President's Message
Patricia J. Giuliano
Once again we find ourselves
at the beginning of another
Board year looking forward to more
great things from the Division and our
members. Having been a member of
the Division since 2001, it is my great
honor to serve as your President this
next year. I pledge to work closely
with the Board of Directors to represent
all the members of this great
organization.
This year our goals and initiatives
surround a theme of awareness and
service; A Division with
Vision…Empowering Paralegals. One
initiative which puts our “Vision” into
action is the establishment of procedures
meant to increase awareness of
pro bono opportunities and community
service in each of our Districts. The
Division will be working with the
Access to Justice Foundation to match
paralegals and attorneys for the provision
of pro bono services. Also, a
county-by-county listing of individual
pro bono opportunities can be found here.
These listings are regularly updated so
keep checking back if there is not a
current listing which fits your schedule.
In addition to the aforementioned
pro bono opportunities, the Directors
in each District will be sending out
information regarding community
service opportunities available in your
area. Through service to those less fortunate
we can not
only show our compassion,
but also our
professionalism in
the way we carry out
that service.
We also plan to
place more emphasis
on marketing the
Division to attorneys,
legal administrators,
paralegal schools,
paralegals, and the judiciary in an
effort to “Empower Paralegals.” Our
marketing plan will use the new
Standards as its cornerstone and
emphasize education not only as a
basis for use of the term “paralegal,”
but also in the context of continuing
legal education to maintain professionalism.
Another marketing effort which
began last year will come to fruition
this year. The much anticipated
Paralegal Ethics Handbook is almost
ready for print. The text has been
authored completely by members of
our organization and will be distributed
by West Publishing. This publication
should bring further attention to
the professionalism of our members
nationwide. More information on the
publication of the book will be forthcoming
in your email and through
direct mailings from West. Please look
for these advertisements
and take
advantage of early
pre-publication discounts.
In addition to these
highlighted goals, the
Division will continue
to strengthen our
on-line CLE offerings,
facilitate excellent
CLE offerings at
the local level, and once again offer
three days of CLE at our annual TAPS
seminar. We will be returning to
Addison, Texas in October for TAPS
and participants will experience days
filled with interesting and informative
presentations, and fun-filled evenings
centered on social and networking
opportunities. Oh, and did I mention,
the Division is planning its fourth trip
abroad, this time to the Emerald Isle.
Just think how beautiful the Irish
countryside must be in Spring!
As always, there is much to do, and
I look forward to working with you
this next year to empower each of us
with a vision for the future of our
profession.
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