A diverse range of opportunities (and a convenient gap in the legal market) awaits those choosing a career as a paralegal, writes Amanda Hamilton
- Today many people who want a legal career are choosing to become paralegals.
- Apart from ‘reserved activities’, paralegals can do mostly everything that a solicitor can do.
- As a paralegal you can provide a cost-effective service, backed by the credibility of being a member of a recognised membership body for paralegals.
Over the centuries in England, it’s been the case that consumers of legal services tend to consider a ‘lawyer’ to be either a barrister or a solicitor. Not so anymore! Many people who want a legal career are choosing to become paralegals.
Paralegals are educated and trained in a similar way to solicitors. Some of them have law degrees, while others have successfully completed nationally recognised paralegal qualifications. They can do mostly everything that a solicitor can do, except the practice of some activities which remain the monopoly of solicitors. These activities are known as reserved practices which means that a paralegal practitioner cannot
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