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4 years of legal studies join SPC

Getting positive feedback from the legal industry, St. Petersburg College decides to make paralegal studies its ninth bachelor's degree.

By MARSHA STRICKHOUSER
Published December 19, 2005

Starting next month, St. Petersburg College will offer a bachelor's degree in paralegal studies, the ninth four-year program the college has added since 2002.

Other bachelor's programs are education, nursing, technology management, dental hygiene, international business, orthotics and prosthetics, public safety administration, and veterinary technology.

Interest in the new program has been encouraging.

"It's been truly amazing," said Susan Demers, director of the college's legal assisting program. "We anticipated a single class of 24, but we're looking to add more already. There's been such a flurry of interest, even though we really have not promoted it."

The four-year program will prepare students to "go right out and be a paralegal," giving them more polished critical thinking skills and an appreciation for other cultures, Demers said. It also will train them as generalists.

"The world spins like a top, and you have to be able to adjust," said Demers, who has been with the college for 23 years.

The college's two-year legal assisting program draws 175 to 275 students, with 230 enrolled.

It was once thought that legal studies programs would be the new prelaw, but prelaw studies remain wildly divergent, including journalism, political science, Demers said. It's unusual to see a lawyer who studied legal studies as an undergraduate, she said.

The programs do attract many who have had other work experience.

"A good portion of two-year students already have bachelor's degrees and are looking for a profession," Demers said.

There are traditional students, then those in their 20s and 30s and also senior students. Local civil rights leader Perkins Shelton, who worked for Gulfcoast Legal Services for 10 years, was in his 70s when he came to the program, Demers said.

Ana Barros, 49, received her first bachelor's degree in 1978 in forensic science, but she worked as a personal chef and caterer for 15 years. Apprehensive at first about going back into the classroom, she blossomed in SPC's program, participating in mock trials, getting an internship at a firm in Tampa and gaining other valuable experience.

"It was a life-changing experience for me," Barros said.

Saturday, she received a two-year degree in paralegal studies and has started a new position at a local law firm. She planned to return to take classes from the four-year curriculum, which she said has more concentrated areas of study, such as intellectual property.

Yulia Brueva, 25, plans to graduate from the two-year program in May. With a bachelor's degree in technology management from St. Petersburg College under her belt, she works as a marketing-database manager.

"I am planning to apply to law school in the future, so I am taking paralegal classes to gain experience and knowledge," Brueva said. "The program has helped me to meet and intern for attorneys and a local circuit judge. I would like to work as a paralegal or law clerk while I am in law school, so I'm excited about the new four-year program because it will help me to gain more knowledge."

Meghan Hamill graduated from the two-year program Saturday in a ceremony at Tropicana Field. She hasn't decided whether to start the paralegal studies four-year program or another four-year program offered through St. Petersburg College's University Partnership Center.

The Tampa Bay area's private employers and public agencies offer a wide range of opportunity for trained paralegals.

"We're a major legal market," said Demers, who is also an adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law, where she teaches technology and litigation classes. "Because of that, we have people who pay a nice salary for people who have the skills and credentials."

The college did a feasibility study and surveyed 100 employers before deciding the launch the program. It found out that all needed paralegals with more developed skills, and more than three-quarters were open to assisting paralegals get four-year degrees.

"The legal community really encouraged us to do it," said Demers, who is active in the Clearwater Bar Association and has good relationships with the St. Petersburg and Hillsborough bars.

Other colleges in Florida, such as the University of Central Florida and the University of West Florida, have legal studies programs; Florida Metropolitan has a two-year program, and Florida Gulf Coast University and the University of Miami have online programs.

This area is ready for a similar program, just like the other bachelor's programs that St. Petersburg College has created, Demers said.

"Our four-year programs have really been embraced by Pinellas County," she said.

[Last modified December 19, 2005, 01:38:18]