Join us to find out more about the new Level 3 Certificate for Paralegal Technicians. Find out why NALP has renewed the Level 3 qualification set and what drove the changes. Hear where it sits within the overall qualification set and find out more about our plans for the next 12-18 months for the paralegal qualifications too.
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Transcript
0:06
So say thank you very much for joining us today.
0:08
The webinar today is about the new NALP Level 3 qualification.
0:13
My name is Chantal Cook, I’m one of the directors of NALP.
0:16
With us also on this call is Amanda Hamilton, our patron, Jane Robson, our CEO, who will be answering the questions today, and Nigel who looks after the marketing, dealing with any questions that you have or any issues that might occur.
0:29
So I think we should get started because this is quite new, this Level 3 qualification, it’s literally only just being launched and you’ve probably got lots of questions about why, why should I do it, why should I care, what does it mean, etcetera.
0:40
And that is exactly what we were looking at today.
0:43
So I’m going to start with my first question.
0:44
Can you just tell us about the new Level 3 qualification?
0:47
What is it?
0:49
Completely redesigned from the old Level 3.
0:52
This is called the Level 3 certificate for paralegal technicians.
0:57
There are 4 units of study covering an introduction to law, legal ethics and responsibilities, contract law, and litigation and dispute resolution.
1:09
And they are kind of the, the main themes that for someone that’s just starting out as a paralegal and wants a really good grounding for their career, they’re the sort of topics that they really need to know about now.
1:25
Now, I’ve already had a Level 3 certificate.
1:28
So I had three Level 3 kind of qualifications, including a Level 3 certificate.
1:32
So why replace them?
1:34
The old level threes have been in place for quite some time, about over a decade now.
1:41
And the, the sector has changed a lot.
1:44
The legal landscape has changed a lot.
1:47
And it was, although we were keeping it all up to date with the actual law, it didn’t really reflect today’s paralegal because the role of the paralegal has evolved quite a lot in that time.
2:00
We also wanted to align it with some of the occupational standards that have been agreed last year with I Fate and employers and other training providers that did look more at today’s paralegal job role and how diverse that can be and make sure that our qualifications really reflected that occupational standard.
2:29
So we have aligned it quite a lot with that.
2:33
The other thing is that the assessments themselves, there’s new technology and all those kind of things that have meant that we can offer not just it by doing assignments, which can be quite heavy for someone that’s perhaps not done any qualifications for quite some time or are new to these sort of academic qualifications.
2:57
The assignments can seem quite daunting when you’ve got to produce 7000 words over a four week.
3:05
Whereas this you’ve got a multiple choice question papers or MCQS.
3:11
So if you hear me say MCQS through this term, that’s what I mean.
3:17
And also you’ve got a shorter assignment that’s only sort of 2000 words and you’ve got 4 MCQS and three assignments to do the entire qualification.
3:30
So it’s more attuned to those who are at a Level 3 and makes more use of today’s technology.
3:39
So does that mean that the old Level 3 kind of doesn’t really count in any way anymore or people should be redoing it somehow because it wasn’t, wasn’t quite right?
3:47
No, no, there was nothing wrong with the content or the quality of the old Level 3.
3:53
It really was just making sure that we updated it to make sure we covered things like research, legal research, which wasn’t in the old Level 3.
4:04
It also the old Level 3 was, could be quite convoluted because you had optional units and mandatory units and you had to put them together and people were kind of struggling.
4:16
Well, what’s the best unit to take?
4:18
So we’ve taken a lead really from, as I say, from my faith in the occupational standards of what they expect somebody at Level 3 to be studying as their their foundational knowledge and have put that into those four main units.
4:33
It makes it simpler for those who are wanting a foundational qualification for their legal career.
4:42
So that kind of makes sense.
4:43
But why actually remove the the other ones, the Level 3 award certificate and diploma, Why get rid of those?
4:48
Why not just add this in some way?
