Paralegal Studies
College of Extended Learning
Dean: Peter Dewees
Paralegal Studies Program
SFSU Downtown Center
425 Market Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-904-7770
Program Director: Lee Gallery
Program
Certificate in Paralegal Studies
Program Scope
The Paralegal Studies curriculum is intended to provide a firm grounding in legal skills and in specific substantive areas of law for the general student as well as the person who is interested in becoming a paralegal. All course work is conducted at the upper division level. The population served is adult, usually employed full-time, has considerable formal education (including the baccalaureate degree, in most cases) and has accumulated more life and work experience than the typical undergraduate.
Faculty
All courses in this program are taught by attorneys and/or paralegals with practical experience in their respective fields.
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 Statistic's Occupational Projections report ranks paralegal as one of the fastest growing professions through the 1990s.
CERTIFICATE IN PARALEGAL STUDIES
Admission to Program
To be admitted to the certificate program, students should have completed 56 units of academic credit or have sufficient experience to demonstrate they can perform upper division work. Students who do not have 56 units may be accepted on probation and are encouraged to apply. Students may enroll in up to nine units before applying to the certificate program.
Writing Skills
The certificate program's course content requires a good grasp of writing skills. Certificate students are asked to demonstrate their writing ability soon after admission to the certificate program to satisfy the university literacy requirement. Those who do not have the necessary writing skills are referred to a course offered regularly through the continuing education program: ENG 414, Elements of Writing.
A certificate is available after completion of 30 units. The 30 units required to earn the certificate consist of five required courses and fifteen units of elective courses.
Each course carries three units credit unless otherwise noted. For complete course descriptions, contact the program director.
Required Courses: Civil Litigation
- Introduction to Law/Civil Procedure
- Investigation, Discovery, and Trial Preparation
- Legal Research and Writing
- Pleadings and Motions
- Communications Skills and Legal Ethics
Elective Courses: Substantive Law
- Family Law
- Tenant-Landlord Relations
- Labor Law
- Administrative Law
- Torts, Contracts, and Remedies
- Workers' Compensation Law (2)
- Immigration Law
- Statutory Legal Research (1)
- Intellectual Property: Copyright, Trademarks, and Patents
- Criminal Law
- Law Office Management
- Real Estate Practice
- Bankruptcy: Debtors' Rights and Creditors' Remedies
- Employment Discrimination
- Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning
- Probate Procedures
- Consumer Protection Law
- Field Experience in Paralegal Studies
- Advanced Legal Research and Writing
- Case Law Research: Print, On-line, and CD-ROM (1)
- Factual Legal Research (1)
- Computer Applications in Law Practice
- Corporations Law
- Special Study (1-3)
Students are also counseled to take only those courses that they feel the need and desire for, in order to function in a desired capacity. It is not necessary to be working toward a certificate in order to take individual courses.
Non-Certificate Students
If students are not interested in the certificate, but want to take selected individual courses in the program, they may register for those courses, with the consent of the director, without applying for admission to the program.