1. Brooklyn Mullins

2. Quick Facts: Paralegal 2012 Median Pay$46,900 year $22.59 per hour Entry-Level EducationAssociate’s degree Number of Jobs, 2012277,000 Job Outlook17% (faster than average) Employment Change, 2012-2246,2000

3.  Paralegals and legal assistants typically do the following:  Investigate the facts of a case  Conduct research on relevant laws, regulations, and legal articles.  Organize and maintain documents in a paper or electronic filing systems.  Gather and arrange evidence and other legal documents for attorney review and case preparation.  Write reports to help lawyers prepare for trials

4.  Paralegals and legal assistants held about 277,000 jobs in 2012. Paralegals are found in all types of organizations, but most work for law firms, corporations, and government agencies.  Most Paralegals do most of their work in offices and law libraries.  Occasionally, they travel to gather information and do other tasks.

5.  Most paralegals and legal assistants have an associate’s degree in paralegal studies, or a bachelor's degree in another field and a certificate in paralegal studies.  In some cases, employers hire college graduates with a bachelor’s degree with no legal experience or education and train them on the job.  In these cases, the new employee may have experience in a technical field that is useful to law firms, such tax preparation, nursing, or criminal justice.

6.  The median annual wage for paralegals and legal assistants was $46,990 in May 2012.  The top five industries these paralegals worked were: Federal government $62,400 Finance and insurance $54,670 Local government$47,000 Legal services$44,950 State government$42,050

7.  According to a report recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 84.3% of the nation's paralegals are women.

8. Paralegal