Special Experience

Special Experience

The Certifying Board will consider award of CLE hours for special experiences. Examples include:

  • Teaching a legal course in a paralegal program on a subject of substantive law or procedure
  • Presentation of a seminar or workshop on a subject of substantive law or procedure related to the work of a paralegal
  • Extensive research on a subject of substantive law or procedure related to the work of a paralegal which results in publication of an article in a legal publication
  • Training sessions involved in volunteer activities such as CASA and Guardian Ad Litem programs which involve the review, study and application of state or federal governmental regulations,  guidelines and procedures, or court rules.

CLE hours cannot be awarded for:

  • Work required activities (paid or unpaid) such as trial preparation, witness interviewing, or research of a case related subject
  • Service on the NALA Certifying Board or Advanced Paralegal Certification Board, or participation in NALA’s LEAP program.
  • Volunteer service

CLE Hours Calculation:

Presentation of course/seminars:  The board will consider the time involved in research in preparation of a course or seminar for paralegals to a maximum of 3 hours per every 1 hour of instruction. In addition, hours are awarded for the time of instruction for the presentation.  Time spent editing or proofreading will not be considered in the calculation of hours.

The maximum allowed hours for instruction of a for-credit course in a paralegal curriculum is 20 hours.

If a course or seminar is repeated during the five year period, hours as an instructor for the course or seminar is awarded once per five year period. However, hours may be available for the time of instruction for the repeated presentation.  Hours may be awarded to a Certified Paralegal as an instructor of a course or seminar that is repeated in a subsequent five year period.

Written/publication of an article: Hours will be calculated based on estimated number of hours of research for preparation of the article. Time spent editing or proofreading will not be considered in the calculation of hours.

Training for volunteer service:  Hours will be calculated based on the hours of training.

Filing requests for hours for special experiences: 

  • Requests for hours for special experiences based on teaching should include the following:
  • Certified paralegal contact information
  • Description of course/seminar topic
  • Length and dates of the course/seminar
  • Sponsor of course/seminar program with contact information
  • Estimate of the number of hours required in preparation

Requests for hours for special experiences based on authoring an article which results in publication should include:

  • Certified paralegal contact information
  • Copy of the publication with the article
  • Estimate of the number of hours required in research and preparation of the article

Requests for special training for volunteer service should include:

  • Certified Paralegal contact information
  • Name of Training and Sponsor
  • Date(s) and time (s) of training sessions completed
  • Sponsor contact information
  • Event program for calculation of CLE hours, or details stating the total number of hours of instruction for training
  • Verification of completion of training, such as certificate or sponsor signature.

Certified paralegals may submit this information on a “Certificate of Attendance Form” provided by NALA, or by completing the on-line CLE request form on the NALA web site, or by submitting a letter with the required documentation.

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