Texas doesn't require any certificate to work as a paralegal. Its Board of Legal Specialization offers voluntary board certification in eight specialty areas to paralegals with five years of experience, and the Supreme Court's proposed paraprofessional licenses are on hold.
Collin College leads Texas's ABA-approved certificate programs, ahead of Lone Star College System.
As a Texas resident you'd pay $1,770 to $10,026 in tuition and fees for a full-time year at Texas's ranked programs.
5 approved programs in Texas can be finished at least partly online, by each school's own page or, where a page says nothing, the federal record or the ABA's online flag.
ABA-approved programs conferred 60% of the 913 paralegal credentials Texas schools awarded in 2023-24.
Paralegals in Texas earn a median $62,310, below the national $62,890.
In Texas, 10 approved schools charge residents of their own college district less than other state residents. Collin College, ranked first for the certificate, charges residents of its district $1,864 in tuition and fees for a full-time year, against $3,514 for other Texas residents. The rankings below cover 2 certificate programs, 11 associate degrees and 1 bachelor's degree. Another 19 schools in the state conferred paralegal credentials in 2023-24 without ABA approval. They are listed at the foot of the page with their federal figures.
Approved programs are ranked within each award level on tuition and fees (what a full-time year costs a Texas resident), graduation rate and paralegal graduates. Positions below are within Texas,
but each score compares a program with every approved program at its level in the country.
The scoring method, step by step.
Board Certification For Experienced Texas Paralegals
The Texas Board of Legal Specialization certifies paralegals in eight specialty areas: civil trial law, family law, personal injury trial law, criminal law, estate planning and probate law, real estate law, bankruptcy law, and oil, gas and mineral law. It's voluntary and it's for experienced paralegals. An applicant needs at least five years of paralegal experience, Texas experience in the specialty in each of the three years before applying, a minimum share of their work in that area (half of it, for civil trial law), 30 hours of continuing legal education in the specialty within three years, and one of several education or credential markers, including NALA certification, a bachelor's degree in any field or an ABA-approved paralegal program. Then the applicant takes a written exam.
Certification lasts five years, and renewing it takes 75 hours of continuing education in the specialty. The board's rules set a $75 filing fee for each specialty, a $180 exam fee and a $50 annual fee. For 2026 the filing deadline was June 8 and the exam was tentatively set for November.
C. No paralegal shall be required to obtain certification by TBLS in a specialty area of law before working under the supervision of a duly licensed attorney in Texas.
The State Bar of Texas and its Paralegal Division adopted a definition of a paralegal in 2005 and added standards in April 2006 to guide attorneys in hiring and courts in awarding paralegal fees. The standards are guidance, not a license. They encourage attorneys to look for one of several markers, among them board certification, NALA or NFPA certification, an ABA-approved program, or a bachelor's degree with a year of supervised experience and 15 hours of continuing education, and to consider applicants without them only after four years of substantive legal work.
A paralegal is prohibited from engaging in the practice of law, providing legal advice, signing pleadings, negotiating settlement agreements, soliciting legal business on behalf of an attorney, setting a legal fee, accepting a case, or advertising or contracting with members of the general public for the performance of legal functions.
Texas Paraprofessional Licenses: Proposed, Not In Effect
In August 2024 the Supreme Court of Texas preliminarily approved rules for licensed legal paraprofessionals and licensed court-access assistants, who would have served low-income clients in family, estate planning and probate, and consumer debt matters. Eligibility would have run through paralegal credentials, among them TBLS, NALA or NFPA certification or an ABA-approved program. In November 2024 the Court delayed the rules indefinitely, and as of October 2026 they're not in effect: the State Bar Rules, as amended in September 2026, contain no paraprofessional article.
In order to give due consideration to the comments received, the Court hereby delays the expected effective date of the rules proposed in Misc. Dkt. No. 249050 pending further order of the Court.
ABA-Approved Paralegal Certificate Programs In Texas
2 approved programs in Texas conferred undergraduate paralegal certificates in 2023-24. Paralegal certificate programs in Texas are ranked here only when a new student can start them. Tuition is a full-time year of in-state tuition and fees. The out-of-state or in-district figure is beside it where it differs.
Collin's Level 2 certificate admits only students who already hold a bachelor's degree or an associate of arts, science or arts in teaching degree, and both of its paralegal credentials end with a Certified Paralegal Exam Review capstone.
