Is a "paralegal" program the same as "legal studies"? What's the difference?

Question

I'm looking at various degree programs and I can't tell the different between the two. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

A paralegal is a non-licensed person who does a lot of work for a lawyer, such as drafting documents and keeping files straight. They need a good knowledge of law that is fairly specific in terms of rules of procedure, or contracts, or what makes a specific kind of document valid.

Legal studies could be anything. It might be a basic intro for laypersons to better understand what lawyers say, when they are needed, and why the whole legal system seems to be insane. It may or may not contain any actual practical knowledge, and just use a few cases to explain that the common perception of the law in the US is based on what the media says about these cases, and the media hasn't a clue what they're talking about.