Presentations for your Professional Development

Sorry!  Registration for this program has now closed.  Make plans to join us at the WSPA Spring CLE program Friday, April 27th. The 2012 WSPA Paralegal Student Career Night & Dinner is an event designed to help jump start your career!  Join us Jan. 27, 2012 from 6 to 8:30 pm at the Red Lion Hotel in Seattle for a great evening of enrichment and information that will help you prepare for entrance into the paralegal profession. Learn about opportunities and job attributes from currently practicing paralegals working in a variety of legal specialty areas including litigation, immigration, in-house corporate legal departments, and more! Register today!  (Hurry!  Registration Deadline is Tues. Jan. 24th at 5 pm!)

In addition, you will learn hiring practices and paralegal responsibilities from a law firm Administrator and interview tips and current employment trends in the Puget Sound legal market from a leading local recruiter. Enjoy a delicious meal with your fellow paralegal students and learn keen insights from some of the best in the profession!

The Washington State Paralegal Association is currently seeking dynamic and informative speakers to present talks at our Spring Continuing Legal Education seminar.  We are looking for presentations
on a wide variety of legal topics, including litigation, ethics, corporate law and professional development.

WSPA’s Spring CLE will be held April 27, 2012 at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Seattle.  Breakout sessions are 90 minutes long and delivered in a classroom style format of approximately 30-40 legal professionals.  Joint Attorney/Paralegal teams are especially desired.

If you or someone you know may be interested in presenting at this event, please contact Brenda Cothary at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

This year's Fall CLE conference consisted of eight, 90-minute long Continuing Legal Education sessions and an ample exhibitor area with 8 exhibitors.

Click here to see some additional photos from this event.

The Washington State Paralegal Association is a not-for-profit [501(c)(6)] professional association.  We depend heavily on the support of our many wonderful CLE Exhibitors and annual sponsors to help us stretch our dollars and keep our members' costs down for our CLE programs and other initiatives.

Here is a list of the 2011 Fall Continuing Legal Education program Exhibitors that took part in our October 28, 2011 program:

Advanced Health Care; GGO/Digital WarRoom; Naegeli Reporting Corporation; Premier Realtime; Seattle Insurance and Legal Investigations; T-Scan Corporation; UniSearch; and Washington Translation Bureau.  

Celebrate Paralegal Week 2011 - Oct . 24 - Oct. 28, 2011!

WSPA would like to thank Governor Christine Gregoire for her continuing support of paralegals via her Proclamation saluting both WSPA and the contribution of Washington's paralegals in the delivery of legal services to citizens of the State of Washington.  Encourage your office to take time this Fall to recognize paralegals. Make plans to attend the WSPA Fall CLE set for Friday, October 28th, in Seattle.  Registration for WSPA Members is only $175 for the full day or $100 for a half day.  See the Proclamation at the Fall CLE. Click here to register securely online today!

Click here to see the Governor's proclamation.

The October 2011 issue of the WSPA newsletter Findings and Conclusions is now available!  Read it here!

Click here for the October 2011 newsletter.

Congratulations to all the new Washington State PCC Certified Paralegals!

On June 11, 2011, 188 paralegals took the Paralegal CORE Competency Exam™ pilot test at 12 test sites across the country. Of the paralegals who completed the test, 146 achieved a passing score of 550 or better. Those paralegals are the very first CORE Registered Paralegals™ and have earned the right to use the CRP™ credential.

The Washington State Paralegal Association salutes all those paralegals that participated in the June 2001 Pilot Run of the new PCC Exam. Washington State had the most paralegals register and take the exam, and the biggest number of passing scores (19!) of this new nationally administered exam of any of the 12 test sites! 

The current definition of a Paralegal used by WSPA and NFPA is as follows:

"A paralegal is a person qualified through education, training, or work experience to perform substantive legal work that requires knowledge of legal concepts and is customarily, but not exclusively, performed by a lawyer. This person may be retained or employed by a lawyer, law office, governmental agency, or other entity or may be authorized by administrative, statutory, or court authority to perform this work. Substantive shall mean work requiring recognition, evaluation, organization, analysis, and communication of relevant facts and legal concepts."

The American Bar Association definition is as follows: 

"A legal assistant or paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible."

The current definition of "legal assistant/paralegal" replaces the definition adopted by the ABA Board of Governors in 1986. It adds the term "paralegal" since the terms "legal assistant" and "paralegal" are, in practice, used interchangeably. The term that is preferred generally depends on what part of the country one is from. The current definition streamlines the 1986 definition and more accurately reflects how legal assistants are presently being utilized in the delivery of legal services.

 The ballots have closed and the results are in! 

New WSPA Officers and Directors were sworn in by NFPA Region 1 Representative Theda Yandell at the Spring CLE held at the Red Lion Hotel on April 22nd in Seattle.

Following below are the winners from the WSPA Elections for the 2011-2012 term of office (June 1 through May 31, 2012).  Some Commitee Chairs are still open.  Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like to be considered for one of our open committee roles!

Officers:

2011-2012 President:  Brenda Cothary

(see additional officers in story continuation)

WSPA would like to thank its generous Sponsors for their support! If your organization would like to learn more about becoming a Sponsor of WSPA, and getting recognition on both the WSPA web site and in our newsletter Findings and Conclusions, click here for more information.