Become a Paralegal with training at Empire College!

Develop legal assisting skills, coupled with general education classes, to expand your potential for supervisory or management responsibility in a legal firm through our legal assistant program.

Objective: This Santa Rosa Paralegal degree program is designed to prepare graduates to assume positions as legal assistants/paralegals, legal secretaries or administrative support staff in a law office. Emphasis is placed on paralegal training, especially the development of legal office skills such as case management, legal research, discovery, docketing, drafting and analyzing legal documents, and alternative dispute resolution. A 75-hour internship is included as part of your legal assistant training.

Further concentration on critical thinking and decision making, human relations, and communications coupled with general education classes is designed to produce well-qualified legal assistants. The emphasis in this Paralegal training program is placed on marketable skills.

Program Length: 7 quarters
Specialized (Occupational) Associate Degree awarded upon successful completion of all legal assistant program graduation requirements. Click here to view a course outline for the Specialized Associate Degree – Paralegal program.

NOTE: Effective January 1, 2001, paralegals are defined by the California Business and Professions Code Section 6450 et seq. as to their education and experience. Section 6454 - Definitions: The terms "paralegal," "legal assistant," "attorney assistant," "freelance paralegal," "independent paralegal" and "contract paralegal" are synonymous for purposes of this chapter.

This Santa Rosa Paralegal associate degree program includes the following courses:

• Business Law
• Civil Litigation courses
• Real Property
• Family Law
• Estate Planning and Probate
• Law Office Docketing, Accounting and Management
• Mediation/Conflict Management
• Ethics in Technology and Society
• Legal Research
• Advanced Legal Research and Writing
• Internship for Paralegals
• Bookkeeping
• Various Computer, Internet and Microsoft courses
• Management Communications
• And many more in-depth courses!

Interested in a legal assistant program in Northern California? Learn more about Empire College and how to become a legal assistant!

Contact us for more information.

"I worked at McDonald's for five years. I decided to go into the legal field to help people. My boss called me for an interview the weekend after I graduated. He was working with Empire's Placement Department."
- Melinda Holt, Legal Assistant