A legal assistant, or paralegal, is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience, who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental/public agency, bank, industry or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible. The paralegal studies program is designed neither for attorneys nor law office administrators. Paralegals are prohibited from performing the unauthorized practice of law.
This curriculum, which is approved by the American Bar Association, provides students with a background in law as practiced in legal offices and trains them to prepare documents such as probate forms, title searches and closing statements, pleadings and discovery proceedings, legal memoranda, and corporate minutes and filings. Skilled use of the English language is essential, and a high level of verbal competence is required for completion of the curriculum. Knowledge of word processing software packages is strongly recommended.
Not all legal courses are offered on each campus each semester. Students are strongly urged to meet with a paralegal academic advisor to plan their program. Failure to do so may result in delayed completion of the program.
Admission Procedures and Requirements
For entering students, minimum requirements for admission are an 80 high school average, Regents English, strong reading and writing skills, and a combined score of 1000 on the SAT or a composite score of 21 on the ACT. Students already enrolled in college need 12 credits with a 3.0 GPA which include a B or better in EG11 and BL40. Students are admitted on a rolling basis, fall and spring, with most students who meet minimum standards admitted. Note: students who do not meet the admission criteria may be admitted on a provisional basis.
