Title: Legal Assistants, Paralegals And Lawyers - What's The Difference? Word Count: 740 Summary: If you've ever dreamed of one day becoming a lawyer but you've been hesitant to take the plunge, a viable alternative would be a legal assistant or paralegal. Both are two peas in a pod and thus either one is probably as close as you can get to becoming a lawyer, without actually being a lawyer. In addition, employment in this field is projected to grow much faster than average. The current trend of employers trying to reduce costs by hiring paralegals to perform duties f... Keywords: Article Body: If you've ever dreamed of one day becoming a lawyer but you've been hesitant to take the plunge, a viable alternative would be a legal assistant or paralegal. Both are two peas in a pod and thus either one is probably as close as you can get to becoming a lawyer, without actually being a lawyer. In addition, employment in this field is projected to grow much faster than average. The current trend of employers trying to reduce costs by hiring paralegals to perform duties formerly carried out by lawyers is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. As a result, employment opportunities are projected to grow much faster than average for the next 10 years or so. From doing extensive research on various cases to helping create legal drafts and filing every important legal document, interested individuals can actually learn all that even in the comfort of their own homes through online paralegal training. Online Training From doing extensive research on various cases to helping create legal drafts and filing every important legal document, interested individuals can actually learn all that even in the comfort of their own homes through online paralegal training. This is where you'll actually get the basic knowledge that you'll need in order to become a full-pledged legal assistant. However, be advised that law firms as well as other legal institutions are looking for highly skilled legal assistants who can outwit others with their keen sense of critical thinking. Many online legal assistant and paralegal training programs will condense 27 subject units into 10 with 6 and 12-month certificate programs being offered. How you want to approach the training is really up to you and how the different options being offered best fit in your budget, schedule and how quickly you can master the subject matter. Online paralegal training clearly has its' perks with the obvious one being convenience. One must always keep in mind that even though the paralegals or legal assistants' primary function, whether working for a private law firm or government agency, is to assist the lawyers with their case loads. Duties include extensive case research and organizing all types of files, drafting contracts for clients, mortgages, drafting of separation agreements, tax returns, planning estates as well as other important legal duties. However, there are actually some paralegals that do more than that. At times, they are also asked to organize and coordinate the schedules and activities of other employees in the law office, perhaps even to track law office financial records. Of course, this is clearly employer dependent and on the skill set each legal assistant brings to the table. On the other hand, it's always best to be prepared for such tasks, which is why you never place limits on yourself and why you should always be looking for ways to obtain additional training. In other words, even after you earn a 6 or 12-month certificate online keep going. A few simple ways to enhance your knowledge is by reading various law books as well as absorbing the legal environment by watching the news and keeping abreast of current events. One should always strive to keep themselves up to snuff with whatever is happening in the news and try to challenge yourself even further by coming up with arguments and other legal discussions concerning whichever cases you've been assigned to handle. Online training boasts of some of the best minds in the legal profession. They can offer their expertise in creating drafts for whichever situation that they may have a use for it and basically just give legal assistant hopefuls the basic knowledge behind law. Due to the current and projected abundance of work opportunities is one of the primary reasons why there's been a literal mushrooming of online paralegal training sites popping up. Many of the traditional brick and mortar training schools and facilities are now offering online training. Browse through all sorts of online paralegal training sites, compare training fees as well as how extensive their online paralegal training programs are. You'll make a wise chose if you put the same effort into finding the right source to train you and as plan on putting into the learning process once you choose who to receive your training from. A great place to research and find answers to everything "paralegal" is Total Paralegal. Simply click the Online Paralegal Training link in the resource box below. This article may be reproduced only in its entirety.