Upon completion of the program, students will be able to...
- Demonstrate a general understanding of the duties a paralegal performs, the importance of privileged communications with clients, and how to avoid conflicts of interest
- Discuss the legal system in the United States, including the origins and history of the law, the development of common law, statutory law, and constitutional law, and the litigation process for both criminal and civil litigation
- Understand the litigation process for both criminal and civil litigation, including discovery, depositions, interrogatories, laws of evidence, venue, important hearsay exceptions, and rights of the accused
- Demonstrate computer literacy using office software
- Demonstrate effective written office communications
- Recognize and use legal terminology appropriately
- Recognize ethical violations and understand ethical rules that regulate conduct of lawyers and paralegals
- Describe different forms of business organization, advantages and disadvantages of various entities, types of torts, defenses to negligence, and the paralegal's role in preparing commonly used documents
- Write an effective legal memorandum; state and characterize facts and legal arguments to best advance a legal position
- Research primary and secondary sources to determine relevant case law, find statutes and other information from appropriate sources using Lexis.com and other Internet sources, and correctly cite sources