Become one of the more than 120,000 paralegals in the United States. Paralegals are involved in sophisticated legal work in traditional law office settings and in the corporate, government, and public arenas. Obtaining a quality education is the best way to prepare for the paralegal profession. This self-paced, Web-based program will get you ready for an entry-level paralegal position, and it'll prepare you to take the certification exam. You'll be paired with an instructor for one-on-one assistance, and you'll also receive free access to NALA Campus and Westlaw!

Through a special arrangement between ed2go and National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) Campus, your tuition includes free access to the seven preparatory exam courses offered at NALA Campus. Regardless of whether or not you're eligible for certification or plan to take the exam, the NALA Campus preparatory courses are a value-added addition to your paralegal education.

ed2go also provides all paralegal students with free access to Westlaw to complete their assigned research projects. Westlaw is an online legal research service that provides fast and easy access to an extensive collection of legal resources, news, business, and public records information. Access to the number-one rated online legal resource, Westlaw, will benefit you tremendously as you perform your legal research assignments during your paralegal education.

Upon registering, you're given an initial six months to complete the program. Should you need more time, you may request a six-month extension at no additional charge.

Attention, California Students
This training program will provide you with the skills and knowledge necessary to gain employment and to successfully complete the National Association of Legal Assistants certification exam. Students in California who have a Bachelor's degree will need one year of experience working for an attorney before they can use the term "paralegal." California students with a bachelor's degree can use this training program to gain employment working under the supervision of an attorney to meet the requirements of California Business and Professional Code §6450. To view the code, click here. Students without a Bachelor's degree can use this training program to gain employment as a legal secretary.

Upon registering, you're given an initial six months to complete this program.  Should you need more time beyond the six months, an extension of six months is available at no additional cost.

After completing this program, you'll:

• Understand the common responsibilities and duties of paralegals
• Know how the paralegal field is regulated
• Understand ethics for attorneys and paralegals
• Be familiar with how the American legal system is structured and how it operates
• Be able to perform legal analyses
• Conduct legal interviews
• Understand the duties of a litigation assistant in the four stages of litigation
• Conduct legal research
• Implement guidelines and proper etiquette for legal writing
• Understand methods of formal and informal administrative advocacy

1. Paralegal in the Legal System
2. Paralegal Employment
3. On-the-Job Realities
4. Regulation of Paralegals
5. Attorney and Paralegal Ethics
6. Introduction to the Legal System
7. Introduction to Legal Analysis
8. Legal Interviewing
9. Investigation in a Law Office
10. Litigation Assistantship
11. Legal Research
12. Legal Writing
13. Introduction to the Use of Computers
14. Introduction to Law Office Administration
15. Informal and Formal Administrative Advocacy
16. Tort Law, Product Liability, and Consumer Law
17. Contracts and Intellectual Property Law
18. Insurance and Real Property Law
19. Estates and Family Law
20. Laws Affecting Business
21. Criminal Law and Procedures
22. Preparing for the CLA

In order to enroll in this program, you must have a high school diploma or GED equivalent. We also recommend that you have computer skills, including knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite (especially Word and PowerPoint) and good keyboarding skills (60 words per minute or faster). Also helpful are good skills in English grammar, spelling, punctuation, and composition.

Note: If you plan to pursue the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) Certified Paralegal/Certified Legal Assistant (CP/CLA) credential, you must meet one of the requirements for eligibility shown below under the heading "NALA Certification Eligibility Requirements." This Paralegal Online Training Program is 300 clock hours. In order to meet the eligibility requirements to sit for the CP/CLA credentialing exam using this course, you must also hold a Bachelor's degree in any field, or you must have seven years of experience as a legal assistant under the supervision of a member of the Bar.

NALA Certification Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the CLA examination, a legal assistant must meet one of the following alternate requirements:

• Graduation from a legal assistant program that is:
• Approved by the American Bar Association; or
• An Associate degree program; or
• A post-baccalaureate certificate program in legal assistant studies; or
• A Bachelor's degree program in legal assistant studies; or
• A legal assistant program which consists of a minimum of 60 semester hours (900 clock hours or 90 quarter hours) of which at least 15 semester hours (225 clock hours or 22.5 quarter hours) are substantive legal courses.

