Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

From Paralegal to Priest?

Posted on April 16, 2008
NYT: Facing Decline, an Effort to Market the Priesthood: "At 39, Ronald Perez is the oldest candidate for ordination next month. A former paralegal at a Midtown law firm, he moved to New York from Los Angeles 10 years ago to change his life. By the time he decided to become a priest, he had worked at a failed manufacturing company and a dot-com that missed the boom...

Wisconsin Supreme Court Denies Paralegal Regulation

Posted on April 10, 2008
In a blow to paralegal regulation, on April 7 and April 8 the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied the State Bar paralegal petition, which would have established licensure and regulation for paralegals.The court will encourage the Bar to work with other interested groups to consider creating a voluntary certification program using programs currently used in other states as models...

RP Salaries Surpass Averages

Posted on April 02, 2008
The March/April issue of Legal Assistant Today reports that, on average, paralegals with NFPA's Registered Paralegal designation earn $67,489 per year -- over $11,000 more than NALA's CLAS-holders.The new version of PACE, the Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam, has been released, and NFPA is selling the new study guide on its Web site...

Filipino Troops to Train as Paralegals

Posted on April 01, 2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The military will train soldiers on desk duty as paralegals to help fellow troopers facing charges of human rights abuse and other cases. Scheduled to start this month, at least one soldier per battalion will be trained. The paralegals will give the soldiers advice and assist with answering basic petitions...

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Beware of Clown College

Posted on March 21, 2008
The moral of the story in Out & About - Opinion: Beware of Clown College is to choose your school wisely: "It took me six-months and over $10,000 but I finally realized that, at least for my purposes, Kaplan Career Institute was a complete rip-off...

Supreme Court to Hear Arguments Over Reimbursement of Paralegal Costs

Posted on March 17, 2008
Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments over reimbursement for paralegal costs in Richlin Security Service v. Chertoff, and I, for one, am holding my breath until July, when a decision will be made.Surely other paralegals are anxious, too...

From Ashworth University: Paralegal in Guantamo Bay Video

Posted on March 12, 2008
Paralegals can be found in places other than the traditional law office, and in some cases, can be in the center of one of the most hotly-debated legal issues. Directly from Ashworth University's Criminal Justice Blog, Paralegal In Guantanamo Bay Video? highlights a paralegal in the center of the Guatanamo Bay controversy: [W]hen it comes to dramatic appeal and TV-ready storylines, the paralegal profession may have found a star in the form of Susan Hu, a paralegal working for the Center For Constitutional Rights (CCR), a non-profit legal organization that has played a sometimes controversial role in the legal proceedings of detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay...

ALM to Present Managing Today's Discovery Process: The Evolving Role of the Paralegal & Litigation Support Professional

Posted on March 10, 2008
ALM Events will present "Managing Today's Discovery Process: The Evolving Role of the Paralegal & Litigation Support Professional." On April 24th, discovery experts from the private sector and the Federal Trade Commission will convene at the Harvard Club, New York for this day long program...

Paralegal Sued for UPL

Posted on March 08, 2008
LINDENHURST, N.Y. -- Arthur Chisholm, Jr. is being sued by the state attorney general's office for allegedlypracticing law without a license. The 61 year old paralegal prepared wills, divorce papers, and eviction papers and ran Landlord Help Center and NY Protective Services Inc...

From Inter-Alia: Getting Text Out of PDFs the Easy Way

Posted on March 06, 2008
From Inter-Alia:An easy way to get the text out of PDF documentsCutting and pasting out of PDF documents can be a royal pain. If you're got a copy of Adobe Acrobat, you can export a PDF file to a Word document or even a plain text file, to make extraction of text less of a hassle...

Legal Assistant Today Announces 2007 Salary Survey Results

Posted on March 03, 2008
The results of Legal Assistant Today's annual salary survey are in, and the national average salary for paralegals in 2007 increased 3.7 percent to $52,979. Available in the March/April issue, the survey results include:National and regional breakdowns for 2007 salaries, bonuses, and raises...

Florida Unveils Registered Paralegal Program

Posted on March 01, 2008
As of today, the Florida Registered Paralegal Program goes into effect. About 300 people have already requested the application, and many more are expected to download it today from the Florida Bar's Web site.Additionally, applicants need to pay a $150 application fee...

NFPA's Joint Regulation and Leadership Conference Is Coming!

Posted on February 27, 2008
The NFPA Regulation Conference is scheduled for April 25, 2008 in Indianapolis, Indiana and is open to all, although non-NFPA members will need to pay a $75 registration fee. The Regulation Conference will run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and include discussions on Types of Regulation and Status of Regulation Efforts, Working with Bar Associations, Understanding the Legislative Process, Lobbyists-Do You Need Them, Selling Regulation-What to Say to the Naysayers, and the Conference will end with a Regulation Writing Workshop...

Roundup: New PACE Exam, New PACE Study Manual, and New Paralegal Magazine!

Posted on February 21, 2008
New PACE Exam and Study ManualThe new PACE exam is scheduled to go live on May 12, 2008! To prepare you for the exam, the new and improved PACE Study Manual (5th ed.) will be available for purchase starting MARCH 1, 2008. The new study manual includes many new mini-chapters including bankruptcy, corporate law, intellectual property, family law, and other areas tested in the new exam...

