Should I become a paralegal before going to law school? Forum

[Lawgiver1981]

Hi
I’ve wondered if becoming a paralegal will help my chances of getting into law school?

Would it make a difference if I just ended up a paralegal anyway after the JD?

[cavalier1138]

No. And why would you go to a law school where you were likely to end up as a paralegal after graduation?

[nealric]

It's not a bad idea to spend some time working in a law office before law school so you can understand what you are getting into. But I wouldn't undertake any formal paralegal training.

[Cogburn1984]

It's probably not going to help you get into law schools, but it might help you while applying to jobs in law school.

Also, it'll give you an opportunity to speak with actual lawyers and learn more about actual law practice, which could be a strong basis for any Why Law? questions during your cycle. Which will help you appear more polished.

Essentially there are a few ancillary benefits, but it's not getting you in anywhere that your numbers won't already.

[airwrecka]

Speaking as someone who worked as a paralegal for ~2 years prior to law school:

I don't think it will help your chances of getting into LS (as others have already said). However, I have noticed that my experience as a paralegal has really helped me during my first semester of 1L just by the fact that I'm familiar with a lot of legal terminology, the way the legal system works, the nature of litigation, etc. However, legal practice can vary widely, and with it, paralegal experiences. I think I got a lot of good experience because I worked in a very small litigation-focused firm where the attorneys were super willing to explain things to me and help me understand them (they knew I was planning to go to law school), and they gave me opportunities to do legal research and draft pleadings and memos and such. Moreover, as others have also said, being a paralegal will give you a better understanding of what being a lawyer looks like (assuming you actually work directly with attorneys) and whether or not it's the right path for you.

On the other hand, sometimes I wish I had spent the two years prior to law school doing something entirely non-legal related since now my whole life revolves around the law. It might have been fun to do something else for a while.

[trkmaniak00]

Going to echo the above. I agreed to a two year commitment as a paralegal which is common. After about two weeks I understood what legal work looked like and knew I wanted to move forward with this as a career path. Since I could tell so early on it’s hard to feel like this time hasn’t been a waste. I could’ve done something unrelated that I was interested in or just moved on to law school quicker.

Edit: but at least I know defimitively about law school which my kjd self did not.