The Empire State Alliance of Paralegal Associations has been working on a proposal for certification of paralegals under the auspices of a regulating body. The New York State Department of Education and New York State Bar Association are being considered for that role.

The goals of the proposal include establishing a definition of "paralegal"; establishing minimum paralegal qualifications; providing a standard by which the qualifications of a paralegal can be evaluated; assuring a certified paralegal's adherence to ethical standards; achieving professional status for certified paralegal employees (which may exempt those employees from labor-law requirements concerning overtime pay); protecting consumers of legal services; expanding the use of paralegals as a means to increase access to legal services; and providing the groundwork for possible mandatory regulation.

Certification and employment of paralegals under these proposed guidelines will ensure an attorney that a given paralegal has the competence to perform delegated paralegal tasks and will ensure clients that they are paying for work performed by a qualified paralegal.

The following definition of a paralegal/legal assistant is currently part of the proposal for certification: "A legal assistant/paralegal is a person who is qualified through education, training or work experience to be employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, governmental agency, or other entity in a capacity or function that involves the performance, under the ultimate direction and supervision of, and/or accountability to, an attorney, of substantive legal work, that requires a sufficient knowledge of legal concepts such that, absent such legal assistant/paralegal, the attorney would perform the task. The terms ‘legal assistant' and ‘paralegal' are synonymous."

This proposal is being presented to the members of each association for their input. One of the changes the WNYPA board of directors would like to see is the removal of the term "legal assistant." All changes requested by member associations will be presented to the ESAPA representatives, discussed and voted upon.

After certification, paralegals would be expected to continue their legal education. Under the proposal, the term of certification would be four years. Before the end of that four-year term and upon completion of 24 hours of continuing legal education, application may be made for renewal of certification for another four-year term, with a cost for renewal payable to the regulating body.

At the last ESAPA meeting, held Oct. 3, there was much discussion as to whether to have certification and/or licensure. Walter Bowler, a lawyer from the state Department of Education, spoke about the proposal as it stands. He was positive about the proposal and felt that it was the right time to proceed on it. We talked at length about which regulating body would be the most appropriate to present the proposal for certification.

Bowler was most informative, and we now have more direction regarding this matter.

Many representatives of the member associations of ESAPA feel that statewide certification criteria will help paralegals to be recognized and respected as professionals. While this certification process would take several years, it would benefit New York state paralegals.

The proposal is posted on the WNYPA Web site.

 

- By Edie Maggiotto, paralegal at Phillips Lytle LLP and ESAPA representative