Paralegal Career Path Expands in Popularity

It’s been almost a decade since Mary Hatfield Lowe was hired to start Northwest Arkansas Community College’s paralegal program.

The program’s reception among local attorneys, Hatfield Lowe said, often was lukewarm.

“When I first got here, I would run into attorneys and they would say, ‘Why should I get a paralegal when I can get a law student for eight bucks an hour? They just want to learn, they’re just happy to be there,’” Hatfield Lowe said.

“Then I would say, ‘Well, you could get a law student, but do you really want to keep training your competition every year?’

“I think that’s starting to sink in.”

Another reality might be sinking in, too, especially for nontraditional students who have an interest in a legal profession. While employment of lawyers is expected to grow by a modest 10 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of paralegals and legal assistants is expected to grow by 18 percent during that same period.

According to a BLS report, paralegals are expected to find a more robust job market than attorneys because employers continue to try to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of their legal services in a cloudy post-recession economic climate.

“Paralegals can be a less costly alternative to lawyers and perform a wider variety of duties, including tasks once done by lawyers,” the report stated. “This will cause an increase in demand for paralegals and legal assistants.”

And while Hatfield Lowe said she tries to maintain a number of graduates — 18 to 22 a year, ideally — commensurate with local job demand, there has been a slight shift in the students’ backgrounds recently.

“I would say probably a quarter of them come in with a degree, especially with the economy these days,” said Hatfield Lowe, who estimated the average age of her students as “maybe 31 or 32.”

The most common degrees, she said, are history, journalism, political science and English.

 

Aha! Moment

Karen Lira, who earned a bachelor’s degree at Eastern Washington University years before enrolling in NWACC’s paralegal program, fits that description. She studied radio and TV broadcasting at EWU, but began working in law firms in 1989.

 Nearly 20 years later as a self-described “empty-nester,” Lira chose to enroll in NWACC’s program for a variety of reasons.

“My thing was just to continue education, increase salary, those types of things,” said Lira, who works as a paralegal and office manager at Springdale’s McManus Law Firm.

Lira said she quickly realized she had been performing many of the duties generally associated with paralegals. Among other things, paralegals often conduct interviews and research, draft documents and pleadings, summarize depositions and interrogatories, and attend closings, hearings and trials.

What Lira gained by going through NWACC’s program, though, was an exponentially greater understanding of tasks she already was being assigned.

“Oh, that’s why we do that,” Lira said when asked the biggest benefits she gained from the program. “Now I understand it. Now I know why if this happens, why you do X, Y and Z.

“It made more things come into focus.”

As a result, Lira became a more valuable asset. She’s worked at her current job for about two years, and is considered “a bridge” between clients and the husband-wife attorney team of George and Melissa McManus.

“As a paralegal, I think they rely on my expertise,” Lira said. “If I don’t know something, I know to go to the books to read through it. I know where to find it.”

 

Career Change

Kent Johnson fills a similar role as a paralegal at Bond Law Office in Fayetteville. He said the bulk of his work is bankruptcy-related, which means serving as a liaison of sorts, keeping clients posted on their cases and related responsibilities.

That frees up valuable time for the firm’s attorneys.

“Attorneys do what attorneys do,” Johnson said. “They’re practicing law.

“We are the first lines of defense as far as client contact. We have to be savvy enough and professional enough to handle them in an effective way.”

Johnson said he also interviews clients, conducts research, attends hearings and handles depositions.

“The attorneys rely on us very, very heavily,” he said. “I stay extremely mindful of my role in the firm.”

Like many of Hatfield Lowe’s graduates, Johnson fits the nontraditional mold. After working as a “copy operator” at a New Orleans law firm in the 1980s, “life happened,” he said.

That meant taking higher-paying jobs to support a new family. As Johnson’s daughter approached high school graduation in 2009, he decided to enroll in NWACC’s program while working full time at a National Home Center during the day. He was 47.

“I always had an interest in the law,” Johnson said matter-of-factly, “and I wanted to take an introductory look at it.”

Johnson was hooked immediately, and took a job at a firm in Bentonville during his final semester. He said Stanley Bond “took a chance on hiring me” a little more than a year ago despite the fact he had no formal experience with bankruptcy cases.

Now Johnson is entrenched in the industry.

“It’s an investment well worth the money, one that results in a marketable skill in Fayetteville or anywhere in the country,” he said of his experience at NWACC, one of only two American Bar Association-approved programs in the state.

Johnson currently is working on a political science degree at the UA and plans to attend law school after that.

 

Professional Pay

While Johnson and Lira landed at small firms, other NWACC graduates work at a variety of places. Of the program’s 81 graduates from 2005 to 2011, Hatfield Lowe said 47 are working as paralegals or in other positions in which those skills are essential to their jobs.

Some work for larger firms, legal and government agencies, or companies like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. Hatfield Lowe said it’s her understanding, in fact, the founding of the program was boosted by Wal-Mart’s need for paralegals.

Another 21 graduates during that span work for entities like banks, universities and human resource departments, where they likely use at least some of their paralegal training, Hatfield Lowe said.

“If you’re detail-oriented, if you like paperwork, if you can follow directions, understand the rules of confidentiality and are willing to read and do homework and all that,” she said, “this might be the program for you.”

The program requires completion of 62 semester hours, 42 of which consist of paralegal courses, and costs the same as any other NWACC track. Courses are offered during the day and at night, and are taught by a rotating collection of nine to 11 adjunct professors consisting of local attorneys and paralegals.

Hatfield Lowe said about 130 students currently are enrolled in the program or taking paralegal courses. About 85 percent of the students are women, she said.

The starting salary range for paralegals varies greatly, but Hatfield Lowe said the lower end locally probably is about $25,000 annually.

“But I’ve also had folks that get really specialized or spend a long time somewhere, and they make maybe $60,000,” she said.

In a 2012 study conducted by the National Association of Legal Assistants, the average salary for paralegals was $54,376. That’s based on responses from 1,330 working professionals.

For those with one to five years of experience, the average total compensation was $38,867. That figure rose to $51,484 for those with six to 10 years of experience, and to $58,952 for those with 16 to 20 years of experience.

Based on her experience working in the industry in Washington and Arkansas, Lira said someone “with a couple years of experience” probably could expect an increase of $8 to $12 an hour if they completed a program like the one in place at NWACC.

“It’s a profession,” Lira said, “and it’s a good profession.”