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Paralegal Certificate

Certificate

CIP 220302 (LGA2)

Paralegals (Legal Assistants) play an important role in assisting attorneys to provide affordable legal services.

ACC's American Bar Association – approved Paralegal Program provides a solid foundation of knowledge and practical experience to prepare students for this profession. While paralegals may not practice law, they work under the supervision of attorneys in private law firms or businesses, as well as in many government agencies. Tasks performed by paralegals include interviewing, investigation, research, preparing legal forms, assisting attorneys in court and other activities.

Please contact the Paralegal Department Chair or Coordinator if you have questions about the academic requirements.

ABA approval

The Paralegal Program has been approved by the American Bar Association since 1977. The approval process ensures that the program complies with the high academic standards of the American Bar Association. If you have questions about the approval process, the American Bar Association may be reached at 321 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610, 312-988-5000.

Admission Requirements:

• Admission to Arapahoe Community College
• Admission requires one of the following:
  • College Degree (Baccalaureate degree, Associate of Science degree, Associate of General Studies degree, Associate of Arts degree) from a regionally accredited college or university
    1. An official transcript must be on file in Admissions and Records prior to enrolling in paralegal classes
    2. If successful completion of college-level English is not listed on the official transcript, an ACCUPLACER test must be taken showing sentence skills of 95+ and a reading score of 80+ before paralegal classes can be take.
  • Department Chair approval based on at least five years of law-related work experience
    1. Supporting documentation must be submitted to the Department Chair and the student must be formally admitted to the program by letter of acceptance
    2. Students must have an ACCUPLACER sentence skills of 95+ and a reading score of 80+ or completion of college-level English with a grade of "C" or better, before paralegal classes can be taken
• Department approval is required in order to transfer in credit for paralegal classes (PAR) from other institutions; courses may be transferred to the program ONLY if they were taken from an ABA-approved program at a regionally accredited institution, and out-of-state courses may only be transferred in if the law content is not state-specific. Only 9 (nine) semester credit hours of paralegal courses may be transferred to ACC and such courses must be approved by the Paralegal Department Chair
• The Paralegal Department expects all students In the paralegal program to abide by the code of ethics promulgated by the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA). The code of ethics may be viewed at www.nala.org

Program Requirements

PAR 115 must be taken the first semester of study. All classes except for PAR 115, have corequisites or prerequisites; see Course Descriptions.

Choose six credit hours from the following:

Graduation Requirements

• All paralegal courses required for the certificate must be completed with a grade of "C" or better
• To graduate, students must have a GPA of 2.0 or higher
• Students must complete a Paralegal Exit Survey/Interview
• At least 27 (twenty-seven) hours of paralegal (PAR) courses must be taken at Arapahoe Community College
• Paralegal (PAR) courses must be taken within six years of a student's graduation. General education courses are not subject to this six year requirement
• To graduate, students must apply for graduation and complete the graduation survey (available via myACC). (form available at www.arapahoe.edu/graduation)
• After applying for graduation, all correspondence to a student about the status of their program conferral will be sent to their student email address only.
• As a graduate of a Career and Technical Education program you will be contacted by an ACC employee in approximately six months to verify your employment information. This information gathering is a federal requirement to ensure that ACC receives certain federal funding.

"Information regarding occupations, completion rates, placement rates, program costs and median loan debt may be found at arapahoe.edu/gainful."

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