By: Kristina Duncan

My firm recently started advertising a job opening for an administrative assistant. As resumes started rolling in, I noticed an interesting trend. People were sending in resumes that showed they graduated from a paralegal program and were calling themselves “certified” paralegals, yet there were no designations behind their names. As I saw more and more of this, I started questioning my own understanding of “certified paralegal.” I always thought that if you were a graduate of a paralegal program you were certificated and that you passed an exam to become certified.Maybe I was wrong.

I went to www.dictionary.com to double check the official definitions. “Certificate” was defined as “a document attesting to the fact that a person has completed an educational course, issued either by an institution not authorized to grant diplomas, or to a student not qualifying for a diploma.” Ok, I think to myself. That goes a long with my understanding of things. You attend a paralegal program and at the completion of the course you receive a certificate.

Then I look up “certified.” It was defined as “[H]aving or proved by a certificate.” Hold on one moment! That would mean that the paralegals who say they are certified by mere fact of having graduated from a paralegal program are correctly representing themselves. However, that goes against my working knowledge of what a “certified paralegal” is from hearing it used within the paralegal community. Time to dig deeper!

I decided to see what the American Bar Association (ABA) website had to say about certified paralegals. The ABA has a Standing Committee on Paralegals (which I actually didn’t know existed), whose website had an article entitled Information for Lawyers: How Paralegals Can Improve Your Practice, wherein it answered the question “what is a certified paralegal?” Its ABA website states:

• Technically a “certified” paralegal is a paralegal who has completed the voluntary certification process of a professional association by developing a specified level of professional competency.
• The National Association of Paralegals (NALA) awards the designation Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) or Certified Paralegal (CP) to persons who have met its requirements, which include passing a competency exam. Advanced specialty certification (CLAS) exams are also administered by NALA, as are a few state-specific advanced competency examinations.
• The National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) awards the designation Registered Paralegal (RP) to persons who have met its requirements, which include passing the Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam (PACE).
• NALS, the association for legal professionals, offers two paralegal certifications.
• The American Alliance of Paralegals (AAPI) awards the designation American Alliance Certified Paralegal (AACP).
• The Texas Board of Legal Specialization offers a voluntary specialty certification program in six areas of Texas law. Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio also have state-specific voluntary certification programs.
• The term “certified” is sometimes mistakenly used when referring to a paralegal who has earned a certificate by completing a course of study.
• The American Bar Association does not certify individual paralegals.

(http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/paralegals/lawyers.html)

Its first bullet point says it all: “[t]echnically a “certified” paralegal is a paralegal who has completed the voluntary certification process of a professional association by developing a specified level of professional competency.” A later bullet point confirms what I thought, that these paralegals are misusing the term and they may not even know it. Also, the confusion in the use of the term may even start at the school they attended and the schools may not even realize it. I took a look at the websites of some of the schools listed on the resumes. One of the school’s marketing tagline was “Become a certified paralegal by getting a paralegal certificate.” I wonder if the school is even aware that they are providing incorrect information. They probably are not since according to the English language they are correct, but within the legal community the definition of the word is otherwise.

It is no wonder that some attorneys are confused about using paralegals and in what capacity when there can be such easy confusion over the definition of a word. Both usages are correct and depend on context. So, if both are correct, how do we keep the confusion from occurring? The answer may lie in two parts. As more state bar associations start offering certification tests, such as Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, and Florida already do, and lawyers in those states begin to accept these tests as “standard,” then the confusion will lessen. Until that occurs, however, other action to make the ABA usage of the phrase “certified paralegal” more standard within the legal profession may be needed. For example, maybe associations, such as NALS and others, that offer certifying exams need to connect with the paralegal programs to educate students on the various exams and requirements for using the designation “certified paralegal.” Maybe associations need to make presentations at lawyer conferences so that lawyers are made aware of the differences between certified paralegals and paralegals holding a certificate. What do you think? I am interested to hear your thoughts on this issue. Perhaps together we can find a path to ease the confusion between certified and certificated paralegals.”