Is becoming a paralegal a good stepping stone to becoming an attorney?

Advice from any attorney's or paralegals apprecitated!
Here's my story: 35 & feeling like it is time for a career change (been in my line of work for about 10yrs). No college degree. Have always wanted to be an attorney. Before I make the leap & investment of about 7yrs of my life & who knows how much $$ on law school (and bachelors) would it be wise to consider working as a paralegal to actually get a taste of the work an attorney does. It would take far less time & money to obtain my paralegal certificate. My thinking is also, if I am working in a law firm/legal field time off for class & POSSIBLY tuition reimbursement might be offered.
Thanks in advance for thoughtful responses.

I'm going to tell you a dirty little secret. Many law schools do not actually require a bachelor's degree. You will have to investigate each school that you may be interested in, but many require so many hours towards a bachelor's if they require that. Each school sets its own requirements so you will really have to do your own legwork.

Many lawschools are interested in the entire person. How have you been contributing to society? If you express a desire to build on that and law school would enable that desire, a law school might be interested in you.

It's not just the money aspect. You have to be prepared to make some real sacrifices (I didn't go to a movie or have much of a social life during law school) but if this is your desire, it's worth it.

Also, you don't need to have a paralegal certificate to work as a paralegal. Do you know any attorneys? Perhaps one would let you sit in with them for a day (excluding privileged communications, of course) so you can get a better feel for a typical day.

If this is what you really want to do, go for it. I went to law school in my 30's and have no regrets. Actually, most of the students, if you attend evening classes are older and more mature. I worked full time, was a single mom and attended classes three to four nights per week for four years. (Four years is for part time law school).

I hope you go for it and I wish you the absolute best.

I have a Paralegal Certificate and could never find a job.

You are not likely to find work with the certificate alone, but it would be good for personal knowledge to know if law is what you want.... also with a high lsat and an aa some law schools will take you

It is, but most places don't like paralegals with paralegal certificates and no experience.

You would be very lucky to find a firm that is willing to reimburse you for any tuition you may incur towards a paralegal degree (you'll need a bachelor's) or a law degree (juris doctor) because they do not gain anything from it. They can ask you to sign a contract stating that you'll work for them for x many years at x amount of dollars, but that could be akin to indentured servitude, especially if they don't pay as high a salary as other firms.

Do you have any college credits at all? As the last poster said, some law schools don't require a bachelor's degree, only units, but to find them among ABA approved/accredited law schools would be very rare indeed.

Here is a list of ABA approved law schools:
http://www.abanet.org/legaled/approvedla...

I suppose a paralegal degree could be used as an introduction to the legal field. However, I think it would be a waste if you just want to be an attorney. You won't be able to find paralegal work with a certificate, you need a degree (2yr or 4yr). And the cost of a 2yr paralegal degree is not cheap. American Bar Association (ABA) accredited schools have associates degree paralegal programs for about $20k...so again, if you want to be an attorney, save your money and go straight for the neck. Get you undergrad in pre-law, political science, or english. Then go off to law school.

However, a career as a paralegal might suit you better than you think! You only have to get an associates degree, you still perform substantive legal work but without the 60+ hour weeks and 7 years of college. Here's a link that provides information on the career: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos114.htm

Being a paralegal is very satisfying. I love my job and can't see ever wanting to do anything else. I get to work with attorneys, do real legal work but without all the pressure that attorneys are under, and the pay is great. After working as a paralegal for 3 years the pay is over $50k/year and it just gets better. I know a lady that has been a paralegal for only 5 years and she makes $75k/year. Now this is partly because she works for a huge firm in downtown Phoenix. A paralegal's salary depends on how much experience they have, their work product, the area they work in (capitol city v smaller city), the size of the firm, and the sector (private v government).

Consider a career as a paralegal. Being an attorney is not all it's cracked up to be. I work in a law office with over 20 attorneys and almost all of them wish they hadn't gone to law school...that's a large percentage! Here's a link to a list of ABA accredited schools, which are the only ones worth going to for a paralegal degree: http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/para...

Best of luck to you with whatever you decide.