The new Level 4 Certificate for Associate Paralegals (Video)

The new Level 4 Certificate for Associate Paralegals launches in January 2025. This webinar looks at why the new paralegal qualification is coming out, what is different when comparing it to the current Level 4 Diploma and where it sits within NALP’s set of Ofqual-certified Paralegal Qualifications.

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Transcript

Okay, we will get started then. So thanks everybody for joining us today. This is our last NALP webinar of the year, but don’t worry, we’ve got plenty more lined up for next year. So my name is Chantal Cook. I’m one of the directors of NELP and I shall be your host this.

afternoon yeah it’s technically afternoon. So I’ll be your host this afternoon. I’ve got a few little bits of housekeeping to get started before we kind of crack on properly. Don’t worry, won’t take long.

So pure housekeeping things are

Please, we’d love to see your faces. So if you can have your camera on, that’s always really nice. But equally we understand

If you’re not in the mood for the camera today that’s fine then turn it off no problem at all. But we do like to see you

But in terms of your microphone, if you could actually put yourself on mute, that would be great.

Sometimes there’s background noise and what it can do is it can kind of interfere a little bit and so on. So if you’re able to put your microphone on mute, that would be wonderful.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t ask questions. You absolutely can. We use the chat function for all questions. So if you have a question, just pop it in the chat

And then we’ll come to it at the end. So we don’t tend to break the webinar in the middle for questions. So it might be that your question just automatically gets answered anyway.

But don’t worry about it. Pop it in the chat. And then if it still needs answering, we will come to it at the end.

So cameras on off your choice. Microphone off please put yourself on mute. All questions or anything like that please put them in the chat and then Nigel can deal with them. Also, if you’ve got a kind of problem or something, then obviously direct message Nigel. He’s labeled as the host of the meeting and he might be able to help you with that.

Nigel will also be popping into the chat some of the links of things that we talk about. So if you want more information, we’d like some feedback as well, Nigel will put a feedback link into the chat. All of that will be in the chat system.

So basically that’s the only thing you have to look at is the chat. Don’t worry about the Q&A or anything like that.

Just the chat.

Okay, I think that’s the housekeeping sorted out. So I’d like to say thank you very much to everybody who joined us at National Paralegal Day this year.

it seems like it was only about three weeks away, wasn’t it? Sometimes the time goes so fast. But it was a wonderful, wonderful night.

So thank you to everybody who joined us. To those of you who weren’t able to make it, we’re really sorry you missed it and we really hope that you can join us next year because we’ve already got plans for next year.

So thanks again to everybody who came along. It was a fantastic night at the Law Society, really buzzy. We had a fun game to play. We had prizes we of course had our awards as well for the highest achieving learners

So it really was a lovely, lovely evening of networking and kind of meeting old friends and you. So we really hope that you weren’t able to join us

Last time, you can definitely join us next time. So it’ll be November of next year.

look out for the details. We’ll be sending those out in the early part of next year to let you know what’s happening.

As we’re close to Christmas, I’d just like to let you know that the NALP offices will be closed from 1pm on the 24th of December and then will reopen as usual on the 2nd of January. So just be aware the NALP office is closed 1pm on the 24th of December

right through until the 2nd of January. Hopefully you won’t need us in that time because you’ll be having a rest. That’s certainly what we hope we’ll be doing.

having a rest and drinking far too much Baileys probably but you know

that’s just between you and me. So a few things as well to let you know about for next year. These webinars have been extremely successful. We’ve been running them now for just over two years.

really successful. And we’re so pleased that you find them useful and are really enjoying them. So don’t worry, we’ll be carrying on next year. We already have a full program of webinars lined up for 2025. Just a few little things to let you know to whet your appetite.

On the 16th of January will be our first webinar for 2025. That’s with our academic director, Tom Mortimer, and he’ll be talking about qualifications and examinations and things like that. So if you’re in the current process of going through an ALP qualification or you’re planning to, then that’s definitely a webinar you want to check out.

