a relatively intensive and practical course which is intended either for students who already hold a college or university degree, especially in a related subject such as business or finance, or for those who have only a high school diploma coupled perhaps with previous legal experience. Associates and Bachelors Degree programs tend to include other academic subjects such as business and economics alongside the paralegal training. Paralegal Certificate programs, on the other hand, while differing significantly from one another in both length and course content, typically take only a few months to complete and are of necessity very focussed.

A Paralegal Certificate program teaches all the most fundamental skills necessary for being a paralegal. Students acquire the important ability to distinguish between the tasks which they themselves will be able to perform, and those which must be done by an attorney. They learn how to draft basic legal documents either from scratch or from a template, how to write interoffice memoranda for keeping attorneys up to speed, and how to prepare legal memoranda and other court documents for review by attorneys. They also learn how to conduct research using online legal databases, and how to perform various investigative and discovery-related tasks.