Online
CLE by LAD is Here!
Pamela
R. Horn, Board Certified Legal Assistant
The Legal Assistants Division is pleased to announce
that paralegals will now be able to take continuing legal education courses online through the LAD
website, www.lad.org. LAD offers several dozen courses
in many areas of the law, including corporate, civil litigation, intellectual property, family law,
estate planning & probate, and real estate law. Some
of the new courses include:
•
Intellectual Property for Non-IP Practitioners
•
Creditor’s Issues in Probate—Insolvency and the Estate
•
Discovery Techniques to Make Your Lives Easier
•
The Legal Assistant’s Role in Preventing and Litigating Legal Malpractice Cases
•
Evolution of Technology in Federal Courts
•
Cost Shifting of Electronic Discovery
•
Guardianship Matters for the Advanced Paralegal
•
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 order to renew your LAD membership in May 2005, you must accumulate six hours of CLE
between June 1, 2004 and May 31, 2005. Keep 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 LAD board of directors imposed upon itself a requirement that each district
director provide at least three hours of LAD-sponsored CLE in each district per year.
Have you heard from your district director? Have
there been quality continuing legal education programs sponsored in your area of the state?
If not, please contact your district director (go to LAD.org for a complete listing of
district directors) and ask about CLE in your district.
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.
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