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Legal Assistant versus Paralegal: What's the Difference?The debate rages on. Exactly what is the difference between a paralegal and a legal assistant? Maybe less than you realize. Both titles refer to the right-hand professionals of lawyers--and both are increasingly billed at close to the same rate as their contemporaries.You Say Paralegal, I Say Legal Assistant The difference between paralegal and legal assistant may come down to a matter of semantics. Legal Assistant Today published a June 2006 survey in which 94 percent of its readers preferred the title paralegal to that of legal assistant. According to the author, legal assistants felt that paralegal better reflected the independence and importance of the position with respect to legal proceedings. In a trend influenced by the current economic challenges, paralegals and legal assistants are enabled to perform many of the same duties as a lawyer. While they're not allowed to try cases in court, they frequently meet with clients, interview witnesses, secure signed documents and are present in court to assist their firms with legal proceedings. Intensive Legal Assistant Training Regardless No matter what you may choose to call them, legal assistants and paralegals go through an intensive training program to earn their stripes. About 1,000 colleges and universities, law schools, and proprietary schools offer formal paralegal training programs, with approximately 260 of those programs approved by the American Bar Association (ABA). According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, legal assistant training is comprised of the following modules:
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