That’s the 16th of January. More details coming soon. Also lined up in 2025, we have webinars on job hunting.

Working as a cost lawyer, find out what that’s like, whether that would appeal to you. Our new level five qualifications, which are due later on in 2025.

Top tips on progressing your career, more webinars on different types of paralegal jobs, what they’re like and how you get into them so we’ll be

sort of highlighting different sectors that you can work in as a paralegal and explaining more about that. There’ll be some webinars on that too. And of course, we’ll be talking about our new advanced apprenticeship or paralegal apprenticeship. We’ll have a webinar to explain how that works and what that’s all about too. So that’s all coming up in 2025.

So let’s get started with today’s webinar. So today we’re talking about the new NALP Level 4 qualification. And joining us on the webinar to answer those questions is our CEO, Jane Robson.

It’s a little white. Also in the background, our former CEO and our patron, Amanda Hamilton.

She’s giving me a little wave too. And in the background, kind of doing all the techie stuff behind the scenes is Nigel, one of our directors for marketing. So he’s there as well and he’ll be helping out if there’s anything that’s kind of

getting stuck or whatever. He’s there to help out. So let’s get started and let’s talk about this new level four qualification. So Jane, can I ask you.

Can you just basically tell us what is it?

Tell us what the level four qualification is.

Right. Well, it’s a brand new qualification called the NALP Level 4 Certificate for associate paralegals. So it links up with our associate paralegal membership level.

It’s made up of four units of study.

It is supposed to be the next step from the level three for paralegal technicians.

that we launched earlier this year.

It’s the second of our new suite of qualifications. So there will be a level five, a level six and a brand new level seven coming.

over the course of 2025 and 2026.

So, yeah, it’s

looking at…

making sure that it’s fit for purpose moving forward. It’s more modern

We’ve changed the assessment a bit. So it fits in with today’s paralegals far more.

Which actually kind of brings me on to my next question which is

kind of why are you replacing it because nalp already had a level four diploma so why replace it and why turn this into a certificate

Well, the diploma is a brilliant qualification, but it’s 10 units, which is quite a heavy workload for a learner.

And can be quite difficult for some of our centers as well to deliver

in an academic year.

it was when we were looking at the suite of qualifications that we offer, we were looking at how best to move this forward that was going to work

better for our learners, better for our centers, but still give people what they wanted out of it and give them the opportunity to

progress their

sort of academic journey as a paralegal

And so we looked at what are the most sort of important units in the level four

And we’ve kept those within the level four and uh then

the other subjects are going to be going into the level five and the level six, etc.

Because they tend to be higher level, they require a slightly higher level of understanding.

So the new way that it’s going to be set out will be far more along a similar line to those that are doing like a law degree or something like that and how it’s split out over the years for a law degree.

So that’s what we’ve been looking at.

Does that mean that the old level four diploma, if you’ve got that, it’s kind of not worth having now? Is that what that means?

Not at all. I mean, the old level four diploma was and still is a

really good qualification it is

This is just about making sure that we are in the best place

to provide what is needed for today’s paralegals and for the learners that are coming through today because the legal sector has changed so much over the last sort of 10 years since all this was

first designed our qualification suite was first designed and everything

So it’s right that we now look at it to try and

make sure that

these are fit for purpose and give what they want. And with the change in the introduction, sorry, of the sqe

And how the legal sector is trying to

encourage a more diverse

range of people coming through and joining the legal sector, it also makes sense.

And this gives people more stepping off.

points in their learning journey so they can do a level three and step off and take a break. They can come back and do a level four.

etc. So it makes it easier for them when they’re trying to fit this in with their normal working lives as well.

So it sounds like it’s really it’s about flexibility and also in a way means that you can progress

Yeah. Yeah.

easier in a sense because you haven’t got to do this massive great thing in order to get to the next stage. You can take it in steps. As you say, eating the elephant one bite at a time for want of a better expression.