Free Online Access to U.S. Court Decisions

Posted on February 18, 2008
Free Online Access to U.S. Court DecisionsThis week, Carl Malamud invites you to enhance your federal case law library by downloading millions of pages of decisions stretching back more than 250 years, all free of charge. His latest online "public works" project is a Web site, public...

Howrey Creates Indian Office for Client Work

Posted on February 13, 2008
In yet another blow to United States paralegals, Howrey is setting up an office in India to "take advantage of the growing class of well-trained -- and comparatively low-paid -- young Indian professionals." Clients will have a choice: have their work done in-house for the regular rate, or have their work done in India for a reduced rate...

A Step in the Right Direction

Posted on February 11, 2008
In Scotland, paralegals are being given the chance to prove their professionalism and ability. The Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Scottish Paralegal Association have recently launched new qualifications for paralegals. The 10,000 people working in paralegal roles within Scotland's legal system now have an opportunity to work towards one of a number of awards, such as a Higher National Certificate (HNC), a Higher National Diploma (HND), or smaller, specialized Professional Development Awards (PDAs)...

Friday Five: What Should Attorneys Look for When Hiring Paralegals?

Posted on February 09, 2008
Over at Lawline.com, an online CLE provider, a list of traits that attorneys should look for when hiring their next paralegal has been posted in their blog under Friday Five: Top Five Things Attorneys Should Look for When Hiring Help. Here's what attorneys should be looking for, and what us paralegals should have:1...

Paralegals on the Move

Posted on February 08, 2008
On the move: Nicole Davis and Donna Sweeney: The New Hartford- and Syracuse-based Estate Planning Law Center is expanding with the addition of two paralegals. Paralegals Nicole Davis and Donna Sweeney joined the firm. Sweeney has 13 years of experience as a paralegal focusing on Medicaid planning and qualifications for clients of the firm...

Paralegal Career Guide Launched on All Criminal Justice Schools

Posted on February 06, 2008
As the law becomes more complex and our society grows more litigious, the public demand for legal representation continues to expand. This translates into not just a need for more lawyers but more legal support professionals as well. According to the U...

Legal Learning Put Into Practice at Loyalist College

Posted on February 05, 2008
Paralegal students at Loyalist College in Canada are gaining hands-on experience in their field by operating PaIRS, an on-campus legal information service for students, staff and alumni. Their role is to guide clients to the necessary channels or resources to get answers to legal questions involving subjects such as landlord tenant concerns, highway traffic issues, or criminal pardon questions...

Paralegals Are First Step in Pro Bono Efforts

Posted on February 04, 2008
Beginning this month, students and graduates of the paralegal program at Casper College in Casper, Wyo. will be the first step for many in obtaining pro bono legal representation. The students and graduates will conduct a half-hour interview with each potential client, then forward the information to a licensed attorney, who will review the information...

Paralegal Posing as Lawyer Wins 50 Cases

Posted on February 02, 2008
Remember Brian Valery, the paralegal who posed as a lawyer for two years at a New York law firm? On January 31, he was sentenced to five years of probation.However, he must have done something right, according to UPI.com: "Valery worked as much as 70 hours a week and won some 50 cases...

New NFPA CLEs for March!

Posted on January 30, 2008
BEGINNING MARCH 10, 2008ON-LINE CLE OFFERED BY NFPAVISIT www.paralegals.org TO REGISTERADMINISTRATIVE LAWAdministrative law is that branch of law that defines and limits relationships between government agencies and people. Administrative law defines agency powers, agency limitations, and remedies available to parties aggrieved by agency action...

Paralegals Help Bangladeshi Women

Posted on January 28, 2008
In Bangladesh, paralegals working for the Banchte Shekha Foundation are volunteers trained in Muslim family law. They assist villagers with dowry, marital disputes, legal divorce, and inheritance. They also provide information to villagers about their rights, and they participate in the shalish, the village form of mediation in Bangladesh...

Paralegal Outlook for 2008: We're Not Recession-Proof

Posted on January 27, 2008
Economists say we're heading into a recession, and the first question for many of us is, "Will I still be employed?"The answer is maybe. According to Robert Half Legal, litigation paralegals will still be in demand as firms tackle rising caseloads, or so the optimists say...

Legal Profession Blog: It's Hard To Supervise An Incarcerated Paralegal

Posted on January 23, 2008
Legal Profession Blog: It's Hard To Supervise An Incarcerated Paralegal: "An attorney with a previous record of a public reprimand was suspended for 60 days by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The attorney was appointed to represent a defendant who was eventually sent to prison...

Justices Consider Legal Aid Proposal

Posted on January 22, 2008
Justices Consider Legal Aid Proposal: "Small businesses that provide legal documents for do-it-yourself court filings would be forced to close under a proposal before the Hawaii Supreme Court.The Hawaii State Bar Association has asked the court to clarify a law that covers unauthorized practice by nonlawyers...

North York Paralegals Suing Attorney General, Law Society

Posted on January 22, 2008
North York Paralegals Suing Attorney General, Law Society: "Three paralegals, including two from North York, have filed a lawsuit against Ontario's attorney general and the Law Society of Upper Canada for the way paralegals in the province are regulated...

Update Your Bookmarks; I Have a Domain Name!

Posted on January 18, 2008
A brief site announcement: I've purchased a domain name at www.paralegalsblog.com, so if you are inclined to do so, please update your bookmarks. The old URL does still work.

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