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Many people do
not know what a paralegal is, but it is a very profitable business to have.
Essentially, a paralegal is an administrative person who works under the
supervision of a lawyer, in everything a lawyer can be found in, there are
paralegals. Sometimes, paralegals and legal document assistants are confused,
but a paralegal is not permitted to contract directly with consumers for the
preparation of legal documents. For anyone with a love of law and a desire to be
part of it, without having to go through passing the bar exam, starting a
paralegal business is one of the best options available.
The Concept
As a paralegal, you are going to be working
to help our lawyers with everything they
need, including research, interviewing,
questioning people and more. You will be
working as their arms, ears and eyes because
the lawyer cannot be in 10 different places
at once. As a paralegal, you will be helping
make the job of the lawyer much, much
easier.
Many people think there are licensed
paralegals in the United States, but there
is actually no requirement to get licensing
or certification in most states, where it is
strictly voluntary. However, getting
certified through the National Association
of Legal Assistants, or the National
Federation of Paralegal Associations, will
help you get your paralegal business
contracted through a law firm. If you are
going to go through becoming a CLA(Certified
Legal Assistant), or CP (Certified
Paralegal), then you need to make sure you
go through one of those two paralegal
entities. For someone who is starting a
paralegal business, it is crucial you do
this because most law firms will pass you
over if you don’t have the proper, voluntary
certification.
Startup Costs
Except for getting certified, startup costs
for this are quite small. Expect to pay
about $500 to $1,500 to get certified, and
after that your only initial costs are for
marketing yourself out and continued
training so that you can become an expert in
the paralegal field. Other than those
startup costs, you will really end up paying
little to start up a paralegal business in
your area.
How to Market It
When you market this business, the best
thing you can do is go to law firms and
pitch your business directly to them. You
want to make sure you can offer them what
others cannot and you have to show them why
your paralegal business is the one they
should be contracting. You may have to go
cheaper than you would like but the
sustained business from a law firm will help
aid your paralegal business for quite
awhile. It is also important that you market
yourself to law firms outside of your area.
Try and play up how much research you can do
and the resources that you have at your
disposal.
Marketing your paralegal business is not as
easy as putting an ad in the paper. Instead
of customers coming to you, you have to go
to your customers and you have to sell them
on yourself.
The Concept
Startup Costs
How to Market It