Not that I eat elephants.

Yes, it is a bit that way. Yeah, it’s um

it’s just it seems to fit more. We did do a consultation with our centres and with some employers as well

And this proved a very popular way to take the qualification suite forward.

we did it

get a lot of feedback.

And a lot of people have said that they love the level four and they like the learning materials and we’re not like throwing the baby out of the bathwater as it were here.

But it’s just that it’s just

They found it difficult to deliver, especially if they were more traditional centres, more traditional colleges and things, they found it difficult to deliver.

Because there was so much. So they couldn’t do it in a full year, but it also wasn’t quite two years. So one way or another, it wasn’t fitting with people.

And there was also some feedback about some of the subjects that we were covering. Well, that would normally be a higher level. That would normally be in the next stage of a degree or something like that.

So we’ve taken all of that on board.

Great. But now we’ll actually be finishing off

the previous level four diplomas and that will no longer be available once the certificate’s available. Is that correct? And what was the thinking behind that?

Yeah, mostly logistically, because from a regulatory perspective if you you can’t kind of have two qualifications that are almost the same

running at the same time. And whilst this is a certificate and the reason it’s a certificate rather than a diploma is just because it is smaller

And the way that the regulations state you have to title using award certificate or diploma is based on the size of the qualification.

So that’s why this is a certificate and not a diploma because it is smaller than the old diploma.

However.

we

we have to keep all of our qualifications updated at all times and obviously the more qualifications that we’ve got, the harder that is to do.

So it makes more sense.

to have a dedicated suite of qualifications that gives a very clear

path of learning for

older students that come on and decide to do this

As well as giving them all the times that they can step off and they haven’t got to do it all in

three years or four years or six years or whatever it is that um

they can take breaks in between.

And when will this new level four qualification be available and the old one retired?

The new qualification should be available by the end of January.

We are just in the process of sending everything for proofreading all the learning materials and everything. So we are very nearly there.

So after Christmas, I will be putting it up on the off-ball register and getting qualification specifications and things out to people.

the old level four will still be available for enrolments until

the 1st of April.

And then it will close for new enrolments.

Everybody that is currently doing a level four will still have their full period of two years to complete it or two and a half years if they’ve got reasonable adjustments, that sort of thing.

So everyone that’s on the current level four will still be able to complete it.

still get full recognition and everything for that. Certification for that won’t end until two and a half years hence.

All right, I think that probably answers a lot of the basic questions to kind of give us an understanding of where we’re going with this. I noticed that there’s lots of questions coming in on the chat.

So I think it would be good to go through some of those. Maybe if I can do the first couple, Nigel, and then pass over to you, as you’ll be able to tell which ones maybe have been answered.

So I think we know the answer to this one, but I’m going to ask it anyway. This is from Ruth. I’ve completed a level three employment law diploma with TU

TUC, I’m going to get my big TLC. Would the level four certificate be suitable as a next step?

Yes, it would. For those that haven’t done our level three for paralegal technicians, we will just ask that they do the legal research

part of the current level three paralegal technicians.

Which their center will be able to informally assess them on. It won’t go towards their overall mark.

But the legal research is very important for the whole suite of qualifications and helping them get through all of that.

So that’s the only thing that we say. If someone hasn’t done the

full level three for paralegal technicians that they just do that legal research, but they can do that with their own centers.

It’s not a formal assessment that has to come through us or anything.

Deanna asks, she says, I did a law degree, but it was about 17 years ago. I’m looking to transfer my units across.

Which course should she go for? Is this the level four?

If she’s got an LLB, we still have the level seven

So can…

move into that. It will depend on what she’s covered in her law degree, where the law degree was taken, if it’s a UK law degree.

There’s a lot of things that I would have to know that it’s not one straightforward answer, unfortunately, because of the entry criteria for the level seven, but yeah.

