Coming Soon – Online CLE Provided by LAD
Pamela R. Horn
Board Certified Legal Assistant
Civil
Trial Law—Texas Board of Legal Specialization
The Legal Assistants Division is
pleased to announce that soon, paralegals will be able to take continuing legal
education courses online through the LAD website, www.lad.org. LAD plans to offer several courses that were
originally presented live at Legal Assistant University in September 2004,
including:
Charles W. Shewmake—Corporate
Law, Intellectual Property for Non-IP Practitioners; David Ellis – Corporate
Law and Civil Litigation, Whistleblower & Qui Tam Actions; Heather King and
Bruce Beverly – Family Law, Civil Litigation, and Personal Injury, Internet
Investigation of Personal Information and Assets; Sydney Aaron Beckman—Family
Law, Civil Litigation, & Personal Injury, Discovery Techniques to Make Your Lives
Easier; R. H. Wallace – Civil Litigation, The Legal Assistant’s Role in
Preventing and Litigating Legal Malpractice Cases; Jill Bindler – Civil
Litigation, Evolution of Technology in Federal Courts; Kristi Thomas – Civil
Litigatio, Cost Shifting of Electronic Discovery; Angela Hunt – Civil
Litigation, Harnessing the Hyperlink: A
Paralegal’s Guide to E-Briefing; Earl Harcrow – Civil Litigation and Personal
Injury, Summary of House Bill 4; Robert Brownrigg—Probate and Estate Planning,
Guardianship Matters for the Advanced Paralegal; Nathan Griffin – Probate,
Creditor’s Issues – Insolvency and the Estate; Justice Terrie Livingston –
Probate, Appellate Issues Related to Probate; Steve F. Malouf—Civil Trial Law,
Personal Injury Law, Family Law, and Criminal Law
Electronic Evidence &
Discovery
Other
courses will be added in the future. If
you know of an upcoming CLE seminar that you think would lend itself to
presentation in the online program, please contact Pam Horn, Continuing
Education Committee co-chair, at cle@lad.org or Karen Briere, Continuing
Education Committee co-chair, at kbriere@coxsmith.com. In the meantime, the State Bar of Texas
offers a complete online CLE program at affordable rates (including some free
online cle). Go to www.texasbarcle.com
for details and to sign up for CLE courses.
In
December 2002, the LAD board of directors adopted a six-hour minimum continuing
legal education requirement for members of the Division. This new requirement was implemented through
reporting of CLE hours with membership renewals beginning in May 2004. The
Board of Directors is sensitive to those paralegals whose firm does not support
or pay for CLE for its paralegals.
However, the Board came to the decision to mandate CLE for members after
a thorough review of continuing education requirements for national, state, and
local paralegal associations. We
believe that this is a move that maintains the Division’s position as a leader
in professional paralegal organizations nationwide. By establishing this standard for continuing education, our members
will be better prepared to assist both the attorneys, for whom we work, and the
public, for whom we provide valuable services.
In
order to renew your LAD membership in May 2005, you must accumulate six hours
of CLE between June 1, 2004 and May 31, 2005.
Start keeping track of your CLE now!
It’s best to establish a folder with a copy of the brochure and the
certificate of attendance from each event you attend.
Many
people have asked which courses will qualify toward the LAD mandatory CLE
requirement. Although LAD does not
accredit or qualify CLE seminars, the board has adopted a standing rule
outlining the criteria for acceptance of CLE.
This rule states:
a. The Division will accept
substantive law CLE presented or approved by the Division, the State Bar of
Texas, the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, the National Association of
Legal Assistants, the National Federation of Paralegal Associations, and local
bar or paralegal associations for credit towards the Division mandatory CLE
requirement.
b. If the CLE course is not
accredited by any of the above-referenced groups, the Division will accept a
seminar, if it is a substantive law course offered by a qualified presenter,
that would qualify for approval if submitted to one of the above organizations.
“Substantive Law Course” means an organized program of legal education dealing
with:
substantive or procedural
subjects of law;
legal skills and techniques;
legal ethics and/or legal
professional responsibility; or alternative dispute resolution.
Additionally, law office
management programs accredited by the State Bar of Texas will be accepted.
A “Qualified Presenter” means an
attorney, judge, or legal assistant/paralegal who is familiar with the topic
presented, or an expert in the particular subject matter comprising the course.
c. Speaking and writing credit
will be considered for approval under the same criteria as (a) and (b)
above.
Generally
speaking, if a course qualifies for credit by one of the organizations above
(or would qualify if submitted), it meets the criteria for the LAD mandatory
CLE requirement. The heart of the rule
deals with its substantive law requirement.
As long as the seminar deals with a substantive law topic, and it is
presented by a qualified presenter, it should qualify under the rule toward the
LAD requirement.
In addition, the board imposed
upon itself a requirement that each district director provide at least three
hours of LAD-sponsored CLE in each district per year. In so doing, we hope to increase the amount of low cost,
paralegal-specific continuing education available throughout the state. The board realizes that in some areas, local
paralegal associations already provide continuing legal education; however, it
is our desire to increase the offerings available to paralegals throughout
Texas. Contact your district director
or your continuing education committee sub-chair for details concerning
upcoming seminars in your area.
As
part of the board’s continuing emphasis on CLE, we have also implemented a
comprehensive online CLE calendar. Go
to www.lad.org, and click on the “CLE/Events” tab at top, or click on a date on
the calendar at the right sidebar. At
any given time, there are over 50 CLE seminars posted. You can also search for seminars in your
geographic area or your specialty area of the law. For example, to search for
CLE in Dallas, after clicking on “CLE/Events”, in the search field on the left
sidebar, input “Dallas” where it says “enter your search” and click on “events”
on the “query/search engine” pulldown menu.
All the events posted for Dallas are then listed. Click on “more info” for more details. If you use Microsoft Outlook, you can even
add an event to your calendar—just click on “Add to my calendar” and the event
will be added.
The
Legal Assistants Division Board of Directors and Continuing Education Committee
have worked tirelessly to provide meaningful continuing legal educational
options to members and non-members alike.
We welcome your feedback—send an e-mail to cle@lad.org or contact any
director.
Pamela R.
Horn serves as LAD District 4 Director, LAD Secretary, and Co-Chair of the
Continuing Education Committee, and is a former President of Capital Area
Paralegal Association. She is Board
Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Pam specializes in utility law at the firm
Lloyd Gosselink Blevins Rochelle & Townsend, PC in Austin. You may contact her at (512) 322-5893 or phorn@lglawfirm.com.
|
