PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_november 2018 | Page 11

PARALEGAL C o r n e r Do You Know Your Paralegal’s Worth? JENNIFER A. WATKINS Florida Registered Paralegal (FRP) – A paralegal is a person with education, training, or work experience who works under the direction and supervision of a member of The Florida Bar and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a member of The Florida Bar is responsible. The FRP is governed by Chapter 20 of The Florida Bar Florida Registered Paralegal Program.1 For additional information see: www.floridabar.org. NALA Certified Paralegal (CP) – The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) has accredited the NALA Certi- fied Paralegal program.2 The Certified Paralegal (CP) credential will be awarded after successful completion of the Certified Paralegal Knowledge and Skills Examinations. For additional information see: www.nala.org. NALA Advanced Certified Paralegal (ACP) – The NALA Advanced Paralegal Certification program is designed to recog- nize a paralegal’s commitment to continued growth and life-long learning. The CP credential must be attained before the paralegal can enroll in an ACP program. Upon successful completion of a program, the CP will earn the Advanced Certified Paralegal (ACP) credential and continuing education hours. For additional information see: www.nala.org. Florida Certified Paralegal (FCP) – The FCP exam is administered by The Paralegal Association of Florida, Inc. and is specif- ic to Florida law. To qualify to sit for the FCP exam, a paralegal must have already attained the Certified Paralegal credential. For additional information see: www.pafinc.org. 1 RRTFB Chapter 20: Florida Registered Paralegal Program. The purpose of this chapter is to set forth a definition that must be met in order to use the title paralegal, to establish the requirements to become a Florida Registered Paralegal, and to establish the requirements to maintain Florida Registered Paralegal status. This chapter is not intended to set forth the duties that a paralegal may perform because those restrictions are set forth in the Rules of Professional Conduct and various opinions of the Professional Ethics Committee. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed relevant in charging or awarding fees for legal services rendered by non-lawyers under the supervision of a member of The Florida Bar, such fees being based on the nature of the services rendered and not the title of the person rendering the services. 2 Founded in 1975, National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc. (NALA) is a professional association providing continuing education and professional certification to paralegals. Currently, over 8,900 paralegals may use the Certified Paralegal (CP) designation. The CP credential has been awarded to over 18,000 paralegals in its span of almost 40 years. The Certified Paralegal (CP) program is the first certification program accredited by NCCA which serves the legal community. Palm Beach County Bar Association seeking a Member to fulfill the American Bar Association House of Delegate Position The House of Delegates is the ultimate governing body of the American Bar Association. The body is designed to be the representative of the legal profession of the United States. Responsibilities include: • Attending the Midyear and/or the Annual ABA Meetings • Reporting back to the PBCBA membership the issues that were discussed and voted upon by the body. The report shall be conveyed to the membership through a written article published in the PBCBA Bulletin Magazine This is a voluntary position and the member would agree to attend these meetings at his/her own expense. The term would begin immediately and end after the August, 2020 Annual Meeting. All interested members are asked to send an email expressing why he/she is interested in representing the PBCBA in this capacity to Executive Director, Carla Tharp Brown at [email protected] no later than November 9, 2018.