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Dear Member, Membership Committee: Welcome to our bi-weekly newsletter full of the most [email protected] current and upcoming events! Dear Friends, Has the recession kept you from joining the NYCPA? Are Current Accomplishments/News you scared to join alone? Or do you want someone to reap the same benefits as you? Well, now’s the time to join the NYCPA with a friend! For Spotlights On Our Sponsors! a limited time until March 31, 2009, we are having a special offer: Join with a friend and the both of you get 15% off of the listed membership cost. This deal is too good to be true and you get to join with a friend: it’s a win-win situation. All you have to do is tell a friend and just write on your application the “Friendship Special”. Then list the name of your friend and make sure your friend does the same on their application or else the deal is not valid. Both applications should be mailed in the same envelope or faxed together. So what are you waiting for? Join the NYCPA today! HOW CAN PARADOCS HELP YOU? We have a number of options available to ensure that you submit your renewal application on time. Renewing ParaDocs has an established reputation for cradle to membership application forms are available on the front grave litigation support. ParaDocs can alleviate the page of our website at: www.nyc-pa.org burden of paralegal training, deposition review, OPTION 1 Mail a copy of your completed renewing membership application electronic exhibit processing, ebrief hyperlinking, with check/money order to: video processing, and trial presentation. New York City Paralegal Association For additional information, please contact George A. P.O. Box 4484 Ruge, Partner @ [email protected], or Grand Central Station call tel. 212.268.5695 or cell. 917.710.4397 or visit New York, NY 10163-4484 OPTION 2 our website @ www.PARADOCSonline.com Send a pdf of your completed renewing membership application to: [email protected] and submit payment via our PAYPAL Payment Center that is also accessible on the front page of our website at: www.nyc-pa.org OPTION 3 Send a pdf of your completed renewing membership application to: [email protected] and submit payment via check or money order to: New York City Paralegal Association PLEASE HELP US TO HELP YOU! P.O. Box 4484 Grand Central Station Dear Friends! New York, NY 10163-4484 We are looking for an office space for our If you choose option 3, please indicate that you will be sending payment separately in the email you submit to the meetings. If your office can accommodate a membership chairperson. meeting space for at least 15 people on weeknights and/or weekends, please let us know PAYMENT AMOUNTS: as soon as possible. The following breakdown provides the amounts that new and renewing members are required to pay (before the discount) for Please contact Shaun @ [email protected] the different classes of membership: and/or Nikki @ [email protected]. 1) ACTIVE/VOTING MEMBERS: $100.00 2) ASSOCIATE MEMBERS: $75.00

March 24, 2009 3) STUDENT MEMBERS: $50.00  Spring Internship program is full. For further information please contact: [email protected] SAVE THE DATE! How do I apply? Send a one page resume and cover letter to [email protected]

Events Committee: [email protected] Mentor Program Committee: [email protected] COMING UP! SPRING SOCIAL “Life is truly a boomerang. What you give, you Hosted by New York City Paralegal Association, get back.” - Dale Carnegie Inc.@ LATITUDE BAR AND LOUNGE MARCH 31, 2009 COMING UP! Network with other career paralegals, paralegal Mentor/Mentees Get-Together students and other law firm staff. Hosted by New York City Paralegal Association, Inc. Our event will take place from 7 to 9 pm at Latitude th th th Meet your Mentor/Mentee in person and network with Bar and Lounge, 783 8 Avenue (between 47 and 48 others. Streets). PLEASE WATCH FOR MORE DETAILS IN Please rsvp @ [email protected] as soon as possible YOUR E-MAIL BOX! so we can accommodate members at our reservation tables. The event is FREE for members. Nonmembers are welcome for a nominal fee of $15.00. NYCPA is your professional organization. PLEASE WATCH FOR MORE DETAILS IN Get involved, join the Leadership Team YOUR E-MAIL BOX! today!!! Committees News We are looking for paralegals with interest in marketing, website design, website utilization, and human Pro-Bono Committee Update: resources to help our Board Members to serve your better! [email protected] Please prepare/write a short paragraph describing your interest in any of these positions. Include any skills you NEW YORK CITY LEGAL AID SOCIETY have that can be offered to the committee of your choice. The New York Paralegal Association, Inc. wants Please submit your interest for the position to: to keep our student members informed about [email protected]. Summer and Fall Internship opportunities with The Legal Aid Society:  Legal Aid is currently accepting cover letters and one page resumes from students who are enrolled in a paralegal program for Summer and Fall Internship Opportunities.  Legal Aid Society requests that candidates make a 15-hour weekly Questions & Answers Corner: commitment.  College credit can be arranged. Q: I am a new member of NYCPA and would like to request a mentor. What should I do?

March 24, 2009 use the professional title Associate Paralegal and the letters A: You can download your application from A.Inst.Pa after one’s name, and the latter allows one to use our website @ www.nyc-pa.org or send the professional title Certified Paralegal and the letters your request to [email protected]. We F.Inst.Pa after one's name. Membership is open to both are looking forward to help you! paralegals and other legal support staff, both within the UK, the US and elsewhere. Corporate membership is also open to law firms and others. We offer all levels of paralegals Events Committee: [email protected] helpful career information and professional benefits. If you are interested in expanding your global paralegal outreach, Hi, I am Nikki Doughty, your Events Coordinator, join us! I recently traveled to England and found this wonderful resource for paralegals abroad. Below is an article about paralegal professionals in England written by James O’Connell, Chief Executive from the Institute of Paralegals that I found interesting. FOR MORE NEWS AND EVENTS VISIT US AT Enjoy your reading! http://www.nyc-pa.org A Premier Paralegal Organization from Across the Pond Do you have any news to share with your fellow The UK paralegal profession is still in its infancy, Paralegals? Did you recently graduate? Start a new but growing at an amazing pace. job? Been promoted? Married or had a child? The lead professional body for paralegals in the UK is our organization, the non-profit Institute of Paralegals Share the good news with our community! (www.InstituteofParalegals.org). The Institute is also the standards-setting body for non-lawyers in the legal CONTACT US: profession (paralegals, legal secretaries, legal assistants etc) – see www.LegalStandards.org. However the Institute does not have a regulatory function, as the paralegal profession is unregulated in the UK. Therefore any New York State or other American paralegals can practice as a paralegal in the UK without sitting any examinations. However it can be difficult to find an employer who needs someone with If you have any questions and/or comments, please never knowledge of New York State/US law and practice. hesitate to contact our Board Members at addresses listed The development of the paralegal profession in the below UK is significantly ahead of continental Europe, with each [email protected] country having its own unique circumstances. The UK [email protected] consists of three distinct jurisdictions: England and Wales, [email protected] Northern Ireland and Scotland. Currently, there is no pan- [email protected] European arrangements/agreement relating to the paralegal [email protected] profession. [email protected] As early as the year 2000, there were already more [email protected] paralegals in solicitors' (i.e. attorneys) law firms than there [email protected] were assistant, associate and consultant solicitors combined. [email protected] Within a decade there will be more paralegals in law firms [email protected] than there are attorneys. By then there will also be more [email protected] paralegal law firms than there are solicitor/attorney law [email protected] firms (the UK government is keen on deregulation!). [email protected] The two practice grades of membership for our [email protected] Institute are Associate and Fellow. The former allows one to [email protected] [email protected]

NYCPA Board of Directors New York City Paralegal Association, Inc.

March 24, 2009