Most of our members are practicing paralegals.  To be eligible to be an Associate Paralegal, Certified Paralegal or Qualified Paralegal you will need to be able to demonstrate relevant work or other experience - both are called qualifying employment. To be an Affiliate member however, you do not need to show qualifying employment - anyone can become an Affiliate member.

Qualifying Employment at Work

Qualifying employment refers to the tasks you perform when doing your job, not what job you do or how senior you are.  Nor do you need to be working in a law office or reporting to a solicitor or barrister.

For your work to be considered qualifying employment, you need to:

• Spend a significant amount of your working week doing a task(s) that involves applying, administering, interpreting, monitoring, enforcing or advising on the law

• Show that your job requires knowledge of the legal system or legal principles

Qualifying Employment Outside of Work

If you do paralegal work outside of your employment, e.g. as a part-time advisor with Citizens Advice, this may well constitute qualifying employment.  Please ring us to discuss.

Still Unsure?

We appreciate that many of you will be in situations where it is not clear whether your work (or outside activities) counts as qualifying employment.

There are too many different situations to give a clear-cut definition of what constitutes qualifying employment - the main question is ‘Are you doing any actual legal work?' If yes, ring us and we'll talk through your situation.

If you are still unsure if your out of work experience counts, please phone us on (+44) (0) 20 7099 9122 or email us at office@ theiop.org (note break in link)