Taking law-related classes, volunteering with legal organizations, attending information sessions with prelaw advisers and law school admissions officers, and asking lawyers within your extended network about their careers can help you choose a legal career path.
Given the confidential and client-focused nature of most legal work, however, working in a law office as a paralegal is one of the only ways to gain direct experience in the practice of law.
Paralegals, sometimes called legal assistants, support law offices and government bodies with tasks such as client intake, legal research, deposition summaries, case file management and submitting court filings. Unlike lawyers, they are not authorized to provide legal representation or advice, but they work closely with practicing lawyers to serve clients efficiently.
Many law firms depend on professionally trained and certified paralegals with years of experience. However, the legal field also offers plenty of entry-level roles for energetic and reliable college graduates seeking an inside look at the legal profession.
Paralegal work is not for everyone. Paralegals must exercise impeccable time management to meet tight deadlines. Many paralegals complain of repetitive and unrewarding tasks, high-pressure work environments and unappreciative supervisors. While paralegals gain real-world exposure to legal work, they see it only through the narrow window of one specific law office and the idiosyncrasies of its practice.
[READ: How to Become a Paralegal: A Guide to Paralegal Education.]
On the other hand, such complaints are common among entry-level positions. Working as a paralegal can provide many benefits specific to law school applicants, including:
— Building relevant skills
— Career guidance
— A personal statement topic
— A strong recommendation letter
— Legal networking opportunities
— Subsidized LSAT prep or tuition reimbursement
Building Relevant Skills
If all you know about law comes from legal dramas and political commentary, you may think lawyers spend all their time interviewing witnesses, drafting motions and arguing in court. In practice, lawyers often draw on subtler skills like mediation and negotiation, time management and legal research.
Working as a paralegal cultivates skills critical to legal practice behind the scenes, both working on your own and with others. It teaches interpersonal skills valuable in a high-pressure environment, like “managing up” to partner effectively with a supervisor.
Career Guidance
Usually, when aspiring lawyers think about their career, they focus on their area of specialization. Assisting a legal office whose work fits your interests, like corporate law or family law, can be very useful.
That said, even working in an unrelated field can help narrow your career goals. For example, do you aim to join a major law firm or a small local practice? Do you prefer work that is transactional or adversarial? How much do you value working directly with clients, and are there some kinds of clients you find it particularly difficult — or meaningful — to work with?
[7 Things I Wish I Knew When I Applied to Law School]
A Personal Statement Topic
Not every paralegal gets to ride the emotional roller coaster of collaboration on a riveting, high-stakes case. However, there are certainly times when paralegals feel like their contributions made a difference.
Perhaps they managed to pull a key piece of evidence from a mountain of research. Perhaps they sensed important details in a phone interview and were able to direct potential clients to the right help. Perhaps they persuaded a peevish bureaucrat to expedite a critical records request.
Any of these stories could be grounds for an excellent personal statement, if carefully written to preserve client confidentiality. Stories about helping people solve real-world challenges draw in readers without sounding egocentric.
A Strong Recommendation Letter
Many schools like to see at least one letter of recommendation from a supervisor outside of an academic setting. It’s hard to beat a letter from a practicing lawyer who can speak to your legal skills.
If a supervising lawyer attended or has a connection with a law school you plan to apply to, consider asking for a school-specific recommendation letter in addition to a more general letter.
[Read: Tips for Veterans Applying to Law School]
Legal Networking Opportunities
Working in a law firm can expose you to many practicing lawyers both inside and outside of the firm. And each of those lawyers may have an extensive legal network of their own.
By working as a paralegal, you may gain critical connections that help you secure an internship or summer position in law school and ultimately give you a head start in your legal career. This is one reason that law schools value paralegals, because career outcomes factor into law school rankings.
Subsidized LSAT Prep or Tuition Reimbursement
Finally, some law firms provide extra incentives to employees who plan to pursue careers in the law. For example, some law firms subsidize LSAT preparation classes or law school tuition. This can be especially helpful for paralegals considering part-time law programs or planning to continue working at their firm.
While there are many advantages to taking time off before law school, it can be hard to find a perfect job for a gap year. Working in a law office can be time well spent for an aspiring lawyer.
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6 Ways Paralegal Experience Can Help Law School Applicants originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 03/02/26: This article was published on an earlier date and has been updated with new information.