A beautiful career !

A beautiful career !

Do you know that it’s possible to study the field of law? Yes. It’s possible, because at this moment, I am studying Paralegal Technic at Ahuntsic College. It’s a three years program. I really like this program. Essentially, I choose it because; I want to become a lawyer. I decide to do this technical program than doing a general program because for me, it was so long waiting to study law only at the university. In Quebec, to become a lawyer, you have to do a baccalaureate in law during three year. Finally, you have to do the ‘Barreau du Québec’ for one year.

However, you can become paralegal only with this three year program. Certainly, a paralegal plays an important role in the justice administration. Without a paralegal, a lawyer wouldn’t be able to do an effective work. Team work is so important because they are working in collaboration. A paralegal is helping the lawyer for many tasks, for example, for the preparation of the cases by doing research, by writing a lot legal procedures, by filing documents in the court report. Most of the research is on the jurisprudence (court decisions) and the doctrine to find books that explain how we apply the law with the facts of our case. The preparation, that the paralegal do, is essential to the trial because otherwise the lawyer wouldn’t be able to defend correctly his client. Also paralegals assist the lawyer at the trial.

A paralegal most aware that the beginning when you finish school, it would difficult to find a job because you need experience. You can’t decide where you will work so you must take the chance that the lawyer firm give you to get some experience. We call this period ‘critical years’. You will work everywhere with minimal responsibilities. Working conditions will not be good; you should be expected to work up to 90 hours a week. You will always be under the lawyer’s supervision. However, you have to keep confidence and you need to be persistent because it will not be like this all the time.

After the critical period, you will certainly have more responsibilities. You should have more tasks than before. Also, when you built your experience, it could be possible that you get some advancement opportunities. Don’t forget that you need to do update on every change about the law because this profession is rapidly expanding area. There is always something new about this field. Finally, you must in mind that you play a significant role in the lawyer’s work.

Reference : http://www.princetonreview.com/careers/105/paralegal