Online Paralegal Studies Certificate Program

A paralegal certificate establishes your strategic authority and prepares you to serve as the operational backbone of legal teams, helping ensure an organized legal process that prioritizes accuracy and efficiency.

Paralegals with a certificate on their résumé can be more competitive for roles in a variety of legal settings, including:

• Law firms
• Corporate legal departments
• Government agencies
• Nonprofit organizations
• Insurance companies
• Healthcare organizations
• Real estate and title firms

The course can be accessed at the time of day that suits each student best, and there are no scheduled lectures.

However, each two-week module contains assignments and assessments that must be submitted by stated deadlines in the course. Because of this, it is important that students keep up with the program. In other words, the program is a combination of synchronous and asynchronous deadlines. Each module has to be completed in the assigned two week time frame, but when you do the work in that two week period is up to your discretion.

To help students stay on track, faculty offer virtual office hours for each module. You can simply log in using the live classroom link, with no appointment needed.

Students find their way to our program from many different backgrounds. They come from fields such as business, finance, education, healthcare, real estate, and more. Some are recent graduates, while others are experienced professionals or career changers. What they share is a desire to gain legal expertise so they can advance in their current field or lay the foundation for a new career path.

Explore our Class Profile to see examples of roles and employers represented in the program.

The online Paralegal Studies Certificate Program is a nondegree program that awards a paralegal certificate from Boston University. It focuses on core paralegal knowledge and skills and does not confer academic credit toward a college degree.

Paralegal degrees, such as an associate or bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies, are academic degree programs. They include general education courses, require more credits, and usually take longer to complete, and are far more expensive.

A focused certificate program, like Boston University’s, may be appropriate for individuals who already hold a college degree and want focused paralegal training. Our paralegal careers page has more details about what professionals can do with a paralegal certificate.

Because individual goals and situations vary, we encourage you to call an enrollment specialist at (857) 971-4728 to discuss the best direction for you.

Paralegals typically handle more substantive legal work, such as performing legal research, drafting motions and pleadings, organizing discovery, and supporting attorneys as they prepare for hearings and trials. They perform this work under the supervision of licensed attorneys. Most importantly, paralegals bill clients for their time. That means that paralegals are revenue raisers for the firms in which they work. Legal Assistants do not bill for their work, do not raise revenue for the firm.

Legal assistants usually focus on administrative support, such as managing calendars, organizing files, handling client communications, and helping with basic legal tasks.

In many offices, especially smaller firms, these titles and job duties can overlap. Both roles benefit from a strong foundation in legal research, writing, and understanding court procedures.

To explore this topic in more depth, read our article “Paralegal vs. Legal Assistant: What’s the Difference?” on the Paralegal Careers page.

You will earn a paralegal certificate from Boston University when you successfully complete the program. This academic certificate confirms that you have met the University’s established requirements—and Boston University is internationally recognized for its high academic standards.

Paralegal certification is different. Certification is a professional designation awarded by an outside organization, separate from a university certificate, and may require additional testing and experience.

There is no industry-wide or governmental requirement that paralegals hold this type of third-party certification, and Boston University is not aware of any states that currently require it to work as a paralegal. If you do a google search, you may find that various national paralegal associations offer “certification”. They compete with each other. Again, the industry has not endorsed the need for these third party “certifications.”

Because requirements can vary, we encourage students to review expectations with potential employers and to check with their own state’s licensing or regulatory offices.

Joe Spada, director of the Paralegal Studies Program, answers this question in detail. Watch his explainer video to find out more.

One common misconception about paralegal education is that a program must be approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) to be credible or valuable. In reality, ABA approval is not required for most paralegal career paths, and many respected paralegal certificate programs are not ABA approved.

The ABA is best known for its role in the legal profession, but it does not certify paralegals. It does not license attorneys either; attorney licensing is handled by state bar authorities. For paralegals, there is no universal state-required certification or ABA requirement to enter the field.

Only approximately 25% of paralegal programs are ABA certified. That means 75% are not.  BU was on certification track but made a conscious decision to move out of the ABA shadow and join the trend of shorter but more intensive paralegal certificate programs.

Why? Several reasons:

• 1. Most hiring partners and attorneys don’t really know the distinction between ABA an non-ABA paralegal programs.  What they do know are the strength of the reputation and standing of the university that is providing the paralegal certificate—and BU is one of the nationally recognized leaders.
• 2. With college loans skyrocketing and the federal government minimizing their availability in an attempt to thwart burgeoning student loans, it makes no sense to go further in debt than what the field requires. The overwhelming majority of paralegal employers are not requiring ABA approval. The BU program is $3,999.00, while an ABA program can be nine months to two years and $12,000.00 to $20,000.00. It’s not required.  But to be clear: The pie and the market are large enough for both. And if, as part of your undergrad, your university offers a paralegal certificate program that is ABA approved and satisfies undergraduate course credit, it would be good to take advantage of that opportunity. But outside of that, t doesn’t make, in our opinion, economic sense.

Our paralegal certificate program is intentionally not ABA approved because we believe students are better served by a focused, practical, skills-based curriculum. Many ABA-approved pathways are longer and more expensive, often designed around a traditional academic model that may not fit students who already have a bachelor’s degree or who want to enter the workforce efficiently.

Our program emphasizes the real-world, nuts-and-bolts skill-sets that entry-level paralegals need to contribute immediately in a legal setting. Our goal is to take out the theory and provide students hands-on experience with legal research, case briefs, IRAC memoranda, real estate documents, trademark searches, wills, probate, family law and other practical assignments that reflect the work paralegals perform on the job.