Paralegal programmes prepare people to do substantive legal work under a lawyer’s supervision — research, drafting, discovery, case management and client contact — in firms, corporate legal departments and government offices. It is the most widely available legal programme in Florida by a wide margin.
The degrees this program covers
⚠ This programme has the widest spread of entry points on the site: 31 Florida public institutions award in it, most at ASSOCIATE or CERTIFICATE level at state and technical colleges, with bachelor’s degrees at Florida Gulf Coast, St Petersburg College and the University of West Florida. ⚠ It is NOT a shortened route to becoming a lawyer — a paralegal does not practise law, and the J.D. is a separate graduate degree that this neither replaces nor abbreviates. What it is: paid legal work in about two years, and a close view of the profession before committing three more years and a bar examination to it. ⚠ Florida does not license paralegals; the voluntary Florida Registered Paralegal designation and the national NALA and NFPA certifications are what employers look at, so ask a programme which examinations its graduates sit.
Careers this program leads to
Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end,
and the sources behind it.
Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers.
⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree
keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.
32 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023,
at these levels: Associate, Bachelor's, Certificate (<12 weeks), Certificate (1-2 years), Certificate (12 weeks-1 year).
A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited
its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing
program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.
Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only —
the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is
strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023
will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.
Updated 21 September 2026.
⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always
read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.