There are many reasons why you might not believe that it is truly possible to earn your degree online. The best part is that you will be able to earn more money and be able to better support yourself and your family afterwards. Basically you just need to have the will and desire to get a better education. Online Paralegal Programs.

If you decide to take one of the many online paralegal programs then you are guaranteed to have a good solid education. When you have finished you should be able to start your new career in the exciting legal profession. This means that you actually get to work in the environment that you have dreamed of and you will be qualified for many of these.

There are many reasons that a lawyer would want to hire a legal assistant. As a paralegal you are more qualified for these positions. Plus you are well qualified for a number of other jobs in the field as well.

By taking an online program to become a paralegal then you are going to be taking the next step towards a better career. This means that you will be able to advance your education in a way that could easily benefit you. Plus you get to advance your career on your own without problems that are associated with going back to school in typical terms.

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The most common include the ABA Approved program, onsite paralegal programs and online courses at your local university extension, private college or junior college. Despite the pros and cons for each choice, what stands out is that the ABA program is set to comply with the high standards of the American Bar Association.

An ABA Approved Paralegal program consists of courses offered to prepare an individual for a career in the legal field. According to the ABA website, “The principal objective of the American Bar Association program of approving paralegal education programs that meet ABA Guidelines is to foster high quality paralegal education and training and the development of educational standards.”

Although a college degree is not necessary, most attorneys prefer a paralegal college graduation.. This is in addition to training through an ABA Approved Paralegal program. Having a college degree can be helpful in getting through an ABA Approved Paralegal program, as well.

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As exciting as it can be to start school on a pathway of learning something new, choosing the right school can be a challenge. You face the challenge of if the school will work for your finances, the lifestyle you have and also if it has a good reputation. Nothing is worse than spending money and your time to find out the school you attended will not help you much when you try to secure employment.

Now that you are asking yourself exactly what does it mean to have ABA approval? The American Bar Association offers a program that checks the curriculum of the school to make sure it meets their standards. There are many guidelines that have to be followed so the best education is received. ABA Approved Paralegal Programs.

To obtain the approval, a school will have to do extra work to keep up with the credentials and guidelines. This will increase the cost of tuition due to the extra costs for the school. So is the extra tuition worth it to you as a student? An advantage that you will receive from the other schools is that on your resume it will list that the program is ABA approved. This will stand out among other applicants that apply for a position. ABA Approved Paralegal Programs.

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The Center For Advanced Legal Studies offers paralegal certificates for current bachelor’s degree holders and associate’s degrees for undergraduates. The Department of Labor estimates paralegal jobs are expected to grow faster than average through 2012. The Center’s courses are a perfect fit for working adults who can keep their existing jobs while training for promising careers as paralegals. The Center For Advanced Legal Studies courses are fully Accredited by the Council on Occupational Education (COE) and approved by the American Bar Association.

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I’ve just returned from the AAfPE National Conference in Indianapolis where I was reminded once again of the importance of professional associations to their professions, their members, and their communities. The following example from iBerkshires.com caught my attention:

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Berkshire Association for Paralegals and Legal Secretaries has distributed scholarship applications to guidance offices at the following high schools: Berkshire School, Charles H. McCann Vocational Technical High School, Drury High School, Great Barrington Waldorf High School, Hoosac Valley High School, Lee Middle and High School, Lenox Memorial High School, Miss Hall’s School, Monument Mountain Regional High School, Mount Everett High School, Mount Greylock Regional High School, Pittsfield High School, St. Joseph Central High School, Taconic High School and Wahconah Regional High School.

Students are encouraged to pick up an application at their guidance office. Qualifications include being a graduating senior from a Berkshire County high school with a minimum B average, who is pursuing secondary schooling in paralegal studies, legal secretarial program, political science, criminology, or any legal related field; or any individual interested and qualified to enter an established course for paralegal studies, legal secretarial program, political science, criminology or any legal related field.

Applications must be returned by the deadline of March 25, 2011 to Attention Of: Pamela J. White, Berkshire Association for Paralegals and Legal Secretaries (“BAPLS”) Scholarship Committee c/o Thomas P. McHugh, P.O. Box 36, Williamstown, MA 01267.

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An interesting story out of Lexington, Kentucky, reports on a retired paralegal who is using his knowledge and experience to clarify reporting regarding an adoption dispute. The adoption dispute itself must be agonizing for all concerned and is not the topic of this post. Rather, it is the paralegal:

David Houston was a paralegal for 32 years who has worked on Ohio adoption cases. He started digging into court records after hearing this one still wasn’t settled after three years and said things are being mis-reported.

I do not know why David decided to become involved in this matter so I also won’t comment on his involvment itself. The point for me is simply that this story illustrates some of the abilities of paralegals. It appears David was able to look at the news reports critically and determine something was wrong. He then used his investigative, research, and analytical skills to determine what was wrong and provide the correct information in a usable and understandable format. It also appears that this action was self-initiated.

Of course, I’m drawing my conclusions from a news report which could be wrong or misleading. If so, perhaps David or another astute paralegal will locate and provide the correct information!