4:50
This is the first of a brand new suite of qualifications that we are bringing in and we will be replacing our Level 4.
5:03
We will also be bringing in new Level 5 and Level 6, so over the next three years we will have a completely new look for our qualifications.
5:17
Again, this is about making it more modern, bringing it more into line with today’s paralegal.
5:24
We undertook some consultations with training providers and members and things like that, that to discuss what they wanted out of the qualifications.
5:38
And so we’re going to have this qualification that’s just been launched and that will then lead into a direct progression to the new level 4 that’s going to be launched in January 2025.
5:55
And then the Level 5 should be out later in 2025 with the Level 6 and a brand new level 7 in 2026.
6:04
So that will mean that people have a far clearer root of progression for their qualifications, rather than the Level 3 having three qualifications within the one level, having the award, the certificate and the diploma.
6:25
Some people found it difficult to juggle of exactly where they needed to be to be then be able to move on to the next one.
6:32
So this cleans up the lines of progression.
6:35
So with these changes that have been made in this kind of same sort of modernising and updating it and, you know, making it more wizzy, let’s say, can we still study it in exactly the same way?
6:45
So at the same centres, you know, whether you choose to do it remotely or in person or whatever, is that all the same still?
6:51
Yes, yeah, that is all the same.
6:53
And it means that all of our qualifications or these ones will have a two year span in which to do them.
7:06
But because they are all going to be 4 units going forward, they will fit into a more academic year for those that do want to study it at a further educational college and that kind of thing.
7:22
And it’s just gives people more options.
7:25
They will still be able to do it.
7:26
On distance learning, there are some centres that are offering it on blended learning or online courses, all sorts of things, and these just fit really well into those and we have worked with the training providers to make it as flexible as possible for people.
7:46
And how do this new qualifications, the new Level 3 paralegals qualifications map into the apprenticeships?
7:53
Is that kind of like a direct route there as well?
7:55
Yeah, there is.
7:57
If somebody is doing a Level 3 apprenticeship and they decide to take the Level 3 certificate for paralegal technicians, that it does mapping really, really easily and it covers a huge amount of the knowledge base from the knowledge, skills and behaviours from the Level 3 paralegal apprenticeship standard.
8:21
And that is where we’ve come from when looking at the occupational standards.
8:28
That was, as I say, worked out with I, FATE and the employers and training providers and I was part of the Trailblazer group looking at the new apprenticeship as well.
8:39
So I was involved in looking at what the standard should include right from the very start and we were very keen to ensure that it covered paralegals in every the type of industry they could possibly be working in.
8:57
So it’s not just aimed at those working in law firms, but also those in in house legal departments or specialist paralegal organisations and things like that.
9:10
Lovely, thank you.
9:11
Just to remind everybody, we’re going to have some time for questions.
9:14
So if you’ve got any questions from what Jane is talking about, please do pop them in the chat and we will come to those in just a moment.
9:20
So we kind of said that it that it’s basically available.
9:24
So can you just confirm if I were to Sign up today for my Level 3, would I be doing the old one or the new one?
9:31
You could currently take your pick.
9:36
The old one is still available but only until the end of July.
9:40
We will are withdrawing it on the 31st of July for new enrolments.
9:45
Those that are currently taking the old version of the Level 3 will be able to complete it and get their certificate and everything like that.
9:53
But we are closing it for new enrolments.
9:58
We would encourage you to take the new one because as I say, it does have additional skills in there like the legal research and things like that.
10:07
That, especially when you’re starting out, is very important.
10:12
But wasn’t part of the original Level 3 qualifications that we offered.
10:18
And you mentioned that all of the qualifications over the next couple of years will be shifting to this kind of new format and so on, and we’ll be updated in that way.
10:25
Does that mean that anyone should worry about their previous qualifications, the existing ones they’ve already got from now?
10:32
No, no, they are still, you know the quality and the content are still great from the old qualifications.
10:40
This is about modernising the approach and utilising the new technologies that are available, making the more accessible, giving people more options for how they want to study.