A Bachelor's degree in any field, plus one year of experience as a legal assistant. Successful completion of at least 15 semester hours (or 22.5 quarter hours or 225 clock hours) of substantive legal assistant programs will be considered equivalent to one year's experience as a legal assistant.

A high school diploma or equivalent, plus seven years of experience as a legal assistant under the supervision of a member of the Bar, plus evidence of a minimum of twenty (20) hours of continuing legal education credit to have been completed within a two-year period prior to the examination date.

This program is compatible with the Windows XP and later operating systems and IE 7 and later browsers and can be taken from either a Mac or a PC.

Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Acrobat Reader are required for this program.

Click here to download the Acrobat Reader.
Click here to download the Flash Player.

ed2go will provide the required textbooks for this program. You'll receive Introduction to Paralegalism, by William P. Statsky, and Paralegal Today: Legal Team at Work, by Roger Miller.

Pearlie Bush was born and raised in a small town in Louisiana. After graduating high school, she attended Southern University, majoring in political science with a minor in English. While conducting her undergraduate studies, she was also active in politics and had the opportunity to work on the campaigns of Senator Willie Crain and Charles Jones, and she also served as Senator Crain's committee clerk at the Louisiana State Capital.

She went on to earn her law degree from the Southern University Law Center. In law school, she concentrated her studies in the areas of contract and constitutional law. While in law school, she worked as a law clerk for the Louisiana Public Defender's Office. While working for the Public Defender's Office, she drafted various motions and briefs on several landmark cases.

After graduating law school, she moved to Georgia and ran a private law office. Pearlie also worked as a case law editor for Lexis-Nexis and edited and prepared final drafts for legal cases stored in the company's data base. Pearlie has taught various legal courses at a variety of institutions. In her free time, as little as it is, she enjoys volunteering and spending time with her husband, children, friends, and family. She enjoys outdoor activities and attends all Atlanta Falcons football games.

Casey Thompson received his Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree, with his major concentration in Management, from Texas Tech University in 1994. After beginning his business career, he enrolled in the evening law school program at Texas Wesleyan University in 1996. Casey worked full time while attending law school at night. He graduated from Wesleyan and passed the Bar exam in 2000. This experience gives Casey a better understanding of the requirements of the non-traditional student.

Casey became a licensed attorney in the State of Texas in 2000. His major areas of practice were business and corporate law, entertainment law, and intellectual property rights. Along with this online Paralegal program, he also currently teaches as a traditional classroom instructor in the areas of state and federal government.

Amy L. Becerra, earned her BA in Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology from Oregon State University in 1995. After finishing a post-graduate certificate in Latin American studies in 1996, she worked for a year as an English teacher in Yamagata prefecture, Japan. She served nine years as a Legal Affairs Specialist and Photojournalist with the Oregon Army National Guard. 

A Trustees' Merit Scholar, Amy received her JD from the Willamette University College of Law in 2000.  As a law student, she made presentations before the Joint Judiciary Committee of the Oregon Legislature and participated in an international law student exchange in South America.  Admitted in Oregon, she has practiced U.S. immigration and naturalization law since 2000, beginning practice as an associate with one of San Francisco's oldest immigration law firms. She has represented clients in many states and countries handling a wide array of immigration and citizenship matters, with a special interest in religious workers and asylum cases based on religious persecution. She has appeared in removal cases in Immigration Court and in appellate cases before the Board of Immigration Appeals. 

In addition to this Paralegal program, Amy has also taught both online and traditional lecture courses in estate planning and probate, family law, and introduction to law and paralegal studies.  Having lived in California, Maryland, and Virginia, she dreams of returning to her home state of Oregon in the beautiful Pacific Northwest to enjoy breathtaking views of the Cascade Mountains, attempts at knitting and painting, and lots of time with her children and family.