Fostering Her Legal Career:
Dalyn Fountain’s Story with ANU
With experience in the field, Dalyn Fountain was struck with a choice. She either goes to school to become a Paralegal to solidify her career choice or move on to something different. Once she joined 麻豆社鈥檚 Paralegal associate degree program, she knew she made the right decision. With law school in her future, a family to look after, and a career to uphold, our program allowed Dalyn the flexibility she needed to graduate in her desired field. And in 2022, Dalyn graduated with her associate degree and became a senior paralegal.
Dalyn found 麻豆社 by researching the top paralegal programs offered to her. She says, 鈥淚 googled 鈥榯op paralegal online programs鈥� and [ANU] was the first to come up.鈥� Along with that, despite applying to other universities, it was only ANU that she felt 鈥渁 warm welcome with the people I talked to at ANU 鈥� and I didn鈥檛 get that anywhere else.鈥� It was also important to her to have an ABA-approved program like ours. 鈥淚 knew I wanted to sit for the state bar certification, and they wouldn鈥檛 let me do so without that!鈥�
The biggest pull for Dalyn to choose ANU was our class structures. The Zoom meetings for classes motivated her to push for her education. 鈥淚 needed something to hold me accountable,鈥� she says, 鈥淚 enjoyed it. Even the two- or three-hour long courses, I enjoyed it.鈥� And her decision to go to ANU was solidified with the ease and comfort that her student services counselors provided her. No matter what it was, 鈥渢hey were always super nice, easy to talk to. They were knowledgeable 鈥� I knew they knew what they were talking about. And I felt comfortable going into each course every term.鈥�
When it comes to her experience at ANU, Dalyn felt supported throughout her educational journey and even after because of the faculty. She explains that her professors got to know who she was and connected with her on places like LinkedIn. 鈥淚 had a few professors who took the time to talk to me about going to law school and what that would look like.鈥� She never felt alone in her education, either.
鈥淭he professors were up to date with grading, that was great! Response time was always good 鈥� 24 hours, if that, that I would receive a response from professors鈥� Talk to your professors, especially in the Paralegal program, they will go the extra mile to help you and foster your legal career.鈥�
Along with that, she found our services to be user-friendly. She says, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 find that anywhere else 鈥� that Canvas was as user-friendly as it was. The interface is pretty and easy to use.鈥� Her professors also recorded their Zoom sessions and uploaded them to Canvas. This helped her if she ever missed a course or if she needed to go back over those sessions for studying.
After graduating from ANU, Dalyn received a promotion to Senior Paralegal from her workplace for completing her Paralegal education. Along with that, she sat for the State Bar certification and passed, and also became a notary public. She鈥檚 begun her bachelor鈥檚 degree in criminal justice and plans to sit for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) soon. In her day-to-day work, Dalyn describes it: 鈥淎s a senior paralegal, I do all of our intakes, I do all of our discovery review. I meet with our clients if they have pleas, and if they want to go to trial, I do trial notebooks. I am also responsible for the federal case load we have so I meet with those clients鈥� Anything you can think of [a Paralegal doing], I do. Even office management.鈥�
With all of the work she does as a Paralegal, Dalyn feels that ANU prepared her for the new responsibilities she gained. Within her courses, she received a lot of real-world experiences and studied real cases to learn. For her personal injury course, she had to 鈥渙pen the case and close the case. That was the whole course. That was great! Because I really didn鈥檛 have interest in personal injury until then.鈥� Dalyn explains that her education at ANU gave her more insight into the job she was already performing. 鈥淏efore, it was just 鈥榙o this because this is what you need to do,鈥� but now I know why I鈥檓 doing it.鈥�
In her future, Dalyn hopes to finish law school and become an associate within the law firm that she is currently working in.
鈥淚 would whole-heartedly recommend ANU!鈥� Says Dalyn. 鈥淚t was the best experience I have had thus far!鈥�
Her advice to new students:
鈥渢ry everything. You don鈥檛 know what you don鈥檛 know. Just get a feel for everything. Don鈥檛 be afraid to make new connections, because you don鈥檛 know where those connections will take you. ANU definitely taught me that. I have somebody in just about every state on the east coast I can reach out to 鈥榟ey I need a referral for an attorney.鈥欌��
