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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.
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.
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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:
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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To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Student Reviews:
"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."
"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 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."
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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