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April and May are Alliance Months!
Membership Referral Awards Program
AAPI announces a membership promotion for the months of April and May. Current members are encouraged to refer new members to AAPI to help build our growing organization and to be eligible for a special prize.
Participation in the awards program is open only to American Alliance members in good standing.
Referrals are limited to new individual memberships only (not renewals, sustaining or vendor memberships) – postmarked received between April 1, 2008 and May 31, 2008.
All new members referred in the month of April can join at a special rate of $35 for two years, a savings of $5 using the attached application. Or, new members can join at the regular membership rate of $20 for one year by applying electronicaly at www.aapipara.org.
PRIZE FOR MEMBERSHIP REFERRAL:
*Grand Prize: All American Alliance members who refer a qualified new member will be eligible for a prize drawing for an Apple IPod! Members earn one chance for every member they successfully refer!
The grand prize drawing will take place at the 2008 American Alliance National Paralegal Summit in Tampa, Florida. Participants do not need to be present to win. Travel and registration expenses to the Summit are the responsibility of the member. If necessary, the prize will be shipped to the winner at the expense of AAPI. AAPI reserves the right to publicize the name of the winner in the Alliance Echo and on the AAPI website, and retains the right to modify the terms of the contest upon notice to the AAPI membership.
HOLD THE DATE!!! The third annual NATIONAL PARALEGAL SUMMIT will be held on Friday, SEPTEMBER 19, 2008, in Tampa, Florida. More details will follow. Keep checking the website for updates.
IN THE NEWS!
State of Florida amends rules regulating the Florida Bar by adopting Chapter 20, the Florida Registered Paralegal Program. Read the brief filed in the Supreme Court, No. SC06-1622.
United States Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Paralegal Fees Case
By: Marie Koster
AAPI Director of National Affairs
The question presented is: Under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 5 U.S.C. ss 504(a)(1) and 28 U.S.C. ss 2412(d)(1)(A), may a prevailing party be awarded attorney fees for paralegal services at the market rate for such services, as four circuits have upheld, or does EAJA limit reimbursement for paralegal services to cost only, as the Federal Circuit panel majority held?
Look under the "In The News" tab for the rest of the story.
NATIONAL PARALEGAL SUMMIT UPDATE
Do you know what state it is?
The Court remains of the view that many of the tasks conducted by paralegals involve the practice of law. Those tasks, therefore, properly come within the scope of the Court's constitutional authority over the practice of law in this state.
This is only one of the many things participants learned at the second annual National Paralegal Summit hosted by the American Alliance of Paralegals in Wilmington, Delaware on September 14, 2007.
ARTICLES WORTH READING:
Interested in learning more about American Alliance's board members? Read the interviews with LawCrossing.com under the Articles tab.
Position Statement on Paralegal Education Standards in New York State Adopted January 2006 by the Empire State Alliance of Paralegal Associations. Go to www.geocities.com/empirestateparalegals to download a copy of the Position Statement.
Deborah McKinney, RP, AACP, AAPI’s past Education Director and Carolyn Saenz, AACP, AAPI’s Membership Director, co-authored two articles titled "How to Hire a Quality Paralegal" and "Do Paralegals Need to be Certified?" that were recently published in the Cincinnati Bar Association Report. Congratulations Deborah and Carolyn!
CERTIFICATION:
AACP RENEWAL GUIDELINES ARE ON THE WEBSITE UNDER THE CERTIFICATION TAB.
Below is an excerpt from an interview with one of the American Alliance's newest AACPs, Renée Cipriani. The complete interview is in The Alliance Echo, a quarterly publication of the American Alliance.
Renee earned an Associate Degree in Applied Business/Legal Assistant Program from the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Paralegal Studies from the College of Mount St. Joseph. She is an American Alliance Certified Paralegal, OSBA Certified Paralegal, and Pace Registered Paralegal.
As you can see, Renée is no stranger to education in fact she has a strong belief in paralegal education. She endorses regulation and believes it will provide standards for ethics, discipline, education, and competency by which paralegals can validate their value to the legal industry. She believes that regulation will provide a standard by which clients can evaluate a paralegal’s competency and allow for the expansion of paralegal roles. She believes that some form of regulation is inevitable and hopes that paralegals are able to maintain a proactive role in influencing the direction of regulation.
In Renée’s opinion, the most valuable skill for a paralegal is resourcefulness.
Interested in knowing the latest certification statistics? Check out the Certification Page for information and an application.
If you are interested in joining AAPI, Inc., please fill out a membership application.
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