Legal administrative assistants play a vital role in our modern legal system, providing essential administrative support to lawyers and paralegals. However, the terminology around the job role can sometimes make identifying exactly what the job role contains a little tricky.   The legal administrative assistant is often confused with the “legal assistant” which the American Bar Associate lists as another term for Paralegal. To make things clearer, we’ve put together a short guide on the responsibilities and duties that make up a day in the life of a legal administrative assistant. What is a Legal Administrative Assistant? The American Bar..

Criminal Law What is criminal law? Criminal law concerns itself with finding and punishing people who have broken the law by committing crimes. The goal of criminal law is to uncover the true perpetrator of a crime and exact justice. Criminal law includes a wide range of crimes, from homicides to pirating copyrighted material.   What do criminal law paralegals do? Criminal law paralegals can work for the prosecution or the defense. In both cases, paralegals will help attorneys prepare for trial by gathering evidence, arranging for witness interviews and filing legal documents with the court. During a trial, they..

Getting a position in the field of law has always come with the perception that you need to spend many years and thousands of dollars on becoming a lawyer. The reality is that most law firms wouldn’t be able to without their vital paralegals, and training to become a paralegal can take as little as nine months! The importance of paralegals to the modern legal sector can be seen in the rising demand for them. Employment for Paralegals is expected to increase 8% from 2014-2024, faster than average for all occupations according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics...

Strong writing skills are essential to your job as a paralegal. The legal industry relies on good communication, and written communication is one of the most commonly relied upon modes. Between emails and letters to clients, opposing counsel, and court officers and various pleadings and responses, paralegals play an important role in helping ensure that the law firm clearly transmits its message. Present Your Position In Active Voice You can find a lot of great tutorials out there about how you can learn to write in active voice. I’ll give you the same advice I received in high school from..

As a freelance paralegal, you are able to be your own boss and provide your paralegal services to clients on an as”needed basis.” Because you are not an employee of the client, there is usually a fixed term that this work would occur over, anywhere from a few days to a number of months. Who Hires Freelance Paralegals A law firm or attorney might hire a freelance paralegal to work for them when they have more work than they can handle by themselves. This particular arrangement works out well for both the client and the paralegal, as the client will..

For many veterans, transitioning from the military to the police seems ideal. Compared to other civilian positions, there are a great deal of similarities between the the structure, ranking system and responsibilities of the police and the military, and this sense of familiarity means many veterans at least consider a career in law enforcement. If you are considering moving from the military to a law enforcement career, here are three ways to make transitioning from the military to the police  as easy as possible. Do your research Plan your move into law enforcement in advance. The more time you give..

Part of excelling as a paralegal is keeping abreast of technologies that could have a significant affect your field. For those specialising in criminal law advances in law enforcement technology are especially important, as they can have a fundamental effect on the cases you may find yourself working on. To help you keep up to date with with potentially significant changes in how technology is changing law enforcement we’ve listed eight examples of advanced equipment that are in use today.   Handheld laser spectroscopy devices Handheld laser spectroscopy devices are used to determine the chemical composition of an unknown substance...

Paralegals and Lawyers both play a hugely important job in the American legal system, but if you are considering a career as one or the other, the difference between their roles and responsibilities can be a little difficult to understand. So, if you are trying to choose between training as a lawyer and training as a paralegal, here are some of the key differences. Job Duties There is a fair amount of overlap between the duties performed by lawyers and paralegals. Both are expected to do significant amounts of research and prepare the legal documents for the case they are..

Organisational skills are fundamental to the role of the paralegal, allowing them to manage calendar systems, track court dates and timings, and meet deadlines for filings. As a large part of a paralegal's duties can involve case research, keeping that research properly organised is vital. Documents in a legal case are useless unless they are properly filed and indexed so that the documents may be pulled quickly and easily.   Thankfully, organisational skills are something that can be learned and built upon, even if you are not a natural organiser when you start your paralegal training. To help you improve..

Learning the correct legal terms for the field of law in which you plan to work is essential for a paralegal. Here at Northwest, our Paralegal Studies Course offers you the opportunity to learn those terms from a seasoned attorney, experienced in practicing law here in Nevada. To help keep them fresh in your mind, we’ve put together a series of articles listing legal terms every paralegal needs to know, along with the brief explanation of what they mean.   1.  Adjective law - Also known as adjectival law, adjective law is a collection of laws that deal with procedure or..