The Paralegal American Association for Paralegal Education Volume 30, No. 2 FALL/WINTER 2015/2016 See article on page 19 Service Learning and Community Engagement Across the Curriculum SAVE THE DATE! 35th Annual Conference October 9-16, 2016 Grand Hyatt San Antonio Welcomes American Association for Paralegal Education AREA ATTRACTIONS • Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center • Riverwalk (Paseo del Rio) • HemisFair Park • The Alamo • IMAX Theater • Shops at La Villita Arts Village • Rivercenter Mall • Ripley’s Believe It or Not • Alamodome • Market Square (El Marcado) • AT&T Center • San Antonio Zoo • Fiesta Texas • Sea World® 2 FALL/WINTER 2015/2016 THE PARALEGAL EDUCATOR The Paralegal American Association for Paralegal Education table of contents The Paralegal Educator is published two times a year by the American Association for Paralegal Education, 19 Mantua Road, Mt. Royal, New Jersey 08061. (856) 423-2829 Fax: (856) 423-3420 Message from the President 5 E-mail: [email protected] PUBLICATION DATES: Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter Message from President-Elect 6 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $50 per year; each AAfPE 10 Tips to Jumpstart a Paralegal Career 7 member receives one subscription as part of the membership benefit; additional member subscriptions available at the rate of $30 per year. ADVERTISING Retaining Students: Past, Present and Future 9 RATES: (856) 423-2829 Military Traits Translate to Success in Legal Education 13 EDITORIAL STAFF: Carolyn Bekhor, JD - Editor-in-Chief Julia Dunlap, Esq. - Chair, Publications Teaching Our Paralegal Students How to Better Aid Leslie Teris, JD - Executive Director Hispanic or Latino Legal Clients 16 PUBLISHER: American Association for Paralegal Education Service Learning and Community Engagement Across Articles and letters to the editor should be submitted to the Curriculum 19 the Chair of the Publications Committee and Editor.. Overcoming Difficulties Inherent in Paralegal Technology DEADLINES: January 31 and June 15th. Education 22 Articles may be on any paralegal education topic but, on occasion, a Paralegal Educator issue has a central It’s a Party 25 theme or motif, so submissions may be published in any issue at the discretion of the Editor and the Publications The Moot Court Advantage 28 Committee. (A submission may be rejected as well at the discretion of the Editor and/or Committee.) Law for Society – and for Paralegals (Book Review ) 29 Articles may be of any length although, generally, submissions should not exceed 1,000 words. The article Omniscient Mentor 31 should be submitted with an appropriate title, the author’s biography (3-5 sentences) at the end of the article, and with a recent photo (.jpg at 300 dpi only). LEX Update 37 Articles should be submitted in Microsoft Word®. It is preferred that articles be double-spaced, 12-point LEX Scholarship Essays 38 Times New Roman, and follow the conventions of good English. Please spell and grammar-check articles before submission. Additional editorial guidelines can be found AAfPE 2015 Election 43 at the AAfPE website (www.aafpe.org). 2015 Candidate Statements 44 Publication and editing of submissions are within the purview of the Editors, President, and Executive Director. The opinions expressed in The Paralegal Professional Pursuits 51 Educator are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of AAfPE. In Memoriam 52 Articles may be reprinted with the permission of AAfPE. To secure permission to reprint articles, AAfPE Bytes 53 please contact the Executive Director. © 2015 American Association for Paralegal Education THE PARALEGAL EDUCATOR Fall/Winter 2015/2016 3 AAfPE 2016 Calendar Honorary Membership in AAfPE Each year, up to two persons who have provided January 22-23, 2016 outstanding service to AAfPE, but are no longer involved in paralegal education, are conferred with Board of Directors Meeting honorary lifetime membership. San Antonio, Texas A nominee must have two (2) letters of June 2016 recommendation from two (2) different AAfPE Board of Directors Meeting member institutions. If you are interested in Date and Location TBD nominating someone for this achievement, please October 11-12, 2016 mail and/or email your letters of recommendation, Board of Directors Meeting on institution letterhead by May 31st to: San Antonio, Texas AAfPE October 12-15, 2016 c/o Patricia Lyons, AAfPE Immediate Past President 19 Mantua Road 35th Annual Conference Mount Royal, NJ 08061 San Antonio, Texas [email protected] Help at Your Fingertips: Writing for The Paralegal Educator Would you like to impress your boss, The Educational Resource Library your colleagues, your students? The Paralegal Do you have a teaching experience, American Association for Paralegal Education Volume 28, No. 2 WINTER 2013 knowledge relevant to the paralegal The mission of the ERL is to provide members with profession, or a solution to a problem course-level resources, such as syllabi and subject- that