March - April 2012March - April 2012

Thanks to everyone who participated in the WSPA 2013 Spring CLE program in Seattle on Friday, April 26th!  Attendees picked up some great informaion from our wonderful speakers, and during our luncheon, WSPA recognized members celebrating 5, 10, 15 and 20 years of membership in the Association.

We also presented awards to Jenniffier Provalenko, RP, Volunteer of the Year; and to Jane Frissell, Pro Bono Paralegal 2013; as well as Student Scholarships to Rodrigo Garcia Berguecio and to Hien Nguyen. If you couldn't join us this time around, we hope you'll join us for our Fall CLE!

The March-April 2013 Issue of the WSPA Newsletter Findings and Conclusions is available.  

Find it here!

UPDATE!  The online registration deadline has been extended through Thursday, April 25th and a few seats remain for walk-ups. 
To ensure your space, register online today via PayPal! (scroll down to bottom half of article for online registration link).
This year’s WSPA Spring Continuing Legal Education Program will be held on Friday, April 26^th from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm at the beautiful Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Pioneer Square, at 612 Second Ave, Seattle, WA 98104.

This Program is designed for the Mid-Level to Advanced Paralegal and will offer a wide variety of classes that fit your needs and interests via two concurrently running tracks of four sessions each in the specialty areas of Litigation and Professional Development.  See rates and registration information below.

Attendees will also witness the presentation of our 2013 Annual Paralegal Awards and New Officer Swearing-In Ceremonies during lunch. Award nomination and Officer Election information is available on www.wspaonline.org.

2013 Spring CLE Tentative Schedule (see Speaker Bios here)

You can attend for a Half Day or a Full Day of CLE sessions, or just for the Annual Paralegal Awards Luncheon and Officer induction ceremony alone.  (Lunch is included with both the Half Day and Full Day CLE options.)  Register today Via PayPal or Credit Card!

Nominations will be accepted for open Officer and Director positions from March 18, 2013 through April 1st, 2013.
To apply for an open position, please send a Letter of Interest and Nomination Consent Form to Sarah Eisenhauer, Secretary@wspaonline.org.
Nominations are now being accepted for the following officer positions: President, Vice President of Membership & Administration, Vice President of Professional Development, Secretary and Treasurer.

The Washington State Paralegal Association will be accepting nominations for its annual awards beginning March 18, 2013 through April 15, 2013. Nomination forms will be available soon. You may submit more than one nomination for yourself (in certain categories) or others, but please provide a separate form for each nomination. If you have any questions, please contact Pamela Renn at snohomish-director@wspaonline.org.

The awards will be presented during the 2013 Annual Spring CLE and Awards Luncheon on April 26, 2013 at the Courtyard by Marriott, Pioneer Square.

Here are the award purposes and descriptions:

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, professional development and more.

WSPA’s Spring CLE will be held on Friday, April 26, 2013 in Seattle. Breakout sessions are 90 minutes long and delivered in a classroom style format of approximately 30-50 legal professionals. Joint Attorney/Paralegal teams are especially desired.  Optional social events both Friday night and Saturday night increase your chance to network with your fellow legal professionals!

If you or someone you know may be interested in presenting at this event, please contact Brenda Cothary at president@wspaonline.org for more information.

Attention Exhibitors and Legal Services Vendors!  This year's Spring CLE offers a special opportunity for Exhibitors, as WSPA will be hosting the NFPA Region meeting on Saturday, April 27th, so there is an opportunity to reach both a local audience and a Western Regional audience of legal professionals by reserving your Exhibition table space now. Contact Brenda Cothary at president@wspaonline.org.

WSPA held its annual Paralegal Career Night and Dinner on January 25 in Seattle. It was a great program and a beautiful new venue. McCormick and Schmick’s Harborside Restaurant, located on Lake Union, provided a great view of the city and great food for the event.

Nearly all of the attendees took advantage of the Resume Review Workshop, led by Will Chargualaf and Shelley Courter from Law Dawgs. It was a great opportunity to have someone who sees resumes on a daily basis review and provide suggestions for improvement.

The Limited License Legal Technician (LLLT) Board derives its authority from the Washington State Supreme Court under Rule 28 of the Admission to Practice Rules (APR), adopted effective September 1, 2012. APR 28 authorizes non-attorneys who meet certain requirements to advise clients on specific areas of law. The Board is comprised of 13 members (10 lawyers and 3 non-lawyers) plus the WSBA Board of Governors Liaison.

The LLLT Board met for the first time on January 30, 2013. It is an interesting and dynamic group of individuals passionate about the Rule. Many of the Board members work with low income individuals and can truly see the need. Some others work in law offices and don’t see the clients with the need, but they have an interest in the Rule and want to see it work for the profession. The Chair, Steve Crossland, met with the Supreme Court prior to our meeting to discuss the Board timeline. The Supreme Court would like to see the first round of testing in early 2014, so we will have our work cut out for us!

It is now time to renew your WSPA Membership for 2013!   Membership in WSPA, the leading Professional Association for Washington’s paralegals, is a great bargain (only $85 a year for regular members, $60 for associate members, and only $40 a year for paralegal students.)  Take just a quick moment right now to renew securely online via credit card at www.acteva.com/go/WSPA (choose the “WSPA Membership (Renewing Member - 2013)” option).

If you are applying for a new membership, fill out the 2013 WSPA Member Application Form. If you are renewing a WSPA membership, fill out the 2013 WSPA Membership Renewal Form.

Over 40 enthusiastic paralegals and paralegal students attended the 2012 Fall CLE Program which was held on Saturday, November 3rd from 9 am to 2 pm at the Fifth Avenue Conference Center in Seattle.

This year's Fall CLE conference consisted of 4 Continuing Legal Education sessions and an exhibitor area. 

King County Superior Court Presiding Judge Richard F. McDermott delivered the keynote address.   In addition, we had sessions about researching using publicly available internet sites led by Kim Ositis, Librarian with the King County Library; a discussion of the new WA State Limited License Legal Technician (LLLT) Rule led by Scott Smith, Chair of the WSBA Practice of Law Board; Benefits of NFPA membership and PACE and PCC Qualifications led by WSPA President Brenda Cothary, Job Searching and Trends in the Legal Profession led by Matt Keller from Robert Half, and a session on Paralegal Ethics, led by Bobby "Buzz" Wheeler, instructor at the Highline Community College paralegal program.

We had four great exhibitors this year; Naegeli, Medrecs, Premier Realtime, and Parasec, and WSPA would like to thank each one of them for their longtime support of both WSPA and the Paralegal Profession.

A special thanks to our Association Administrator Diane Bevins and to Loretta Bevins for helping with out first annual silent auction which was a success! They helped wrap baskets, prepared the bid sheets, handed out bid numbers, determined winners, and coordinated pickup of the items. Diane also donated a wine basket and book. 

Thanks too to NW Chapter Director Jeniffier Provalenko for donating tickets to Comedy Underground and items for an office supply gift basket, and also to WSPA Treasurer Juli Fujita for donating IVARS gift cards, dinner and a movie. The vendors were gracious with their donations as well.

We hope to see you at our 2013 Spring CLE!  Please email president@wspaonline.org if you would like to volunteer in the planning for our next program.