Information for Paralegal Studies Majors  

1. Paralegal Portfolio Now Required (starting with Fall 2008 semester):  Paralegal Studies Majors are now required to submit a portfolio of their course work at the end of their course of study at CCRI. The full details on this Portfolio can be found at http://www.ccri.edu/laws.   This portfolio requirement only applies to students who became Paralegal Studies majors during the Fall 2008 semester and later semesters. Students in the major prior to that time should consider doing a portfolio as a tool to help them gain employment. To complete the portfolio, students should be certain to save copies of all assignments, projects, and papers done for their various classes in their major so they will have them to submit as part of their portfolio.
    

2. Introduction to Paralegal Studies (LAWS 1080) and Criminal Procedure(LAWS 1020), which was formerly known as Administration of Justice, are prerequisites for other courses in the Paralegal program. They should be taken as soon as possible when a student starts in the Paralegal major. Introduction to Paralegal Studies is, at present,  only offered on-campus in the fall semesters on the Knight and Flanagan campuses. Introduction to Paralegal Studies will be offered online in the spring semester starting with the Spring 2010 semester
    

3. Paralegal students are required to take a Law Elective from one of the following courses: LAWS 1010 (Criminal Law), LAWS 2030 (Criminal Law & The Constitution), or LAWS 2040 (Law & Society).
    

4. Computer Classes: Six credits are required. Students are required to take the three one-credit modules on Introduction to Word processing (COMI 1640), Timeslips (BUSN 1300), and either QuickBooks (BUSN 1220) or Peachtree Accounting (BUSN 1290). Students will, however, be given a choice of taking either the three-credit course on Introduction to Computers  (COMI 1100) or three one-credit modules in its place. You may choose from a variety of one-credit courses - COMI 1645 (Intermediate Word processing), COMI 1650 (Advanced Word Processing), COMI 1420 (Introduction to Spreadsheets), COMI 1430 (Introduction to Database Software),  and COMI 1432 (Intermediate Database Software).
    

5. Students who take College Writing (ENGL 1005) are encouraged to take English Composition I (ENGL 1010) as an elective to improve their writing skills. These English courses should be completed before taking Basic Civil Procedure for Paralegals (LAWS 2020) or Legal Research and Writing (LAWS 2090) as those courses have a substantial writing component.
    

6. The required Arts & Humanities Elective may be completed by taking any Fine Arts course (ARTS, MUSC, or THEA), a foreign language course, a history course, or a philosophy course.
    

7. Legal Research & Writing (LAWS 2090) and Basic Civil Procedure (LAWS 2020) should be taken near the end of your program as they are advanced level courses. Both courses also include projects to be completed in addition to regular course tests and thus students need to devote more time to these courses. Legal Research is offered as an online course during the fall semester and Civil Procedure is offered as an online course during the spring semester.
    

8. Law of Torts (LAWS 2100) is only offered in the evening during the fall semester at the Knight Campus, but it is offered during the day in the spring semester on both the Knight and Flanagan campuses. It is not offered in the evening during the spring semester.  Law of Torts will be offered online during CCRI's Summer Session.

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