Can it possibly be?
20 years? Yes, LAD’s
official birthday is October 23, 1981. That is the formal date LAD was
established. The official purpose was “To enhance legal assistant’s
participation in the administration of justice, professional
responsibility and public service in cooperation with the State Bar of
Texas.” Our founding
fathers had a vision of a statewide legal assistant association to
“Serve as a central vehicle for effective communication and resolution
of matters of mutual concern to Texas legal assistants.”
LAD was the first statewide legal assistants
association to be made a division of the state’s bar association. We
remain proud of that fact 20 years later, as some states still do not have
a statewide association. LAD has been a leader, and remains a leader in
continuing to establish the parameters of professionalism issues facing
our profession.
In 1979, a special committee was formed by the State
Bar of Texas to research issues involving legal assistants. This
committee, which still exists today, was named the “Legal Assistants
Committee of the State Bar of Texas” (LAC). They engaged in preliminary
studies regarding possible alternatives for the State Bar Board of
Directors to consider regarding the emerging concept of legal assistants,
and for recommendations to be made to the Bar. The committee, then and
now, consisted of attorneys, educators, representatives from legal
assistant organizations, and individual legal assistants. Initial
recommendations were made to the Bar for “(1) voluntary minimum
guidelines for educational institutions that offer legal assistant
programs; and (2) voluntary certification programs for individual legal
assistants.” Meetings were
held with the Texas State Legislature, and testimony was given as to the
feasibility of legislation, but it was decided that would be held up until
the Bar determined what course of action to take.
The LAC joined with Texas Young Lawyers Association
to produce a set of ethical guidelines for legal assistants. Guidelines
were voluntary in the beginning, rather than mandatory. The formal terms
were adopted as follows:
“Legal Assistant”: the term to be used to
cover all persons formerly called legal assistants, paralegals or other
variation of that terminology.
“Accreditation”“ the term to be used in
reference to certain standards to be adopted by educational institutions
dealing with legal assistants.
“Certification”: the process by which a
person, after passing certain qualifications established by the State Bar
of Texas, would reach an approved status as a legal assistant.
The LAC further discussed the fact that
professional liability insurance companies had defined the term “legal
assistant” for purposes of coverage to attorneys.
The LAC made resolutions which included: (1) the
State Bar of Texas should establish and publish a minimum set of
guidelines for educational establishments as the curriculum for legal
assistant programs; (2) LAC should approve the concept of establishing an
incentive for schools adhering to the proposed guidelines; and (3) the LAC
was in favor of the concept of certification of legal assistants, and set
forth their ideas for proposals for such certification.
I personally think it remarkable that those early
‘founding fathers’ of ours saw, at that time, the very issues that
still face this profession today. Thus, LAD was born as the committee
continued its work with the State Bar.
As is done for any milestone birthday, the Board of
Directors of LAD thought it appropriate to share a historical overview of
the past 20 years for our members. We hope you enjoy seeing the growth and
progress LAD has made through those years. It is only the
highlights—there was a lot more work going on than this history overview
has time to reveal!
1982: The Bylaws, Code of Ethics, letterhead,
seal, membership cards and membership certificates were approved, as well
as nine standing committees to conduct the work of the Division. There
were 719 members as of the time of the first formal meeting in March 1982.
Charter memberships were approved during that first
year through June 29, 1982. LAD had 1013 charter members as of that date.
Charter members were given a nice certificate that bore the words
“Charter Member” and the date June 1, 1982, and signed by the State
Bar President at that time, Wayne Fisher. President Fisher delivered the
luncheon address at the first annual meeting of the Division and shared
these words:
“Your presence here today confirms my belief
that the time has come for the legal profession to recognize the paralegal
profession and for us to move forward in cooperation and mutual support to
provide better services to the public we serve... Let us assure you that
the State Bar is not trying to impose anything on the legal assistant in
Texas, much less the paralegal profession throughout the country. We
realize that what we are doing will have an impact, and for that reason we
are just as concerned as others may be. We only ask that your Division be
a chance to show what that impact will be. Active participation by the
membership will have a direct effect on that impact.
. . . I challenge you to fight for what you believe
in. . . .
1983: The first Board of Director elections
were held. The Standing Rules were established that enhance the work of
the Division as to the Bylaws. Questionnaires were mailed to legal
assistants regarding the issue of voluntary certification. Even at this
early date, LAD was looking into enhancing the professionalism of legal
assistants.
1984: A second questionnaire with more detail
was sent out to legal assistants regarding voluntary certification.
Education programs around the state were reviewed and the first Division
newsletter was published.
1985: The public hearings regarding voluntary
certification began during this year. There were initially two proposals:
(1) create a LAD exam, or (2) utilize the CLA exam with a Texas
substantive law section added. Membership grew to 1500 members. The second
survey regarding voluntary certification was mailed out.
