Legal Question in Criminal Law in Arizona

preferred certification

I have a question related to legal assistants. As a Lawyer, would you prefer to

hire a paralegal who had, say, a certificate of paralegal studies from Duke

University (even though the program is not ABA approved) and also a Bachelors

degree, or would you rather hire someone who had a certificate from an ABA

approved paralegal program and a degree? Basically, how important is the ABA

approval when you look for paralegals? I'm weighing options - I will graduate

with a BA degree in december and am post-baccalaureate considering paralegal

studies - could get a paralegal cert from Duke, but want to know how valuable

that is before I spend the money, vs. other programs. Thanks very much for

your time.

--name removed--A


Asked on 9/11/05, 8:37 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Aspinwall Charles S. Aspinwall, J.D., LLC

Re: preferred certification

Personally, credentials are relatively unimportant. Judgment, experience, good nature, good character - these are important. Anyone with 1/2 a brain can obtain the credentials.

On the other hand, most large firms which pay the larger salaries/benefits, will demand the credentials which you describe. The characteristics which I find important are less important to large commercial firms in my experience. In other words, it's not what you know but what documents you present. You will find a significant difference between small employers and the mega-operations.

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Answered on 9/11/05, 9:05 pm


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