Okay, so either give now for call or talk to your centre would be the advice.

Absolutely, yeah.

Okay, so we can’t answer that for you directly, Deanna, but hopefully at least you can point you in the right direction of where to go to find out the answer.

Yeah.

Yep.

Briefly, I’ve got a question as well. What are the four units of study in the method of assessment? I think that is actually an interesting thing to talk about. So maybe you could give us a bit more information on that.

Yeah, the four um

things that will be studied will be the English legal system which whilst we do touch on obviously in the introduction to law level three

This goes into more depth than the level three. The other three units are the law of tort, employment law and practice and criminal law.

So that’s going to be the four units all of our

For our new suite of qualifications, every qualification is going to be based on four units of study.

For the assessment for this.




um so

that’s a much um

less subjective way of assessing somebody’s knowledge, just base knowledge.

there will then be there




is the maximum if they can do it in less. We don’t have a minimum, but we do have a maximum.

And if they can…


merit and distinction and stuff is on that because they can have

a pastor meritorial distinction.

Okay, lovely. Emily asks, if I’ve done the level the new level four certificate, what would I go on to next after that?

The new level five

diploma, which is coming out spring

2025, late spring

So sort of June-ish time.

is the current thinking?

we will be launching that and

That will cover…

landlord and conveyancing business law and practice matrimonial and civil and public and EU law.

So that’s the plan for the level five diploma currently.

Okay.

We are also looking at the

advanced paralegal apprenticeship and making sure that we can map some of that to that.

Blue.

I’ve jumped down on the questions because I see, Nigel, that you’re in the background answering a lot of the ones and giving people links to things. So hopefully for those people that I ask questions I’m not reading out.

it is because those questions have already been answered either in a previous question or because Nigel sent you a link. If you feel it’s not been answered, then please kind of ask it again down the bottom and it will come up as a new question

for me to look at. But one of them was about…

Second chances. So what happens if you don’t pass the exam?

Can you retake it? How does that work?

No, it’s fine. Yes, obviously. We do have a…

You do one assessment. If they don’t pass that, they get a free new assessment, a free go.

the second try, as it were. If they don’t pass that, they can also do a third

attempt, but they do have to pay

For those, the third attempts.

So that’s basically just to cover the cost of the proctoring for the MCQ or for the assessment for the assignment.

So if you panic and go blank, don’t worry, you can do it again.

Yeah, absolutely.

Good. Okay. And Joanna asks, what are the past grades for the multiple choice and written assignments?

Similar to

currently the pass grades for the MCQs

will be

Between 65 and 70%, I

off top of my head because that’s a that’s a Tom question, I have to say.

And we’ll be speaking to Tom on the 16th of January at the webinar. So do join us then.

Yeah, this is it yeah so um uh and the assignments are 45%

um so

that’s for the whole assignment. So the assignment will be 45% for that assignment and then we aggregate the two out.

So the end result tends to be around the 60% mark

between the two, if you see what I mean.

Yes.

It’s difficult to explain when there’s two different types of assessments so

Yeah.

That’s…

Okay. Emily has another question. The units in the level five you mentioned

are some of those the same as the ones

that were in the level four diploma. I think you kind of covered that, that those units are now being moved across

into the different levels.

They move it and of course they will be stepped up in sort of the complexity of the

the learning and how in-depth we go into those because that’s the other thing with

having only four units rather than 10 is we can go into far more complexity and far more depth into those topics.

Public and EU law, which is coming at level five, is completely new. We’ve never covered that before in any of our previous units or at any level.

So that will be completely new to people.

And I think that kind of sorry

So, yeah.

No, I was just so yeah, it’s not exactly the same

But yeah, we are moving them into the other levels.

Which I think answers Emily’s second part of the question, which is changing to multiple choice is 60% of the mark.

she would say, doesn’t that making it easier and therefore devaluing it? But I think what you’re saying really is

Yes, the whole point of this certificate is to make it

not easier to do the exam, but easier to get through that to move to the next level and to separate things into things that are

this type of assignment versus this type of assignment.

