Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Paralegal Salary

Paralegal salary depends on a wide range of factors. If you are interested in law but do not want to be a lawyer, then the paralegal profession is for you. There is a broad range of activities that the paralegal might specialize in. They have to do work mostly in all the aspects of the legal field. Paralegals can do a lot of things that lawyers do.

You do however need a degree before you become a paralegal. This includes going for an "associate degree in paralegal studies". You can also enter this field by doing graduation in some related field (e.g. - criminal justice) and get certified as a 'paralegal'.

Identification

In the beginning of the job, you might have to do a lot of administrative work like filing and retrieving documents. Doing photocopies is also a natural part of the job in the initial days. But this lasts only some years. After this, paralegals go on to more important creative work and start working more independently.

The median of the starting salary for paralegals rests at $34,700. In five years, this salary can rise to as much as $43,600. The benefit of paralegal salary is that their payment is made hourly. This is a good thing because most of the time, paralegals are found working for days even nights and they continue till the weekends.

This is how they receive extra compensation for working overtime. If you are not afraid to work in the initial duration of your career, then earning is quite plentiful- around the range of $5000 or more.

Types

Paralegal salary increases with experience and specialty training. It also depends on the kind of the firm they are working under. If a paralegal is working under some hospital, he might be expected to make somewhere around $46,300; this being the median salary in this case. If a paralegal specializes in trademark law and intellectual property, he will make somewhere around $50,000 and $55,000. Both these are median salaries.

If the paralegal specializes in insurance law, he will make around $50,000. Paralegal salary also increases with the supervisory and senior positions that a paralegal holds. $59,000 is made by a senior litigation paralegal while $63,000 is made by a senior corporate paralegal. While a paralegal coordinator earns somewhere around $72,000! A paralegal earns a low median salary of around $38,000 when he specializes in government, non-profit corporations and family law.

Potential

Paralegals thrive in private environments as the money making possibilities are endless here. Private law firms have been seen to employ around 70% of the paralegals. This has been shown in the 2006 survey of Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rest of the paralegals have been shown to work in the government and legal departments of corporate companies.

The Department of Justice employs the maximum number of paralegals in the government. The Social Security Administration and the Department of Treasury follow the Department of Justice in the employment of paralegals. Title firms, real estate agencies, banks and insurance companies are some of the other companies where paralegals find work.

These are some of the important paralegal salary information that might be able to provide you with some valuable insight on the nature of the job.

If you need a full paralegal job description, you'll want to check-out the following site:

http://www.paralegalsalarydata.com