Key Program Details
Paralegal/Legal Assistant AAS: 60 credit hours
Paralegal General Level 2 Certificate: 36 credit hours
At least 9 LGLA credit hours in a synchronous format
Certificate requires a prior bachelor's or academic associate degree
Capstone course: Certified Paralegal Exam Review
$65 per semester credit
Read more
Collin College offers a Paralegal/Legal Assistant Associate of Applied Science (60 credit hours, 42 of them in LGLA law courses) and a Paralegal General Level 2 Certificate (36 credit hours of LGLA courses). Both cover introduction to law and the legal professions, legal conventions, legal research, legal writing, civil litigation, torts and personal injury law, contracts, business organizations and advanced legal document preparation, and both end with a Certified Paralegal Exam Review capstone; the degree adds family law, wills, trusts and probate administration and general education. At least nine credit hours of the LGLA courses must be taken in a synchronous format.
Admission to the associate degree is open to all students. The certificate requires official proof of a bachelor of arts, science or business administration degree, or an associate of arts, science or arts in teaching degree, before admission, and certificate students must be TSI complete. The catalog lays out the degree under First Year and Second Year headings and the certificate through a Third Semester. Articulation agreements with Texas Woman's University and East Texas A&M University give associate graduates a planned route into related bachelor's degrees.
Lone Star College requires four core paralegal courses (introduction to law, legal research, rules of civil procedure and advanced legal research and writing) to be taken synchronously, in a classroom or live on Zoom or Webex, and its advanced technical certificate is a nine-month program for students who already hold a college degree.
Key Program Details
Paralegal Studies AAS: 60 credits, two-year program
Paralegal Studies Advanced Technical Certificate: 35 credits, nine-month program
Full programs at LSC-North Harris, Houston, Texas; AAS also at LSC-University Park
Four core courses taught synchronously in class or on Zoom or Webex
Certificate requires a prior associate or bachelor's degree
$111 per semester credit
Read more
Lone Star College offers a Paralegal Studies Associate of Applied Science (60 credits) at LSC-North Harris in Houston, Texas, and at LSC-University Park, and a Paralegal Studies Advanced Technical Certificate (35 credits) at LSC-North Harris. The certificate's two-semester plan covers introduction to law, legal research, paralegal ethics, administrative law, oil and gas law, rules of civil procedure, civil litigation, interviewing and investigating, constitutional law, advanced legal research and writing, an accounting course and one paralegal elective, which can be an internship. The degree adds business law, computer and word processing courses, general education and paralegal electives such as wills, trusts and probate, real property, criminal law, intellectual property and mediation.
The four core courses must be taken in a synchronous classroom setting or a live online format on Zoom or Webex, and the program's information packet says the remaining paralegal classes are offered online, during the day or in the evening. Admission to the certificate is limited to students who have already earned an associate or bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university; students without a degree enter the associate program instead. No more than nine legal specialty credit hours can transfer in, only from ABA-approved programs, and a transferred rules of civil procedure course must have been completed in Texas.
AASCertificate
lonestar.eduOctober 1, 2026
ABA-Approved Associate Degrees In Paralegal Studies In Texas
An associate's degree adds general education to the paralegal courses and usually takes two years full time.
San Jacinto College leads Texas's 11 approved associate programs, conferring 37 paralegal degrees in 2023-24.
#1In Texas
Score77.8/ 100
Law and Legal Studies, Associate of Applied Science
San Jacinto College's ABA-approved Law and Legal Studies A.A.S. is a 60-credit, four-term program of legal specialty and general education courses that includes a cooperative education course as its external learning experience.
Key Program Details
60 credits in four terms of full-time study
The program has no admission requirements beyond the college's open admission
San Jac lists the North Campus as the location
A cooperative education course is the external learning experience
At least 9 semester credit hours are taken synchronously
Dallas College's paralegal degree is based at the El Centro campus near downtown Dallas, Texas, close to the Records Building and the civil, criminal and federal courthouses, and its instructors are practicing attorneys and paralegals.
Key Program Details
Paralegal A.A.S.: 60 credit hours
Program offered at the El Centro campus, Dallas, Texas
Fall 2026 paralegal courses offered in person, online and synchronous online
Capstone: Advanced Legal Research and Writing, taken in the last semester
Amarillo College's ABA-approved Legal Studies program offers a 60-hour A.A.S., with every required course offered at night or online and four core courses taught in the classroom, and a 24-hour Professional Certificate for students who already hold a college degree.
