Entire Issue - National Association of Legal Assistants

and help the team formulate recommendations for changes to
the program that will enhance and strengthen the program in
the local legal community.
Fourth, if you are actively involved in a local paralegal
association, you are a source of information on how the program
and the local association interact and how they can
improve working relationships. Sometimes local associations
provide speakers to paralegal classes and provide members
who serve on program advisory boards. They also provide
mentoring programs and awareness of internship and networking
opportunities for paralegal students. In turn, programs
encourage students to become members of the association,
which provides the next generation of voting members
and leadership to the local association.
What’s in it for You?
First, aside from having an opportunity to contribute
your expertise to the ABA approval process, you learn what is
involved in the fundamentals of sound paralegal education.
The approval process is multifaceted and can be complex.
Some programs use innovative instructional techniques and
assessments and may satisfy the guidelines in ways that are
not used in more traditional legal markets. Being on the site
team for any program can provide you with a broader and indepth
view of the entire educational process.
Second, you may develop an interest in returning to the
classroom as a student to change the direction of your paralegal
career once you review the curriculum offered by the program.
You may develop a rapport with and meet interesting
people on the site team and/or at the program itself that will
increase your own opportunities for professional development
and networking.
Third, as a team member, you are able to provide firsthand
knowledge to paralegal employers about the sound education
provided to legal assistants by an ABA-approved program.
This information can take the guesswork out of the
education factor in employers’ hiring criteria and greatly assist
employers in future hiring.
Fourth, being part of a site team could help you decide
to make a contribution to an advisory board. You might have
a future as an adjunct or team instructor or as a program
director of a paralegal program.
The ABA School Approval Commission provides several
avenues for obtaining basic training to be on a site team. At
past NALA annual conventions, the ABA has provided a representative
and a means to express an interest in being asked
to assist with site visits. The ABA provides a training video to
those who are asked to be on a site team. In the past, it also
has conducted site team training sessions at national paralegal
meetings and at meetings of paralegal educators. You can also
e-mail the ABA with your interest in becoming a paralegal
site team member at www.abalegalassistants.org.
The goal of the ABA school approval process is to ensure
that paralegal training programs are delivering high-quality
education to the legal community. My experience over the
past six years has been that the ABA approval process focuses
on assisting programs in reaching this goal. The process does
become one of consultation to assist programs in meeting the
ABA guidelines in ways that allow programs and schools to
continue to meet their own goals.
Finally, if you want to broaden your horizons within
your own profession, become more involved in paralegal education.
Take another look at Kathryn Myers’ article in the
February 2003 edition of Facts & Findings, “How Do You
Get There? Paralegal Program Director.”
Set some new goals and stretch yourself. That’s what
being involved in a profession is all about.
Pam Bailey has been a legal assistant for more than 19 years,
and is a past president of NALA (1994-1996). She is the program
coordinator (2000-present) of the Duquesne University Paralegal
Institute in Pittsburgh, PA. She is a graduate of the University of
South Carolina, has a paralegal certificate, and earned her MA from
St. Francis Graduate School of Industrial Relations in 1993.
She has been NALA’s representative on the ABA School
Approval Commission since 1997, and represented NALA on the
ABA Consortium on Legal
Services to the Public. She has
worked extensively in the areas of
business litigation, labor and
employment law, and immigration
law. She was a senior legal assistant
and practice group paralegal
manager with the law firms of
The Stolar Partnership, St. Louis,
MO, and Reed Smith LLP in
Pittsburgh, PA. She currently volunteers
as a paralegal with
Pittsburgh’s Neighborhood Legal
Services in its unemployment
compensation appeals area.
She has written numerous
articles for legal assistant publications concerning paralegal practice
and utilization, has spoken to paralegal educator, bar and paralegal
associations, and was primary author of the chapter on Labor
& Employment Law published in the ABA’s Leveraging With Legal
Assistants (1992).
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FACTS & FINDINGS / AUGUST 2003 39