Legal Assistants/Paralegals of Southern West Virginia

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Home > Certification

Certification

Certification bestows a measure of professional recognition to those persons who achieve significant competence in the field. The opportunity for certification in the legal assistant profession is provided by the National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc. (NALA). The CLA examination program consists of successful completion of a comprehensive two-day exam.

Recognition of the Certified Legal Assistant program is nationwide. The CLA has been adopted in California, Florida and Louisiana as the qualifying standard for legal assistants seeking advanced certification in state specialty practice areas. About half of the bar associations and bar association sections offering associate membership for legal assistants include the CLA credential as an eligibility requirement for membership.

The legal community has been supportive of the CLA credential economically. Legal assistants with the CLA receive higher salaries nationwide and their work is billed at higher rates.

As of the Fall of 2010, the Certified Paralegal Exam has moved to computer based testing. CLICK HERE for information describing the computer based testing process.

Examination Date	Application Filing Deadline	Late Application Filing Deadline (With $25 late filing fee)
September 1-30	August 1	August 10
January 1-31	December 1	December 10
May 1-31	April 1	April 10

Testing centers are offered throughout the United States.

Applications may be submitted:

By mail, with documentation
By FAX (918-582-6772)
On-line using the form on NALA's web site

For questions regarding the CLA Examination, contact Cynthia L. Kline, ACP at nalaliaison@lapswv.org or visit NALA at www.nala.org.

Information on local CLA Study Groups

Legal Assistants/Paralegals of Southern West Virginia

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Certification