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According to ABAJournal.com “The [Bureau of Labor Statistics ] report says the legal sector will grow faster than the average for all jobs, but it will add the fewest jobs among professional occupations. Lawyers will account for 98,500 new jobs, while paralegals and assistants will account for 74,100 jobs—a 28 percent growth rate—as they begin taking on more tasks once handled by lawyers.”

As the article notes, not everyone is so optimistic for lawyers:

The outlook from ABA “recession czar” Allan Tanenbaum isn’t as bright, the newspaper says. Tanenbaum is chair of the ABA Commission on the Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Profession and Legal Needs. He told the Tennessean that the country’s economic problems have hit law grads particularly hard.

It’s not unusual to see law graduates working as department store clerks while handling pro bono cases to boost their resumes, he said. The median income for U.S. lawyers is about $75,000, far below the $150,000 starting salaries that so many new law students hope to earn, he added.

While there is no doubt that the slow economy has affected all parts of the legal team, I do side with the optimists at least to the extent that professional paralegals will  begin taking on more tasks once handled by lawyers, and therefore grow as a profession. This means the more professional paralegal become the more the profession itself will grow.

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Paralegal Hell reports on a proposed amendment to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct that would  prohibit lawyers from having sex with their clients which is, believe it or not, dividing the Texas bar  at public hearings on the proposal.

According to her post,

The State Bar of Texas held the hearings at nine locations around the state. With regard to the proposed no-sex-with-clients rule, there was a marked difference of opinion among lawyers who spoke at the hearings.

Houston attorney Rich Robins, speaking at the Sept. 1 hearing in Houston, said that proposed Rule 1.13 — the no-sex-with-clients rule — makes lawyers susceptible to grievances if a client dissatisfied with a settlement makes a false accusation. Robins said that he “doesn’t engage in it” but that he doesn’t think there should be a disciplinary rule banning sex with clients.

“If it’s consensual, what’s wrong with it?” Robins asked during the hearing, which was attended by approximately 50 people.

But Susan Morrison, a partner in The Fowler Law Firm in Austin, told State Bar officials at the Sept. 10 hearing in Austin, “We’ve got to bring our level of professionalism at least up to the level of massage therapists. They have a rule; we need one.”

Morrison says in an interview that when lawyers have a grievance filed against them for having sex with clients, their defense often is “show me the rule that tells me I can’t do this.”

Well, first of all let’s be clear: When one person is in an unbalanced relationship with another, where one is dependent on the other, when one is in a stressful situation, the decision can never be truly consensual – or at least we can never be sure it is. If my client decides to leave me her house in her will, I can’t draft the will because of the danger that the gift is not truly consensual. That’s why there is a presumption of undue influence in such relationships. If the attorney does not have those basics down, they should be spending their time in CLE, not having sex with their clients.

But that’s attorneys you say. This is a blog for paralegals. Well the same considerations apply. As I stated in a previous post any kind of “social relations” is suspect when it occurs between a member of the law office part of the legal team and the client.  It is likely to be ethically wrong even when there is no specific rule of conduct prohibiting it:

One reader of this blog arrived here as a result of a Google search that asked, “can paralegal see client socially after legal relationship ends?” Here are some thoughts on the topic:

It is likely that you will not find a direct answer to this question in any of the various professional association Codes of Ethics such as the NFPA Model Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, but the answer can be derived from such codes as it can be derived for attorneys from the ABA Model Code. In general, since there are no paralegal code of ethics enforceable in the same way as the attorney’s bar rules are enforceable against attorneys, regulation of paralegal conduct is derivative of the rules governing attorneys. So, it is appropriate to look to rules governing attorneys and the advice given to them on issues such as this based on those rules.

Certainly both attorneys and paralegals must refrain from becoming engaged in an intimate relationship with a client during the course of the professional relationship. There are several reasons for this, including:

Such a relationship can affect the objectivity of the members of the legal teamThe lawyer and paralegal may be taking advantage (even if not consciously) of the already existing special relationship with the client – on in which the client is dependent upon the lawyer or paralegal. In most instances legal proceeding are stressful and traumatic placing the client in the position of not being able to make objective decisions about intimate relationships with others involved in those proceedings. Such a relationship can affect the expectations of the client

For these reasons and others dating clients during the professional relationships is not permitted as it violates the Code provisions requiring objectivity and the like. For example, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers advises :

D. Lawyers and Clients Should Maintain an Appropriate Professional Relationship.

Sometimes friendships and even romances develop between lawyers and clients. Many lawyers have close personal friendships with former clients. But because of the intense emotional nature of a divorce, it is usually best for lawyers and clients to defer establishing a social relationship until after the case is over. Romantic relationships are not advisable as they interfere with a lawyer’s objectivity and affect a client’s expectations. A divorce lawyer and a client should never have a sexual relationship during the case.

This does not, however, settle the question as to whether a paralegal can ethically date a client once the professional relationship is over. While the issue of objectivity may be eliminated, there is still the question of whether the client has gained enough distance from the professional events to make a free, knowing and independent decision to enter into the romantic relationship. Keep in mind that the lawyer and paralegal must not only avoid a direct violation of the specific rules of conduct, but also ” avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.” NFPA Model Code EC-1.3(b).