10:55
Most of these when they were first written, were written for distance learners who would just be getting the learning materials and be sitting at home and and reading through them.
11:06
And even the learning materials have been updated a lot to make them more user friendly.
11:12
So those that want to do that can do that, but they’ve been redesigned to allow people, especially those that perhaps have a special educational needs and things like that.
11:24
It makes it easier for them to read as well.
11:28
We’ve taken all of those sort of things into account when we have been redesigning the qualification.
11:35
And I guess I kind of know the answer to this, but I’m going to ask it anyway.
11:39
Does the route in.
11:40
So in other words, if you’re thinking I want to be become a paralegal, I want to do a qualification.
11:45
There was kind of like, you know, you looked when you’re doing a level three or four or seven or whatever happened to be, is that essentially still exactly the same process and the same person would be doing the same qualification?
11:56
Pretty much.
11:56
It’s essentially the same going to be the same process.
12:00
When we do introduce the level 5 and level 6, somebody will have had to have done a A level 4 or equivalent.
12:09
But that does open it up for those that perhaps have started a law degree and did the first year of law but had to drop out for some reason and want to come back to it but don’t want to go back to university.
12:21
If they passed their first year of their their law degree, then they could potentially just pick up from level 5 and go onwards from that.
12:30
So it does allow people to sort of come in that are different levels in within their own educational journey.
12:42
Anything that you feel that you should be sharing with learners to make sure that you know that they, they fully understand sort of the changes that anything you want to make sure, just remember this, this is my key message, if you like.
12:54
I think my key message is for those that have already done or are doing the the old version of the Level 3.
13:02
This does not detract from the quality of or the viability of that qualification.
13:09
And we will still, if somebody wants to go on and do the new level 4 or whatever, they can still do that.
13:16
If they’ve taken the old level three, that is not in question.
13:23
I think that they also should look at this from a point of view of like with anything, things move on.
13:33
We know more now than we did a decade ago and the landscape has changed completely.
13:40
The educational landscape has changed completely as well.
13:43
We’ve got different regulators.
13:45
We have the regulator has a completely different overview of qualifications and things now and so much has changed.
13:56
So this is really about keeping up with all of the changes, both in law and in education.
14:04
This isn’t about throwing out the old and here’s the new, and that’s no longer valid.
14:09
It’s not that at all.
14:10
It is just keeping up with everything.
14:14
Lovely.
14:14
Thank you.
14:15
Which I think answers Debbie’s question, which is existing Level 3 students who are kind of progressing through that qualification.
14:21
They can just carry on as they were doing beforehand.
14:23
They can indeed, yes, they can.
14:25
They will still be able to progress when they achieve their Level 3 qualification.
14:30
They will be able to go on and do the the new level 4 and that comes in in January or the old level 4 that’s available now.
14:42
But yes, it’s does not stop them from progressing at all.
14:48
Debbie’s, Debbie’s just asked, oh, can you still progress from certificate to diploma?
14:53
If you want to change from doing the certificate to the diploma, then you will need to get that application in by the end of July because it’s still classed as a new enrolment from an A regulatory perspective from the the regulations we have to deal with.
15:13
So if you’re doing the certificate now with a view to doing the diploma sort of later on, you kind of need to enrol on that now or by the end of July at least.
15:28
Yeah.
15:28
So sorry, N whoever N is, is is asking actually about the level 7 to say what are the requirements to take to take that on and then can can that be used to become a lawyer?
15:44
The level 7 is a, our current level 7 is a postgraduate qualification.
15:50
So you have to have a law degree currently to be able to get onto our level 7.
15:57
A degree is the equivalent to a level 6 and a level 7 is that post degree or postgraduate.
16:08
So that’s the current level 7.
16:10
When we have the new suite in and we have the new level 7, then if you’ve got a degree or you have a level 6 or equivalent, whether it be the mount level 6 or a another equivalent level 6, then you can go on to do the level 7.
