Career Center, Career Files, Pre-Law

Law School Lowdown: Should You “Paralegal” Prior to Attending Law School?

Ian Scott covers a Harvard panel discussion on whether or not a job as a paralegal will help you get a job in the law.

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A paralegal at work (via the Bureau of Labor Statistics page on paralegals).

Most students now take a year off between college and law school and this is a great idea if you do something useful with the break. In fact, 75% of Harvard’s recent entering class took a year off. When thinking of what to do before law school, many prospective law students wonder whether or not there are advantages associated with taking a job as a paralegal. In fact, this question came up recently when I sat on a panel with two other lawyers and a law student at Harvard University where a college student was thinking about spending a year after college working as a paralegal. The panel members had mixed responses.

First, this description only addresses the specific question of whether or not you should work as a paralegal in order to increase your chances of getting into law school and finding a job as a lawyer. A job as a paralegal is a very respectable job and this commentary does not address whether or not you should select that as a career.

Will a job as a paralegal make your law school application more competitive?

There was general consensus that a job as a paralegal is not going to make your law school application any more competitive. In fact some felt (myself included) that you may be at a slight disadvantage as many associate the role of a paralegal with administrative tasks. If you really want to make your law school application more competitive, you might be better served taking a year prior to law school to pursue something that you are interested in so that you can passionately describe an interesting chapter of your life to the admission’s committee or a prospective employer. If being a paralegal fits this description then that is fine too, but describing your year as a paralegal will at best show a general interest in law and it is not certain that you will be able to talk about your experience in a way that will impress most prospective employers, lawyers or admissions committee members.

Will a job as a paralegal prior to law school provide you with good legal experience?

One college student in the audience wondered whether a paralegal job would provide him with valuable “legal” experience. Generally, the consensus was that it would not. This is especially the case if you are a paralegal in a large firm where the administrative tasks will far outweigh any substantive experience. Some panel members did note though that they had jobs in the not-for-profit sector where paralegals gained valuable experience and performed tasks similar to tasks that lawyers perform. I have also seen this in smaller firms/companies where the paralegal was able to perform substantive tasks. But I would not generally describe this as the norm.

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Will being a paralegal help you get a job as a lawyer?

Generally the consensus was that taking a job as a paralegal prior to law school would not help you find a job in law, but the results here could differ if you perform substantive tasks. In addition, one important thing to note is that many are under the mistaken impression that if you work as a paralegal in a large firm that they will hire you after law school. While this is possible, I know many people who worked as paralegals at large firms and were not picked up by that firm during the recruitment process. Even if you are hired, it will definitely be because you had great grades and were an attractive candidate and not because you had a prior affiliation with the law firm. I would go as far as to say that you would be at a slight disadvantage if you are applying to the firm you worked at as a paralegal. I personally do not feel that being a paralegal adds much to make you an attractive candidate to law firms but opinions may differ here. Also, I do know people who worked as paralegals for large firms and are now employed there, but again, these students had excellent grades and were probably offered positions at other top firms.

What are some of the advantages of working as a paralegal?

The key advantage associated with being a paralegal is that you get an up front look at what being a lawyer is like. A preview of the life of a lawyer can be particularly helpful if you are a Biglaw paralegal because it may give you insight into whether or not you want to commit to the Biglaw life (long hours, unpredictability, etc.) However, you could get equally good insight by speaking to lawyers or perhaps doing an internship during law school. Moreover, as a paralegal you may only be exposed to one narrow area of law (say, immigration) that may turn you off to law altogether. Lawyers often end up in numerous fields and this one glimpse may not be enough to make an informed decision regarding your career.

Some advice about what to do during your year off

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There are two pieces of advice here. First, if you take time off after your undergraduate studies, focus on something that you have a passion for and something that you want to do. This will make you happy and will also make for excellent material for your law school application, resume and your job interviews. With many good students applying to top schools and jobs, schools and employers are often looking at that time off between college and law school to determine what the student is made of. I am not sure that being a paralegal does a great deal to put you ahead of the person that, say, went to a third world country to build schools. Second, if you do want to work as a paralegal prior to going to law school, sit down and talk to some lawyers who worked as paralegals prior to going to law school. You should also speak to several current paralegals to see what they like and dislike about their jobs.

To conclude, if the question is whether or not a job as a paralegal will help you get into law school or get a legal job, my answer is no.

Ian E. Scott is a Harvard Law School Graduate, lawyer and author of Law School Lowdown: Secrets of Success from the Application Process to Landing Your First Job. (Barron’s Publishing). Law School Lowdown: is a comprehensive law school guide that contains several important tips regarding law school admission and finding a job. Mr. Scott worked as a corporate litigator in the law firm Cleary Gottlieb and currently runs his own law firm Scott Legal Services, P.C. specializing in Immigration Law & New Business set-up. Mr. Scott is also author of the blog: Law School Success Tips. Mr. Scott has been published/featured by Forbes, the New York State Bar Association, Bloomberg, Barron’s, LexisNexis, Lawyerist, The Student Appeal Journal and other journals.

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