Tarrant County College teaches its ABA-approved Paralegal Studies program at its Northeast Campus in Hurst, Texas, as a 33-hour Advanced Technical Certificate awarded only to students who already hold a bachelor's degree and as a 60-hour Associate of Applied Science, both with a cooperative education requirement and with legal specialty courses taught only in traditional classrooms.
East Texas A&M's paralegal bachelor's degree requires a 160-hour internship at an approved placement such as a district or county attorney's office or a private law firm, and the program is offered hybrid online and face-to-face in Commerce, Texas.
Key Program Details
Paralegal Studies BA/BS: 120 credit hours
BA requires 12 foreign language credit hours; BS does not
Both degrees are offered hybrid online and face-to-face in Commerce, Texas
160-hour paralegal internship
Listed length: 4 years
$4,212 per semester
BABS
etamu.eduOctober 1, 2026
What A Paralegal Program Costs In Texas
Across Texas's ranked approved programs, you'd pay between $1,770 and $10,026 for a full-time year of tuition and fees as a Texas resident,
with a median of $3,899. 10 approved schools in Texas charge less again to residents of their college district: Amarillo College ($2,136), Austin Community College ($2,550), Collin College ($1,864), Dallas College ($2,370) and others.
Tuition and fees are what each school reported to IPEDS for a full-time undergraduate year in 2023-24, tuition plus required fees, before books, supplies or aid. A certificate of about 30 semester credits is roughly a full-time year of coursework, but programs differ in length and many students take them part-time, so read the figure as a way to compare schools. Colleges set new rates every year. It is not the price of a post-baccalaureate or extension certificate, which schools price separately.
What Paralegals Earn In Texas
BLS puts the median for paralegals and legal assistants (SOC 23-2011) in Texas at $62,310 a year,
$580 below the national median of $62,890, 23rd highest of the 51 states and districts BLS reports.
The 10th percentile is $39,190 and the 90th is $98,440. 29,540 people in Texas hold the job. Figures are from the BLS OEWS May 2025 release. Paralegal pay by state sets them side by side.
What each of Texas's metro areas pays is on the paralegal salary in Texas page.
Every Paralegal Program In Texas
Every school in Texas that the ABA lists or that conferred a paralegal credential in 2023-24 is here, approved
programs first. Awards are the paralegal credentials each school reported to IPEDS for that year.
Navarro College Certificate 2 · Associate's 2Yes (federal)$4,718
Common Questions About Paralegal Certificates In Texas
Do you need a certificate to be a paralegal in Texas?
No Texas rule requires one. The State Bar's paralegal standards encourage attorneys to look for one of several education or certification markers, an ABA-approved program among them, or four years of substantive experience.
What is a board certified paralegal in Texas?
A paralegal certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in one of eight specialty areas, such as family law or civil trial law. It requires five years of paralegal experience, recent Texas experience in the specialty, 30 hours of continuing education in it and a written exam, and it's voluntary.
Can paralegals be licensed in Texas?
Not yet. The Supreme Court of Texas proposed licenses for legal paraprofessionals in 2024 but delayed them indefinitely in November 2024, and they were not in effect as of October 2026.
How many ABA-approved paralegal programs are in Texas?
The ABA's directory lists 15 approved programs in Texas. IPEDS shows 32 schools in the state conferring paralegal credentials in 2023-24, and 19 of them run a program the ABA has not approved.
What are the best paralegal certificate programs in Texas?
On this ranking, Collin College, which charges $3,514 a year in in-state tuition and fees, graduates 22% of its first-time students and conferred 42 paralegal certificates in 2023-24. Lone Star College System is next. Every program ranked here is ABA-approved.
What is the cheapest ABA-approved paralegal program in Texas?
Of the programs ranked here, you'd pay the least as a Texas resident at Lamar State College Port Arthur, $1,770 for a full-time year of tuition and fees in 2023-24. That's the figure the school reports to IPEDS, and schools reset it every year.
What do paralegals make in Texas?
BLS puts the median for paralegals and legal assistants (SOC 23-2011) in Texas at $62,310 a year, $580 below the national median of $62,890, with 29,540 people in the job. The 10th percentile is $39,190 and the 90th is $98,440. Figures are from the BLS OEWS May 2025 release.
Paralegal Programs In Other States
A campus program usually means the state you live in, but an online one does not. These are the
other states with enough ABA-approved programs for a page of their own.
