Why qualifying as a Paralegal is now the only career option if you wish to enter the legal services profession

By Amanda Hamilton is Chief Executive of the National Association of Licenced Paralegals (NALP)

Image credit: Nick Youngson, Alpha Stock Images

If you are dreaming of entering the legal services profession, then you may be shocked at just how long this will take you – and how much it will cost. And to make matters worse – there are fewer and fewer jobs available. The legal sector has changed dramatically over the last few years and so have the associated career options.

Qualifying as a solicitor or barrister is not only time consuming but also extremely costly. As a result, fewer and fewer students are able to take this route – even if they are passionate about a legal career. Not only do you have to pay £27k for the privilege of gaining a law degree, graduates then have to find another £15k to complete the professional examinations, whether it’s the Legal Practice Course (LPC) for solicitors or Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) for barristers.

Even then, your career may well come to a full stop. Why? Because the next stage is to gain a training contract or a pupillage - and these are in very short supply.

Statistics show that there are around 9,000 graduates competing for around 5,000 pupillage each year, and about 1000 competing for about 500 training contracts. Year on year, these figures are compounded. It can be a thankless task applying each year in vain. There are just not enough training contracts and pupillages to go around.

Many graduates are therefore finding work as paralegals and some are choosing this as a viable permanent career pathway option.

There are several reasons why.

Firstly, it is not as costly to gain qualifications. NALP (an Ofqual awarding organisation), through its training arm, NALP Training is the only paralegal organisation offering nationally recognised and regulated bespoke paralegal qualifications, for under £2k.

Secondly, Paralegals can now operate as independent professional practitioners in a similar way to solicitors. For example, they can apply for a Licence to Practise from NALP, and as long as they have been vetted as to their experience and/or qualifications, and have Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) in place, they can operate from a high street office and have other paralegal partners to develop their own Paralegal firm.

There however, are some legal activities that are ‘reserved’ and remain the monopoly of solicitors. These have to be avoided at all costs. Examples are: ‘rights of audience’ e.g. the ability to represent a client in all courts. Paralegals are however able and permitted to represent clients in the ‘Small Claims Court’ (part of the county court) and in most Tribunals.

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With the virtual eradication of legal aid for all but the most urgent cases, consumers needing to attend court (either to bring an action or defend themselves) are unable to pay solicitors’ or barristers’ fees.

The lack of legal aid has meant that consumers have been attending court to represent themselves. They are referred to as Litigants in Person or LIPs. This in turn has put huge strain on the court system. Many Judges are halting proceedings to give advice to LIPs themselves. This has resulted in massive delays in the timetabling of cases. Ten-minute cases are now taking as long as two hours, according to information given to NALP recently.

Paralegal Practitioners are now filling this gap left by the ‘legal aid’ void.

Paralegals are not solicitors. However, they are trained, educated and qualified in law and through the self-regulatory membership body NALP, will have been vetted and checked in respect of their experience and competency.

Apart from the ‘reserved activities’, paralegals can practice in similar areas of law that a solicitor can, with the exception of Conveyancing and Immigration work. These areas are regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) and the Office of Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) respectively.

Provided that a Paralegal Practitioner does not infer in any way that they are solicitors, they can offer advice and assistance to consumers, thereby, offering access to justice at a reasonable cost which fulfils the statutory guidelines and objectives of The Legal Services Act 2007.

If you’re dreaming of a legal career, then consider training as a Paralegal – it will save you time and money, and may well also prevent a lot of heartache.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amanda Hamilton is Chief Executive of the National Association of Licenced Paralegals (NALP), a non-profit Membership Body and the only Paralegal body that is recognised as an awarding organisation by Ofqual (the regulator of qualifications in England). Through its training arm, NALP Training, accredited recognised professional paralegal qualifications are offered for a career as a paralegal professional.

See: http://www.nationalparalegals.co.uk and http://www.nalptraining.co.uk/nalp_training

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Why qualifying as a Paralegal is now the only career option if you wish to enter the legal services profession

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