Sally Andress
Director of Membership
214-871-2727
The name of Deborah Baer McKinney, RP, nominee of the Cincinnati Paralegal Association (CPA), was revealed at NFPA's fall convention as winner of the third annual DynCorp Local Outstanding Leader Award. The award is sponsored annually by DynCorp to recognize a person who has made ongoing, substantial contributions to the paralegal profession through the his or her local association. McKinney was attending the convention as secondary representative of CPA, and the award came as a surprise.
CPA's nominating letter cited as McKinney's latest contribution the development and production of a brochure called "Guide to Choosing a Paralegal Education Program," funded by a grant from the Cincinnati Bar Foundation and distributed to guidance counselors in over 100 high schools. McKinney can identify a quality paralegal education program, as she teaches in two programs and has been a site team member for the American Bar Association.
McKinney and a fellow paralegal at the firm of Santen & Hughes were the first in Cincinnati to become PACE-registered paralegals. A graduate of the College of Mount St. Joseph, in which paralegal program she now teaches, McKinney works in the estates, wills and trusts section of Santen & Hughes. She has served her local association as trustee, president, NFPA primary, NFPA secondary, and numerous other offices and chairs. The local association has honored her three times: in 1992 as outstanding new member, in 1996 as outstanding member, and in 1998 as winner of CPA's professional achievement award.
DynCorp, an professional services firm with a national litigation support practice headquartered in Reston, Virginia, has endorsed the Standard of Excellence set by NFPA by sponsoring an annual award to recognize excellence in leadership of a local association. In 1997, DynCorp approached NFPA with its offer to sponsor the award and turn a spotlight on a paralegal who is representative of the many men and women who volunteer hours through a local association.
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.
