Paralegal Studies
College of Extended Learning
SF State Downtown Center
835 Market Street, 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415-817-4223
Fax: 415-817-4299
Web Site: www.cel.sfsu.edu/paralegal/
Program Director: Pat Medina
Program Coordinator: Baseemah Rahman
Program Assistant: Eduardo Cerpa
Program
Certificate in Paralegal Studies
Program Scope and Objectives
Paralegal Studies is a 30-academic-unit certificate program, providing instruction in practical legal skills and substantive law. All coursework is taught at the upper-division level by attorneys and working paralegals.
The primary goal of the program is to educate students for positions as paralegals as a means of improving the quality, accessibility, and affordability of legal services. The program started in 1975 and has graduated well over a thousand paralegals. Further information on the program’s key objectives and the Mission Statement submitted to the American Bar Association can be found on the paralegal program’s web site.
ABA-Approved
The Paralegal Studies program is approved by the American Bar Association. This is the only ABA-approved paralegal studies program in San Francisco. The Paralegal Program began in 1975 and has continued a tradition of excellence up to the present.
Recent California legislation defines who may call himself or herself a paralegal and sets forth education criteria for paralegals. One of the criteria is graduation from a program approved by the American Bar Association. Please refer to the section on New California Legislation on Paralegals cited below.
California Legislation on Paralegals
The state of California has adopted legislation that defines the titles “paralegal” and “legal assistant” and sets educational criteria and continuing education requirements for paralegals. The San Francisco State University Paralegal Studies certificate program meets the educational requirements of the law by virtue of being offered by an accredited institution with an ABA-approved program, and consisting of more than 24 semester units of paralegal coursework. We also offer a series of paralegal continuing education courses to meet the continuing education standards established by the Business and Professions Code Section 6450 et. seq.
Faculty
All courses in this program are taught by attorneys and/or paralegals with practical experience in their respective fields. We currently have four program graduates on our faculty.
Career Outlook
Paralegals are employed in private and public interest law firms, corporations, banks, securities firms, government agencies, and regulatory bodies. The Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks the paralegal occupation as one of the fastest growing in the country. Recent state legislation requires that persons working as paralegals meet specified educational and continuing education requirements.
Certificate in Paralegal Studies
Admission to Program
Applicants who hold a baccalaureate degree, either from the US or another country, are automatically eligible for admission to the program. Applicants who do not have a baccalaureate degree are required to have a minimum of 60 semester or 90 quarter units of prior academic college credit with at least 30 semester (45 quarter) units of academic general education courses in four basic skills courses: oral communication, written composition, critical thinking, and mathematics or quantitative reasoning. Additionally, applicants must have an overall GPA of 2.5 or better and all coursework must have been completed within five years of applying to the program. Applicants with at least three years of legal employment and 45 semester (68 quarter) units may petition for conditional admission. Transcripts verifying these units must be accompanied by an attorney declaration attesting to their legal work experience, which must have been within five years of their application to the SF State Paralegal Program.
Writing Skills
Paralegal courses require strong writing skills. Certificate students who do not have a bachelor’s degree must pass a University approved Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement course (GWAR). PLS 414 GW: “Introduction to Professional Legal Writing” is an approved GWAR course and also counts as elective units that can be applied toward the certificate.
A certificate is awarded upon successful completion of 30 units. The 30 units required to earn the certificate consist of five required courses and five elective courses.
Each course carries three units of credit. For complete course descriptions, contact the program coordinator.
Required Courses:
Introduction to Law/Civil Procedure
Legal Research and Writing
Communications Skills and Legal Ethics
Pleadings and Motions
Investigation, Discovery, and Trial Preparation
Elective Courses: Advanced and Specialized Practical Courses
Administrative Law
Advanced Legal Research and Writing
Bankruptcy
Computer Applications *
Computer Applications II
Contemporary Legal Issues
Contracts
Corporations Law
Criminal Law
Elder Law
Employment Law
Environmental Litigation
Evidence
Family Law
Paralegal Experience Internship
Immigration Law
Intellectual Property
Introduction to Professional Legal Writing
Probate Procedures
Real Estate Practice
Trademarks & Copyrights
Torts
Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning
* required for students not working in law; elective for other students.
Each elective is taught once a year or every other year.
Intended Audience
College graduates who are interested in a career in the legal field, international students who worked in the legal field as lawyers or paralegals in their home countries, career changers, students who are thinking about law school, and early retirees from other professions who have a general interest in the law.
Non-certificate Students
If students wish to explore the legal field and want to take selected individual courses in the program, they may register for those courses, with the consent of the faculty member and program director.
Also, those who already have experience in the legal field and who wish to take selected courses without applying to the program may register for courses with the permission of the individual instructor and program director.
