LDS Business College starts paralegal program

I recently found out that the LDS Business College is starting a new associates degree program in “Paralegal Studies.” To be honest, though I have worked with dozens of paralegals, I have never before explored what a paralegal degree entails.   As I looked through the course requirements, it looked a lot like the 1L year for many law schools.  Since this is an LDS Church school, there are the usual religion classes and GE requirements.  But the rest of the program requirements are classes like Contracts, Torts, Legal Research and Writing, Ethics, Criminal Law, and Evidence—all of which I took at some point in law school.  The program even has a finance class, something that could benefit many lawyers as well.

Clearly, American paralegal programs are set up like “law school lite,” geared towards getting students through quickly (often taking classes at night) and certified.  You could probably say the same of many law schools, of course, since professional degrees are not meant to weed students out.  Nevertheless, there is at least an aspect of scholarship that makes a law degree much more interesting to my mind. (Hence, the pseudo-scholarship musings on this blog.)

The announcement from the LDS Business College also reminded me of the enormous inequities between lawyers and paralegals.  Paralegals frequently do the same sort of work as many associates, but for half the pay.  I don’t think that arrangement is particularly fair, but the bar exam represents such a significant barrier to entry that it isn’t likely to change any time soon.  I note that in many countries the line between lawyers and paralegals/legal assistants is somewhat blurred.  For example, many Latin American countries use notarios in quasi-legal functions, but that is strictly prohibited in the U.S.

Most paralegals I have worked with have been very good at what they do, and I respect them highly.  In fact, I relied heavily on the experience of many paralegals when I first started practicing, and I still often consult with a few veteran paralegals about tricky procedural issues.  The mechanical nature of modern legal practice almost necessitates a high degree of delegation, so good paralegals or legal assistants are absolutely crucial to the ethical and efficient practice of law.  If the LDS Business College can help train more good paralegals, than I think that’s a good thing and I wish the program great success.

Image credit: ARamøs