NFPA Policy Manual

POLICY STATEMENTS
81-13
Vote Tally: 17-Y, 4-N, 1-A
Association:
STATUS: Adopted

BE IT RESOLVED, that any member of NFPA making statements in an official capacity to a state or local bar association, shall contact the NFPA member association(s) within that state prior to its communication with the Bar Association and shall coordinate its policy statements with that State or local legal assistant association(s).

RESOLVED, that the NFPA reaffirm its support of public interest activities as outlined in the Affirmation of Responsibility.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That as long as there is a need for public interest legal services, it is the duty of the organized paralegal profession to assist each paralegal in fulfilling his/her professional responsibility to provide such services as well as to assist, foster and encourage governmental, charitable and other sources to provide public interest legal services;

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the NFPA Membership Committee encourage and solicit the membership of paralegals in public legal services, public interest law firms, legal aid projects and other such groups.

WHEREAS the National Federation of Paralegal Associations ("NFPA") endorses, as stated in NFPA's regulation policy, the implementation of regulation to establish standards for all paralegals on a state-by-state basis insofar as its implementation is consistent with the NFPA Mission Statement and expands the utilization of paralegals to deliver cost-efficient legal services as determined by NFPA member associations in the affected jurisdictions; and

WHEREAS NFPA currently does not have the authority to implement mandatory licensing; and

WHEREAS it is the desire of NFPA to establish a two-tiered proficiency-based testing program to enhance the growth an development of the paralegal profession; and

WHEREAS NFPA has determined the criteria for establishing and implementing such a test.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Federation of Paralegal Associations ("NFPA") shall establish an advanced two-tiered proficiency-based test (the "Test") for the paralegal profession; and

FURTHER RESOLVED that the taking of the Test shall be voluntary; and

FURTHER RESOLVED that the First Tier of the testing program shall include general (not specific to practice areas), ethics, and state-specific sections; and the Second Tier of the testing program shall consist of testing in areas of specialization; and

FURTHER RESOLVED that the First Tier must be taken prior to, or in conjunction with, the Second Tier; and

FURTHER RESOLVED that the following criteria shall be met in order to be eligible to take the Test;

1. Education
   (a) A bachelor's degree;

   AND
   (b) completion of a paralegal program with an institutionally accredited school. Said paralegal program may be embodies in a Bachelor's degree.

2. Work Experience
   (a) First Tier - 2 years work experience as a paralegal.
   (b) Second Tier - 4 years work experience as a paralegal.

FURTHER RESOLVED that grandparenting provisions shall apply as follows:

1. First Tier - the above education criteria may be waived for paralegals with a minimum of three years' work experience as a paralegal; and

2. Second Tier - the above education criteria may be waived for paralegals with a minimum of five years' work experience as a paralegal.

To qualify for the grandparenting provisions, a paralegal must make application to take the Test within one (1) year following the date the Test is activated. The time period within which one must commence taking the Test shall be determined at a later date.

FURTHER RESOLVED that a committee comprised of paralegals, attorneys, paralegals educations who are not attorneys, an members of the general public shall be established to develop the Test in conjunction with a professional testing company; and

FURTHER RESOLVED that NFPA shall retain ownership of the Test; and

FURTHER RESOLVED that the Test shall be administered by an independent entity for a fee; and

FURTHER RESOLVED that NFPA shall establish a foundation to receive the net income generated from the administration of the Test and the funds shall be utilized exclusively for the expansion of the paralegal profession.

WHEREAS the NFPA Board of Directors is not authorized to spend more than $5,000 for on-budgeted items.

RESOLVED that the NFPA Board of Directors is hereby authorized to expend the funds necessary to begin the process of developing paralegal testing as described in Resolution 94-M11.

WHEREAS, the one year grandparenting sign-up period for the PACE exam does not allow enough time to reach all paralegals who may meet the grandparenting requirements and permit these paralegals sufficient time to register; and

WHEREAS, the provisions allowing a currently practicing paralegal to waive the education requirements for eligibility for grandparenting, as passed in Resolution 94M-11, are an inequitable substitute for a bachelors degree plus work experience which is required for those ineligible for grandparenting;

IT IS RESOLVED, that the language of Resolution 94M-11 relating to the grandparenting provisions of PACE should be amended as follows:

FURTHER RESOLVED: That grandparenting provisions shall apply as follows:

1. First Tier - all of the above criteria may be waived for paralegals with a minimum of four (4) years work experience as a paralegal; and

2. Second Tier - all of the above criteria may be waived for paralegals with a minimum of six (6) years work experience as a paralegal.