It’s also about recognizing that at this level you are gaining knowledge and knowledge is something that we can assess using

multiple choice questions. The other thing that we’re also having to think about

is AI and the use of AI and all um

awarding organisations are having this issue of what is the most secure way of getting

assessing people without them

being able to well basically cheat using AI and us being able to detect it.

One of the ways is by using problem-based questions, which is what we do in our current assignments.

But AI is improving all the time.

So we are assessing the knowledge at the level four.

just the knowledge of what they gain on the MCQ. The assignment is about them being able to apply that knowledge to specific scenarios.

And that shows that they’ve actually got a deeper understanding. It’s not just that they’re

you know.

just reciting things that they’ve learned.

without actually understanding them and how they apply to the law in practice.

Lovely. Also a question, do you have to do the new level for before you can go to level five

if you’ve already done the level three diploma. So can you go from the level three diploma straight to level five or do you have to do the level four?

We would take it on a case-by-case at this point.

Because sometimes it can also depend on what experience you’ve had in between.

It will…

if someone has only done the level three diploma and hasn’t actually done anything practical

in their experience and gained experience in it, then we would probably say no really you could

do we’re doing the level

But if they have got if they have

full experience

then if they’ve been working as a paralegal and things like that. So they’ve been applying their knowledge and everything, then there may be opportunity for people to kind of skip a level because they’ve got that additional experience.

Absolutely. Yeah.

So again, advice would be chat with NALP or talk to your centre and they’ll be able to advise you on which is the best qualification for you and your particular circumstances.

Yes.

Lovely. Can you give us a rough idea of the cost of this new level four?

um

Uh, gosh.

I…

I believe we did do it and I’ve…

not got the things. I will…

Okay, so we’ll be adding that to the website.

Thank you on that and i will it will be added to the website it’s

Going to be slightly more than the current level four.

But it’s not going to be, you know.

hugely out of the ballpark.

And our qualifications, I should remind everybody are

That’s cost yeah

very cost effective.

Yeah, that is the cost to centers. We do not do anything about the cost to individuals. I’m sorry, we can’t tell you that because that’s up to each individual center. We give centers the costs that

We charge for our qualifications.

And then what they then charge on top of that to their students is outside of our control.

So I guess then the advice there would be to check with the centres and choose a centre based on

Yeah.

obviously partly the price because we all choose things a little bit based on price, but also choose it based on whether it’s learning system works for you. Is it remote is it in person is it hybrid? What support are they offering all those kind of things. So I think it’s a

Yeah.

probably one of those things where it’s a much bigger question than just, oh, here it is, plug in.

off we go kind of thing.

Yes, it is because obviously we are responsible for doing the assessment. We’re the awarding organisation. So we’ve designed it, we’re writing all the learning materials etc

But…

the delivery of the learning is down to the individual centers.

Oh.

So if you’re a centre, come and talk to us and we can let you know how you can take on the new level four. And if you’re an individual, then in terms of cost, you definitely want to talk to your preferred centre and then find out what they’ll be charging and obviously what the payment plans are and stuff like that as well.

So hopefully that answers those questions.

So one other question that wasn’t

covered chantal. Actually, one of our training centers

would like to know if the…

enrollment eligibility is

going to be approximately the same as the current

level four diploma or whether that’ll be changing.

What, sorry?

the eligibility the enrollment eligibility the prerequisite criteria

The enrollment eligibility will be very similar. As I say, those that haven’t done the

So I’m going to stop you for a second, Jane. I’m sorry. Oleg, I don’t know if you can hear us.

Brilliant. You’ve put yourself on mute. That’s fantastic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Can I just ask, maybe we start this again because it was very difficult to hear the question. So Nigel, maybe you could repeat the question and then Jane can go in nice and clean for the answer. I think that will help everybody understand

And for the recording, for those people who aren’t here right now and want to listen to it later, I think it’ll make it clear as well. So over to you, Nigel.

