TCTC offering New Paralegal Certificate

Tri-County Technical College announces a new certificate program with promising job prospects in an office environment.  Starting in the fall semester, the College will offer a paralegal certificate program, explains Dr. Chris McFarlin of Tri-County Technical College’s Criminal Justice Department.  “Ever since my employment began with Tri-County, one of the things that I was tasked with doing was getting a paralegal program started up.  I am pleased to announce that we have done that and we have all of the required approvals at the various state and federal levels.  So, beginning with the fall semester we are going to start our first class for our paralegal certificate program.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of paralegals and legal assistants is expected to grow by 18% between 2010 and 2020, about as fast as the average for all occupations.  Dr. McFarlin says the College was contacted by local employers to begin offering this new program.  “Participants will earn a certificate in paralegal studies and we are excited about this because there are a lot of local employers, legal offices, local attorneys, state agencies that are always looking for paralegals.  They have expressed a need for a paralegal program here at Tri-County Technical College, so I am pleased to announce that we have this program starting up in the fall semester of 2013.” Paralegals and legal assistants do a variety of tasks to support lawyers, including maintaining and organizing files, conducting legal research, and drafting documents. The new certificate program provides theoretical, practical, and technical applications of legal skills. At the culmination of the paralegal certificate program, students will have a well-rounded understanding of what the role of a paralegal is and how the role of the paralegal is implemented and utilized in the legal system.