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Courses >
Law & Legal Careers > Paralegal Preparation 4
 This course provides you with the skills you need to conduct legal research.
Important:
This six-course series will provide you with the skills and knowledge
you will need to perform the basic duties of a paralegal. By the time
you finish this series, you will have a solid understanding of what
activities a paralegal must perform and how to perform them. If you are
interested in becoming a paralegal, completing this program will take
you one step closer to your goal. However, please understand that this
is a non-credit program and it does not lead to any type of
professional certification or a degree. Although there is no current
requirement in any state other than California that a paralegal have
any level of professional experience or hold any type of degree, most
employers prefer to hire paralegals who have experience working in a
law office and/or an associate's degree, in addition to the skills and
knowledge taught in this program. If you have not already done so, we
recommend that you consider working as an intern in a law office and/or
enrolling in an accredited two-year college degree program while (or
soon after) completing this series of courses.
Recommended Courses:
Students who enrolled in Paralegal Preparation 4 were also interested in the following courses:
Paralegal Preparation 1
Paralegal Preparation 2
Paralegal Preparation 3
Paralegal Preparation 5
Paralegal Preparation 6
Syllabus:
All
courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two
lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course.
You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must
complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new
section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each
month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure
to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
Mandatory Authority
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| Friday - Lesson 02 |
Persuasive Authority
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| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
Introduction to Legal Research
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| Friday - Lesson 04 |
Frustration and Legal Research
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| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
Legal Research Tools
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| Friday - Lesson 06 |
Checklists
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| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
Legal Encyclopedias
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| Friday - Lesson 08 |
ALR and Digests
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| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
How to Use Shepards
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| Friday - Lesson 10 |
Citation Format
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| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
Legal Research Practice
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| Friday - Lesson 12 |
Legal Research Practice, continued
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This
course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide
you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your
questions. The instructor for this course will be Scott and Lisa Hatch.
 Scott
Hatch has presented paralegal courses since 1980. He is listed in Who's
Who in California, Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and
Universities, and has been named one of the Outstanding Young Men of
America by the United States Jaycees. He was a contributing editor to
The Judicial Profiler (McGraw-Hill and the Colorado Law Annotated
(West/Lawyers Co-op)series, and editor of several award-winning
publications. He is author of Paralegal Procedures and Practices,
published by West Publishing, as well as books on mediation and legal
investigation.
Lisa Zimmer Hatch, M.A., has been teaching legal
certificate and standardized test preparation courses since 1987. She
graduated with honors in English from the University of Puget Sound,
and received her master's degree from California State University. She
is co-author of numerous law and standardized test texts.
Requirements:
Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins
(two free and simple downloads you obtain at
http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and
Get Adobe Reader). High School Diploma or equivalent, college
experience and/or law office experience is helpful but not required.
Completion of the optional assignments will require access to a law
library or a subscription to Westlaw. You will also need to purchase the following textbooks through Amazon.com before the course begins:
Student Reviews:
"Great course!"
"I appreciated how the Instructor allowed us to work at our
own pace. We could make up past assignments even after a section was
closed. This was very useful to those of us who did not have convenient
access to a Law Library."
"It was hard to get the assignments done because our local
Law Library was a victim of the budget cuts and does not have all the
books needed and also did not have access to Westlaw or Lexis."
"The assignments provided great practice - I learned a lot
of material in this session. I feel that this class should have
included more time to finish the assignments. I still love it!!"
"The class was excellent and the teacher was great!!!!!!"
"This is a wonderful way to get an education and I have
recommended this way to many of my friends who are looking to go back
to school or to change careers."
"This is my fourth in the series of these classes and this was by far the toughest yet. Very good course and very challenging."
"This section was no doubt the most challenging due to the
hours of research that was required. Working full time and having to
drive 35 miles on a weekend to a law library took a lot of time and
energy. I still enjoyed the class but could have done with less time
required in the library."
"This was a very difficult course. There was a lot of
information to digest for the period of time. Especially with the
amount of assignments. I think the course was very informative, and I
would still recommend the course to others."
"This was my first on-line class. I was very impressed. I
would like to be able to converse more with classmates. GREAT CLASS and
I LEARNED A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT! Thanks."
"While I learned more in this class than any of the others
so far, I was often frustrated because I was unable to access the books
or information I needed to do the assignments."
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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