Finally, keep in mind that whatever the rules of conduct may provide, your employer’s vision of what constitutes “the appearance of impropriety” should be considered. Should the client again need legal services make sure you advise your attorney of the romantic relationship before the client engages the services of the attorney. It may affect the lawyer’s decision on whether or not to take the matter, and whether to assign you as a paralegal on that matter.

Much of professionalism involves doing the right thing even when the rules do not say you have to.

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Lynne Devenny at Practical Paralegalism  has a well-done post that starts with a quote describing interviews with jurors who, “were seriously annoyed by some of the sneers, body language, guffaws and antics of the fire-breathing “let’s kick some ass” associates and paralegals in the firms helping the plaintiff and the co-defendant in and out of the courtroom.”

Lynne goes on to point out,

If you have been to a trial, you’ll know that jurors sometimes aren’t thinking about what you hope they’re thinking about (the trial), and they really are closely scrutinizing the lawyers and their assistants – their demeanor, their clothes, their hair, and heck, even their socks if the distance is too far between trouser hem and shoe – in and out of the courtroom.

Bottom line, paralegals assisting at trial do have to be careful not to be a distraction on many levels……..

I focus on this in The Empowered Paralegal: Effective, Efficient, and Professional,  primarily addressing the issue of dress, but as the following passage suggests it applies to all activities, which are more directly discussed with regard to paralegals in another section of the book:

[D]ressing for success  does not mean “look successful.” It’s my way of saying you have to be aware that the jury is not just looking at the evidence as presented; it is looking at the presenters of the evidence…….

Like most performers, your legal team is “on” every moment the jurors are in the jury box (and when they are entering or leaving the box). They are watching not just the witness on the stand and the attorney examining the witness, but also the rest of the “performance.”

In this respect it is important how the performers dress and appear to the jury. The performers include the attorney, the paralegal, the client and the witnesses. Each of you most dress appropriately for your role keeping in mind that you must dress for the jury.  Even jurors who seem to be paying little attention seem to notice clothing – distracting ties, short skirts, body-piercing and tattoos.  If a client is pleading poverty, she cannot show up day after day in $300 dollar outfits, dazzling jewelry, $30 nails and $50 hair.  (In my early days of practice a client met me at the courthouse for a hearing to determine whether she was in contempt of court for failure to pay a $100 fine in exactly that fashion.) An expert witness will not impress a jury if he dresses unprofessionally. In fact, he should dress for the jury’s conception of his profession – a doctor as a doctor, a contractor as a contractor and a professor as a professor.

Remind clients and witnesses that they are subject to observation by the jury anytime jurors are present. A jury will assume that a client who is rude to, or snarls at the other party, was equally rude and disagreeable during the event or events that led the parties to court, regardless of how that client or witness presents on the stand. In fact, a client or witness who acts differently on the stand than when he thinks the jury isn’t watching is telling the jury not to believe him as his presentation on the stand is not the “true” him.

Jurors generally do not react favorably to clients who mumble “that’s a lie” under their breath, gasp and shake their heads in reaction to a witness’ testimony.  Clients who squirm, constantly adjust their clothes (this happens a lot with clients not used to wearing a tie who “dress up” just for the trial), or fidget nervously may look as though they have something to hide……..

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I’ve previously posted on the curious happenings in a Louisiana parish (equivalent of a county in most other jurisdictions). The parish was unable to find any records relating to the employment of an ex-spouse of a former parish president, although she supposedly performed the job and was paid for that performance for 18 years – $64,000 in at least the last of those 18 years. However, my interest focused on the statement, “However, the parish was unable to provide proof she has the required certification to hold that position.” My question was what would be the “required certification” to hold the position given the lack of any uniformity within the paralegal profession regarding certification requirements for paralegals, much less a “paralegal supervisor.”

There was another story shortly thereafter about a candidate for Kenner (Louisiana) mayor, having trouble justifying his claim that he worked as a paralegal in the Jefferson Parish Attorney’s Office. He produced a copy of a letter on Jefferson Parish letterhead from the parish attorney at the time transferring him from Citizens’ Affairs to the attorney’s office as a full-time paralegal making $11.75 per hour effective two days earlier. He also provided a parish personnel form noting his resignation as a paralegal. My question at the time, to which there appears to be no answer was by what standard did the man qualify to work as a paralegal anywhere at anytime?

Now there’s a story on NOLA.com reporting, “Former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard and former Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson may have committed payroll fraud by approving $45,000 in excess pay to Broussard’s wife and hiring two politically connected people as paralegals who lacked required licenses, according to a report released by the state Legislative Auditor.” So again my question is, what are the required licenses to be a Jefferson Parish paralegal? I am not aware of Louisiana having enacted any licensing requirements for paralegals at all and would be quite pleased if someone could point out what this is referencing.

Just to be clear, as I have previously noted, there are real, competent, professional paralegals in Louisiana and they deserve better than to have their professional identity usurped in this fashion. There is also a very good paralegal educational program at Tulane University directed by Sallie Davis, a graduate of my alma mater, the University of Maine.

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