National Association of Legal Assistants-Paralegals (NALA)

NALA is the leading paralegal association in the US. Its mission is to provide continuing education and professional development programs to all paralegals. NALA provides current information about the profession, continuing education materials and seminars, networking opportunities, professional certification programs, occupational survey findings and manuals to help paralegals excel in the workplace. In the working environment, professional certification is a time honored process respected by both employers and those within the career field. Those who are admitted to the Certified Paralegal program today and successfully complete the examination are awarded a “Certified Paralegal” certificate and may use the credential “CP.” For more information visit: www.nala.org.

Attention all paralegal students! For a limited time, student membership to NALA is only $5 a year! Get access to the nation’s largest association of paralegals, professional development resources, and educational content including a digital subscription to Facts & Findings magazine.  Click here:  https://nala.org/membership/join/ to join today! Scroll down to “Student Membership.”

National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA)

Created as a non-profit federation, NFPA is an issues-driven, policy-oriented professional association directed by its membership. It is comprised of more than 50 member associations and represents over 9,000 individual members reflecting a broad range of experience, education and diversity. NFPA prides itself on the professionalism of its members and routinely monitors legislation, case law, proposed changes to the rules of responsibility and ethics opinions that affect the paralegal profession. NFPA offers two credentialing exams: the paralegal CORE Competency Exam and the Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam (PACE). For more information visit: www.paralegals.org.

Study materials for national paralegal exams are available in the Alexandria Campus library.

What is the difference between a paralegal certificate and certification?

A certificate verifies that a student has successfully completed a paralegal education program. On the other hand, a certified paralegal is one that has successfully completed a certification exam or other requirements of the certifying organization. Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/3su8ymrn