16:31
If you, I noticed that you said can you become a lawyer in the future?
16:38
Well, a lawyer in which respect?
16:42
Because a lawyer isn’t a protected term, a solicitor or a barrister.
16:51
The solicitors now using the SQAI would strongly suggest you go back and look at the webinar that we did last earlier this month.
17:00
Was it earlier this month, earlier this month.
17:04
Sorry, I’m losing track of the days that we did with Robert from Barbary and they will he in his, he did explain how you can get on to the SQE preparation courses and all of that.
17:24
Because it’s, it’s, there’s so much more to it from transferring from one of our qualifications to being a solicitor or anything like that.
17:37
The barristers, they are still looking at alternative entries into being a barrister, but I haven’t got an update from the top of my head as to how that’s going.
17:48
Another one from Debbie, but it’s about.
17:50
So if you can’t enrol on a deployment before the end of July, will they be able to enrol on level 4 or when you have to have completed a bit of the new Level 3 before you can enrol onto the new onto Level 4?
18:01
As long as you have got a Level 3 certificate or above, you will be able to enrol onto the level 4 and in some cases you may be able to enrol on the level 4 anyway because we also look at experience and things like that.
18:20
The Level 4 doesn’t necessarily have to have the level three behind it because we have some people that come in that been working in law for quite some time and so the Level 3 might be a bit too low A level for them to come in at.
18:39
So then they go straight on to level 4.
18:41
The level 4 will still include some things around the legal system, English legal system and that sort of thing.
18:52
It will also be required to do the research, legal research part.
18:58
If you haven’t already done the new Level 3, you will need to have to take the little bit out of that which is on legal research, just because it will be necessary for you to sort of understand and go through the level four more easily.
19:14
Just for clarification, if someone’s doing the Level 3 award, can they progress to the Level 4 after doing the award?
19:28
Potentially, but it we would probably look at if they’ve got experience and things like that, that could sort of beef up their knowledge.
19:38
We would also have to look at what optional unit they took when they were doing the award because the award only has one mandatory unit and doesn’t cover legal ethics and responsibilities as a mandatory unit as the level certificate and and diploma do.
20:02
You would still have to do the research.
20:06
Unit or part of the unit on research as you start the new Level 4.
20:17
But we would look at everybody’s sort of experience as well.
20:21
It’s not a clear cut.
20:23
I’m not going to sit here and say no, you can’t, because if you’ve also got maybe five years experience or something, that would be a bit silly, wouldn’t it?
20:32
We don’t have a, you must have a Level 3 to do the level 4.
20:37
Amanda, some of the questions have been asking whether you can go from Level 3 to level 4.
20:42
Of course we have the old level 4 still available.
20:46
Yeah.
20:46
And that will be available until, what, January next year?
20:51
So that research, will that research be relevant for the new level 4 or the old?
20:58
It’ll be relevant to the new level 4.
21:02
I just wanted to clarify.
21:03
Yeah.
21:03
Then the research basis for the new level 4, because the way the new level 4 is being designed will sort of link back to some of the learnings from the Level 3.
21:16
And the research is probably the biggest part of that.
21:19
We have one out of time.
21:20
So perfect.
21:22
Spot on.
21:22
That’s great.
21:23
I just want to say thank you to you all very much for joining us.
21:26
Thank you to Jane, to Amanda and to Nigel.
21:28
And I said particularly for you guys for giving up your probably, you got your lunch break to join us on this webinar.
21:34
We do appreciate and it’s always lovely to have you here.
21:36
So we’ve got the next one coming up, 12th of September, that’s all about apprenticeships starting half an hour earlier at 12:30.
21:43
And we really, really hope that we can see you all at National Paralegal Day on Monday, the 11th of November.
21:49
And that’s taking place at the Law Society in London.
21:53
Have a lovely, lovely afternoon and we’ll see you soon, hopefully.
Previous webinars can be seen on our YouTube channel here.
