Career Spotlight: Paralegal
Making a Strong Case
for More Male Paralegals
Fall 2017
This critical role
within a legal
team is increasingly
attracting males
to a growing
profession.
Entering the legal profession is a
dream career for many. There's the
high-stakes courtroom drama, all
the preparation, dedication and
excitement that's far from routine.
Being a vital part of the justice
system can be fulfilling as well as
lucrative.
But going to law school is far too
expensive and time consuming
for most of us. That's why UCI
alum Kevin Kwon chose to earn
a paralegal certificate. He was
attracted to law but becoming an
attorney was out of the question.
Now he's part of the team at
Callahan & Blaine, a leading
law firm in Santa Ana, serving as
a litigation paralegal managing
multiple aspects of trial presentation
and preparation.
“Here's an example,” Kwon said.
“I just got back from Bakersfield from
a two-week personal injury trial.
We represented a young lady who
was sexually assaulted at a hotel,
after the front desk clerk gave the
assailant a key to her room without
checking his identification.”
Every day at trial, Kwon sat at counsel's
table to run trial presentation
software. He played an essential
role in jury selection, cross examination,
opening statement and closing
argument. “All throughout trial, the
attorneys were extremely dependent
on my knowledge of this case,
including the exhibits, witnesses and
presentations.”
In the end, Kwon's team won a
$3.5 million verdict against the
defendants. “It was the most
dramatic part of the trial,” he
said. “Our hard work had paid off.”
More people are finding that
becoming a paralegal offers a
number of advantages over law
school. And it's becoming a far
more diverse field than ever before.
A new diversity
Paralegals are on the front lines of
every legal battle, working with
teams of attorneys in the courtroom
and behind the scenes. And the
field is increasingly high-profile,
attracting a new generation of
paralegals that's more diverse than
ever, far from the female-dominate
stereotype of years past.
“It's very true that the paralegal
field is much more diverse than it
was when I started,” said Kwon,
who got his paralegal certificate
from UCI Extension (now Division of
Continuing Education) in 2011. “It
used to be dominated by women.
Now I work with a staff of seven
other paralegals, and five of us are
men. My counterparts at other firms
are largely men, as well.”
“The UCI Division of Continuing
Education program is a perfect
reflection of the growing diversity
and popularity of the paralegal
field,” said Michael Fischer, a
practicing attorney and instructor
with the DCE's Paralegal Certificate
program.
“After a decade as a paralegal
instructor at UCI teaching Torts,
Contracts, and Civil Litigation
among other topics, I can attest
that both the program and broader
interest in a paralegal career have
recently experienced a tremendous
growth spurt,” he said. “As a result,
the faces in my classes are as
diverse as they have ever been.”
The trend makes perfect sense,
he added, fueled perhaps by a
growing social acceptance of men
taking on roles traditionally assigned
to women. “Paralegals were once
viewed culturally as female positions,
akin to the way nursing or teaching
was. Just as the dynamics in those
fields have changed, so has the
paralegal field.”
Another factor is a growing awareness
of the prominent role a
paralegal plays. Paralegals take on
many of the same responsibilities as
attorneys and report a similar level
of fulfillment, Fischer said. And a
certificate can be completed in just
one quarter to a year and a half,
without the burden of a massive
student loan debt.
There's plenty of opportunity for
newcomers, with paralegal jobs in
California projected to rise over the
next seven years, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. And if the
goal is to work at a prestigious,
reputable law firm, business or
government agency, it helps to
earn your certificate at a top
institution like UC Irvine, Fischer said.
Learning the law
Fully accredited by the American
Bar Association, the DCE Paralegal
Certificate program offers a
number of advantages, including
an instructional staff comprised
of experienced attorneys and
paralegals from leading law firms,
corporations and non-profits. It's
a reflection of the expanded
opportunities in the field, Fischer
said.
“While law firms remain the No. 1
employer of paralegals, every
government agency and every
sector of the market—from courthouses
and sole practitioners to
banks and large corporations—
now has a staff of paralegals.”
The program addresses the latest
trends and technology, with an eye
to teaching practical litigation and
transactional skills, creating a framework
for mastering the areas of
legal practice most relevant to
the role of a paralegal.
Although paralegals take on many
of the same responsibilities as an
attorney, they largely avoid the
stress and long hours in the office,
Kwon said — significant drawbacks
that helped influence his decision.
Armed with a B.A. in political
science from UCI, Kwon decided
on a paralegal career while
working in the legal department
of Hyundai Motor America.
“I got an internship there and it
really fueled my interested in a
law career,” he said. “So I started
checking out law schools and
found them to be too expensive
and time consuming. Besides, I was
starting a family and didn't want
to deal with all the extra work and
worry lawyers bring home with
them.”
Kwon took the leap, enrolled in the
UCI paralegal program and was
hired by a law firm about a month
before he completed his certificate.
“They were impressed by my UCI
training and wanted me to start
right away.”
Now he's busy immersing himself
in a wide range of high-stakes
litigation, supporting the Callahan
& Blaine team on multiple fronts.
It's always something different
and exciting, which is one of the
most attractive aspects of being
a paralegal, Kwon said.
“Don't expect to be doing the
same routine things day in and day
out. There is a lot of opportunity to
get out there, help people, have a
little fun and improve your sense of
self worth. My former students will
tell you: Being a paralegal is just
more fun,” Fischer said.
Learn more at ce.uci.edu/legal