This concentrated certificate program is designed to provide students with a basic foundation of skills and knowledge needed to seek employment as a paralegal. The program’s curriculum requires completion of a combination of legal specialty, business and liberal arts courses. Legal specialty courses emphasize the role of the paralegal in dealing with clients, documents and procedures, while working under the supervision of an attorney. Credits earned in this program may be applied to the Paralegal Associate in Applied Science degree program.

Students who successfully complete the Certificate in Paralegal (PLL) will be able to:

• Articulate the role of paralegals in the legal system and develop an awareness of potential ethical issues that may arise and ethical duties that exist in the legal work environment;

• Use critical thinking skills to apply substantive legal principles in order to analyze and resolve legal problems;

• Apply the basic principles of legal research in an accurate, effective, and efficient manner;

• Articulate an understanding of the techniques of legal analysis and writing and develop written communication skills;

• Demonstrate an ability to use a variety of print and electronic legal research resources.

Courses should be selected in consultation with an advisor.

First Semester

Course No.	Descriptive Title	Credit Hours
ENG 101	Composition I	3
PAL 151	Introduction To Law	3
CIS 111	Computer Systems and Applications	3
PAL 110	Fundamentals of Paralegalism	3
PAL 120	Legal Research	3
TOTAL		15

Second Semester

Course No.	Descriptive Title	Credit Hours
MAT 109 or higher	Survey of Mathematics or higher (a)	3
PAL 260	Legal Writing	3
Paralegal Electives--select three from: BUS 215, CRJ 265, PAL 210, PAL 220, PAL 230, PAL 240, PAL 250		9
BHS 103 OR	Social Problems in Today's World OR
GOV 222	State and Local Government	3
TOTAL		18
	TOTAL CREDIT HOURS	33

 (a) MAT 110 or MAT 111 recommended