To qualify for the grandparenting provisions, a paralegal must make application to take the test within three (3) years following the date the test is activated. The time period within which one must actually take the test shall be determined at a later date.

All other provisions of Resolution 94M-11 shall remain in full force and effect and are not altered by this amendment.

RESOLVED that any individual who has passed Tier One of the PACE exam may use the designation of "Certified Paralegal".

CREATION OF THE FOUNDATION FOR PACE

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED That a paralegal will be required to obtain twelve (12) hours every two (2) years of continuing education in a legal or specialty field in order to maintain the designation "PACE Accredited";

FURTHER RESOLVED, That at least one hour of the above twelve (12) hours every two (2) years shall be specifically in legal ethics;

FURTHER RESOLVED,That the Continuing Legal Education Coordinator shall determine whether the continuing education hours meet the appropriate standard pursuant to NFPA's CLE Internal Guidelines.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED; That 94-M11 is hereby amended to provide that the first tier of PACE shall include a general section (not specified to practice areas) with ethics incorporated within the general section and a state-specific section when available.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That candidates making application to take the Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam (PACE) may be disqualified for any one of the following reasons:

1. conviction of a felony or comparable crime as defined by an individual state that does not have a felony designation; or

2. currently under suspension, termination, or revocation of a certification, registration or license to practice by a professional organization, court, disciplinary board, or agency in any jurisdiction.

FURTHER RESOLVED: That if an application is denied based on items 1 or 2, the applicant has the right to appeal the denial through voluntary, independent arbitration within sixty (60) days from the date of denial, the cost of which shall be born equally by the applicant and NFPA.

NOW THEREFORE RESOLVED: That Resolution 95-M2 be and hereby is rescinded; and

FURTHER RESOLVED: That any individual who has successfully passed Tier One of PACE may use the designation "PACE Accredited."*

*The Board is directed to research the five suggested credentials and choose what the PACE credential will be. Delegates determined that the credential shall not include "certified" and will be chosen from the following suggestions:

PACE Accredited
Advanced Paralegal
PACE Paralegal
PACE Qualified
PACE Qualified Paralegal

Once the board has made its determination, the original language of the resolution shall be used to identify the PACE Credential.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the phrase "the cost of which shall be borne equally by the applicant and NFPA" be deleted from the last paragraph of Resolution 96-7 and be replaced by the phrase "the cost of which shall be borne as determined by the Commercial Arbitration Rules as published by the American Arbitration Association."

WHEREAS, NFPA has determined that a grandparenting period shall apply in order to accommodate practicing paralegals who wish to take the Paralegal Advanced Competency Examination (hereinafter "PACE") but do not meet the education requirements; and

WHEREAS, NFPA set this grandparenting period at three years from the date PACE became available to be taken; and

WHEREAS, NFPA began offering PACE in June, 1996 but, due to circumstances beyond the control of NFPA, the Study Manual was not available at that time for purchase by those desiring to apply to take PACE; and

WHEREAS, NFPA, as a result, was not able to complete the preliminary work needed to have PACE completely operational within a reasonable time of the June, 1996 initiation of PACE; and

WHEREAS, NFPA seeks to extend complete fairness to those individuals who may be affected by the grandparenting time period.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that NFPA hereby extends the grandparenting period for taking PACE to December 31, 2000, in order to give those persons so affected the full courtesy of time originally intended when PACE was adopted.

WHEREAS, NFPA has chosen to produce the Paralegal Advanced Competency Examination (hereinafter "PACE") as an enhancement to its two-tier licensing program, NFPA's preferred form of regulation; and

WHEREAS, NFPA previously adopted "PACE Accredited" as the designated term to be conferred on persons taking and passing PACE administered by NFPA; and

WHEREAS, NFPA has since encountered some confusion with regard to this designation being used as "PA," and also finds the term "PACE Accredited" insufficiently descriptive.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NFPA Board of Directors is authorized and directed to trademark the term "PACE Registered Paralegal RP;" and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NFPA will immediately change the designation conferred on all persons successfully completing PACE to "PACE Registered Paralegal RP" with authority for the designate to use the abbreviation "RP;" and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NFPA will thereupon change all references to "PACE Accredited" and that term will no longer be used to recognize the achievement of passing PACE.

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