Yeah, so…

one of our training centers was actually asking about the enrollment eligibility

and how that will compare to the

the requirements and prerequisites for the current level four

diploma.

The…

nude level four certificate will be a very similar entry requirements.

We have built it so that it is a natural step on

from the level three for paralegal technicians but also so those who

who perhaps have already got some experience as a working in the legal sector or

previously did like an A level in law or have something else that they’ve done they can go on and just come in and do the level four

Because obviously we understand that the level three is the equivalent to an A level. Level four is mapped

generally around the year one of a degree.

So if you think of it that way, so if someone’s got

You know, some.

previous experience or higher level of qualifications elsewhere

then they may well be able to just come in at the level four. Same as they do now. Again, if you go, it’s one of those things of speak to the centre.

speak to us or the your centre can speak to us whichever

And we can advise on a more individualized basis.

Lovely. And I think we’ve got time for just one question because I’m aware that we’re overrunning. I think this is a quick one. So I’m going to ask it quickly is what about mature students with no legal experience?

I’m guessing it’s again ask your centre.

Yeah, speak to your centre. If they’re not sure, they can come and speak to us or drop us an email and we will try and help.

Because again, I think a lot of these questions are very individual, aren’t they? It depends. Well, you might have done something that wasn’t perhaps officially seen as legal, but would actually count towards your experience or something like that.

Yes.

Definitely. Not a one size fits all thing. So do talk to your centre or come and talk to us.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Brilliant. Well, I think I have to call it a day now because we have overrun and we do like to keep on time, but we’re really, really pleased that you all had so many questions. That’s fantastic. We’re always here to answer whatever questions we possibly can for you.

So as a quick recap, this new level four certificate will be launching early part of next year, but the diploma, the current level four will still be available right up until the 1st of April. So if you really want to get started quickly or you don’t fancy the idea of that, you fancy the idea of the other one.

Yeah.

No problem. You’ve still got plenty of time. If you’re already doing your level four, again, don’t worry. Those will still be assessed in the same way and you’ll still get your qualification at the end of it and so on. Plus, of course, you’ve got a level five coming out later in 2025 and then

more qualifications coming on that as well.

Yeah, level six and level seven are 2026.

So we haven’t.

We’ll tell you more about those a bit nearer the time.

Absolutely. Yeah.

So thank you so much to all of you for joining us on this, our last webinar of 2024. Thank you so much for coming along and for all your questions. We hope we’ve managed to answer them

for you. Any other questions, let us know. I said, do drop us an email or give us a call or whatever and we’ll do our best to answer them.

Please do fill in the feedback link that Nigel has put into the chat. We’d love to hear your kind of feedback on the webinars. We also like to know what other topics you’d like in the future. So let us know that if there’s a topic

that we haven’t covered yet or haven’t mentioned earlier, then do let us know and we’ll try and put that into the system too.

In the meantime, I just want to say thank you so much to everybody that’s joined us. Thank you to Jane, our CEO, for answering today’s questions and for Nigel being in the background there dealing with kind of the background stuff. And first of all, I needed to mention Nigel because you don’t get a lot of

a lot of screen time, but you are busy in the background. And thanks also to our patron, Amanda Hamilton for joining us today as well. Thank you to all of you. We’d like all of us from here at NALP, we’d like to wish you a really, really lovely Christmas. We hope you have a fantastic time, whatever that means to you, whether it’s family or a bit of quiet time or partying, whatever it is, we hope it’s a fantastic one for you and the same for the new year.

And let’s look forward to a really, really wonderful year in 2025 for all of us.

And for the paralegal sector in general as well. So from all of us here at NALP, thank you for joining us.

Happy Christmas!

Yeah, thanks very much.

Previous webinars can be seen on our YouTube channel here.