Jolene Miller
NFPA Education Co-Coordinator
(785) 435-3035
JoleneMiller@paralegals.org
March 13, 2000
WEST GROUP AND NFPA NAME SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
Two Dean's List paralegal students, George Roles of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Tali Simhoni of Hollywood, Florida, have been selected as winners of the 2000 National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) scholarships funded by West Group. The future paralegals will be honored at NFPA's Spring Convention meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, on May 6, when a representative of West Group will present a plaque and check to each. West Group is underwriting the winners' travel costs so they may observe the Convention and receive their awards personally.
Roles, a student at Pennsylvania College of Technology, is the winner of West Group's $3,000 scholarship. Says Kevin Derr, director of the program, "Quite simply, George is one of the best students I have had in my 14 years of teaching . . . his legal research and writing skills are of law school quality." A single parent, Roles is actively involved in Little League and Girl Scouts, supporting his children's activities while tutoring fellow students in the paralegal program.
Simhoni, a student at Novasoutheastern University, will receive $1,500 from West Group. Her community activities include volunteering in an advocate program for elderly victims and at O.U.R. House (Offering Unique Reunions). O.U.R. House volunteers monitor visits between noncustodial parents and their children. Notes Lynn Slossberg, coordinator of the paralegal studies program at Novasoutheastern of Simhoni, "She has an uncanny ability to work with parents who are estranged from or feel awkward around their children. . .She exhibits a level of commitment and integrity far beyond her years."
The 2000 applicants submitted essays on the topic "How the 21st Century Internet Will Affect Access to Legal Services." The winning essays written by Roles and Simhoni will be published in the summer issue of the National Paralegal Reporter.
Headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota, West Group, with over $1.4 billion in 1998 sales and some 8,000 employees, is the foremost provider of information to the U.S. legal market. West Group is a division of The Thomson Corporation (TSE:TOC) and was formed when West Publishing and Thomson Legal Publishing merged in June 1996. For more information, please visit West Group's web site at www.westgroup.com.
Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, NFPA is a non-profit professional organization representing more than 17,000 paralegals in the United States and Canada. NFPA is the national voice and the standard for excellence for the paralegal profession through its work on the issues of regulation, ethics and education.