1986: A sustaining member category was added
for law firms, corporations, and other individuals or entities to become
supporters of the Division. It was decided that more study and fact
finding was needed regarding the voluntary certification issues. The
Division adopted the ABA definition of “Legal Assistant.” This was
also the year that the Attorneys Guide for Practicing with Legal
Assistants was published as a joint effort between the Legal Assistant
Committee of the State Bar of Texas and the Legal Assistants Division.
Public hearings on the proposals for voluntary certification were held in
seven major cities.
1987: A Task Force for Voluntary Certification
was established to continue that work. The Board of Directors resolved to
go forward with a Texas exam, although no definitive type of exam was
discussed at this time. Educational programs were created in a list format
that offered legal assistant training to be available to attorneys and
legal assistants. Mock grievance procedures were conducted by the Ethics
Committee.
1988: Funds were allocated by LAD for future
implementation of a certification program. Membership increased to 1800. A
special committee was formed to determine whether an executive director
should be retained by LAD.
1989: The necessity for having a contract
employee became apparent, and it was voted to retain an Executive
Director. A look at whether to allow LAD to become a non-profit
corporation was voted down. A special committee was formed to provide new
recommendations for processing membership applications.
1990: An ad hoc committee was formed to digest
the data on voluntary certification. A formal list of benefits was
prepared and published to the members. The State Bar agreed to keep track
of our continuing legal education hours and provide a transcript for
$5.00. Norma Hackler was hired as our Executive Director. An indepth look
was taken on the recommendations for processing membership applications,
including “substantive” and “law related legal work” definitions.
1991: The voluntary certification digest was
released and the consensus was that LAD would support a certification
exam. A Voluntary Certification Task Force was created to work with LAD.
This was the year that a student membership category was added. The
Division’s finances/bookkeeping totally separated from the Bar during
this year to allow us to handle our own accounting. Governor Ann Richards
officially proclaimed, for the first time, that October 23rd would be
Legal Assistant’s Day in Texas.
1992: The official LAD publication was
formally named by Betsy Horn of Fort Worth as the Texas Paralegal Journal.
The Joint Task Force on Specialty Certification made significant advances
toward establishing a plan toward certification exams for legal
assistants, and the first look was taken at the TBLS exams as that
vehicle. Joint CLE seminars with local associations were sponsored in
smaller areas.
1993: The Concurrent Resolution No. 69 was
signed by Bob Bullock, President of the Texas Senate, and Pete Laney,
Speaker of the House, that October 23rd of each year would be Texas Legal
Assistant’s Day. Specialty certification exams were approved by the
Texas Supreme Court on 5/18/93 to be given to legal assistants by the
Texas Board of Legal Specialization (TBLS).
1994: The Texas Bar Journal January issue was
dedicated to legal assistants. The first specialty exams were given by
TBLS on 3/26/94 to 157 legal assistants.
1995: Sally
Andress became the first President of LAD after the official titles were
changed. The Texas Paralegal Journal became a full magazine, rather than a
newsletter. The Long Range Planning Task Force was formed to begin
studying future professionalism issues.
1996: The State Bar of Texas made its
insurance programs available to LAD members. Advanced seminars were
planned to coincide with the TBLS speciality exams. A Continuing Legal
Education special committee was formed to assist local associations in
providing CLE to their local areas with help from LAD. Budgeting was made
available for the Legally Speaking programs to be taped with Lisa Sprinkle
at the helm, working with the El Paso Community College.
1997: The Long Range Planning Task Force
hosted the Fall TAPA meeting to share information regarding the
professionalism issues and was charged with preparing a preliminary digest
of information. The development of a video on “How to Utilize Legal
Assistants” was first discussed.
Legally Speaking videos were given to local district
directors to begin marketing.
1998: The Long Range Planning Task Force held
its first public hearing held in Corpus Christi at the Annual Meeting. The
question of whether to consider felony convictions by proposed members was
first addressed by the Board. It was determined that the production of
tapes regarding the utilization of legal assistants would proceed,
targeted for law schools. The Executive Director’s title changed to
‘LAD Coordinator’.
1999: This was the year “Legal Assistants
University” (LAU) was first held in San Antonio, and was an unbelievable
success as 270+ legal assistants came together for a three-day seminar
covering a wide variety of topics. The March 2000 Texas Bar Journal issue
was dedicated to legal assistants. Public hearings were continued
throughout the state by the Long Range Planning Task Force.
2000-01: The public hearings were completed
and the information from same was digested by the Long Range Planning Task
Force for the Board of Directors. The next step on these issues was to
firm a Joint Task Force with the LAC to continue examining the issues of
professionalism. The LAU Scholarship was named for Nancy McLaughlin, our
TPJ editor whom we lost in a car accident. The State Bar College will
begin offering Legal Assistant College membership January 1, 2002. TYLA
endorsed the “Profiling the Paralegal Profession” video. LAU was held
in Austin in 2000 and in Dallas in 2001. LAU continues to be a strong,
well-attended seminar.
So,
there it is—a thumbnail sketch of our association’s work over the past
20 years. We continue to grow and move forward, enabling Texas legal
assistants to be the leaders in the field across the nation.
