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winter 2003 vol.9 no. 3                                                                                                                            Return to Contents
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President's Message

Melissa Sherman, CLA

I hope that you were all recognized by your attorneys on October 23 for Legal Assistant’s Day. It is an honor that the State of Texas has acknowledged the services we provide, not only to the attorneys who practice in the State, but also to members of the public, who often rely upon us as their main contact with their attorneys. This year, one of the attorneys in my office brought flowers for both her secretary and her paralegal. When asked why, she responded that she did the same thing on Administrative Assistant’s Day (a/k/a Secretary’s Day). She explained that she wasn’t sure what recognition was supposed to apply to whom and she didn’t want anyone to be offended or feel left out.

In this issue, you will read the Resolution of the Legal Assistants Division that was passed on
September 6, 2003. Although it is important to note that this Resolution reflects only the opinion of the Division and not that of the State Bar of Texas, the Board believes it is important for the Division to voice the preference of its membership.

As you can see by the Resolution, no single event brought about the Board’s decision to adopt this term. The Division has always been involved in monitoring the issues within the legal assistant/paralegal profession. By definition, the terms “paralegal” and “legal assistant” have been synonymous for years. However, because “assistant” is being used in the business community, as well as the legal community, in lieu of “secretary,” the term “legal assistant” is being used by legal secretaries in both private firms and corporate legal departments. Neither the public, nor people within the legal community who contact an attorney’s office know whether to ask to speak with a legal assistant or a paralegal. Often there are people in the office with both titles, and that leads to frustration as the callers are transferred from person to person.
This inconsistency and confusion among both the legal community and the public is only emphasized by the actions of other paralegal organizations. The National Federation of Paralegal Associations endorses the term “paralegal”. The National Association of Legal Assistants has adopted the additional designation “Certified Paralegal” to be used interchangeably with the long standing designation “Certified Legal Assistant.” The American Bar Association changed the name of its Standing Committee on Legal Assistants to the Standing Committee on Paralegals in 2003. These facts, taken in conjunction with the overwhelming response to the Division’s survey on this terminology debate, made it clear to the Board that there needs to be a single term used to identify persons with education, training or work experience who perform substantive legal work for attorneys and that the national trend is to the term “paralegal.”

The transition to a uniform term will require that you, our attorneys, the judiciary, the public, and I recognize the issues involved and utilize “paralegal” as the title for our profession. As this transition progresses you will see signature blocks change, then names of organizations, perhaps definitions, and someday, on October 23, we may celebrate Paralegal’s Day – without confusion.

Texas Paralegal Journal © Copyright 2003 by the Legal Assistants Division, State Bar of Texas.

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