you would like to share? matter projects; and program-level resources, such as assessment plans, rubrics, professional If you are thinking “yes” to any part of these questions, then it is time to development ideas, and surveys. Since the ERL’s The Future of Paralegal Programs in Turbulent Times: put your ideas on paper and write Weathering the Legal Academy’s Perfect Storm See article on page 21 inception, the Education Committee has been an article for AAfPE’s national gathering and cataloguing all types of information, peer-reviewed magazine – The Paralegal Educator. even archives of relevant listserv discussions, in an effort to streamline AAfPE institutional members’ The Educator is published twice each year. access to material designed to make our lives easier Articles can be submitted at any (always a bonus) and our programs even better. time; the deadlines for the two issues will be announced well in The Paralegal American Association for Paralegal Education To explore the ERL, go to www.aafpe.org, click advance of the submission date. Volume 29, No. 1 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 on “Members Only,” and enter your Username A broad theme may be assigned to an issue to focus on trends and (your email address) and Password (from AAfPE). concerns within paralegal education If there is content you would like to see added, and the paralegal profession. please let us know. Or, if you have something Watch for the “Call for Articles” on to add, please send it to Stephen Barnes A Strategy for Overcoming The Brain Dump: the AAfPE listserve which will Oral Final Exams ([email protected]). Contributors retain provide this information. See article on page 19 all copyright and author privileges to their own material. The ERL should only get bigger and If you have any questions or would like more information, better as time passes and more AAfPE members please contact Editor-in-Chief, Carolyn Bekhor at [email protected] or (909) 593-4410 ext. 4410 help it grow. 4 FALL/WINTER 2015/2016 THE PARALEGAL EDUCATOR BY PATRICIA LYONS - Bunker Hill Community College President’s Message As we start another school year, we are also putting the final touches to plans for our annual Conference to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin! You are in for another conference filled with many informative presentations! I would like to thank Toni Marsh and her hard-working committee. This year, you will find more interactive sessions in addition to lecture sessions. One of the technology sessions this year will enable you to use your own computer for a hands-on tutorial of some software programs your students will enjoy. Don’t forget the teaching competitions: Cyber Idol and the Traditional teaching competitions. There is still time to enter and show off your teaching tips to our members! Please make sure to attend the Business Meeting so you can cast your vote for candidates who have volunteered to serve you on the Board as well as represent you to the ABA. Think about putting your name into the ring next year or possibly serve on a committee. If you have questions, feel free to contact your Region Director or a member of the Board. There are also two optional events: Harley Davidson Museum and the Pub Crawl. The latter will have you ride bicycles along the Milwaukee Pubs where you can sample some of Milwaukee’s finest! The Harley Davidson museum is a popular spot for those who visit Milwaukee and displays many of the motorcycles manufactured over the years. You will also find many restaurants, shops, etc. to visit while you are staying in Milwaukee! There is an Italian restaurant right across the street from our hotel that has delicious food and gelato! For those who want to walk off your meal, there is a river walk across from the hotel. Walk over the bridge and have your picture taken with the Fonz! Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who volunteered their time and talent to make AAfPE the great organization it continues to be. Whether you served on the Board, chaired a committee, authored an article, welcomed a new member, presented at a conference, contributed to ERL, etc., YOU are what makes this a successful organization! I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve you as President this past year and I wish the new Board much success in the coming year! Patricia Lyons President American Association for Paralegal Education Message from the President the from Message THE PARALEGAL EDUCATOR Fall/Winter 2015/2016 5 ROBERT MONGUE, PRESIDENT-ELECT - University of Mississippi. President-Elect’s Message As I look forward to my transition from President-Elect to President, I am extremely pleased with the current state of AAfPE. We are a rich resource for paralegal education, providing assistance to each other through our regional and national conferences, our publications – The Paralegal Educator, The Sidebar, and AAfPE Bytes, our listserv discussions, and especially through the Electronic Resource Library.