Reg-Cert Who?

By Antoinette B. VanSchaick, PP, PLS, Chair, Regulation-Certification Committee

Everyone knows what the Membership Committee or the Education Committee does, but does anyone really know what the Regulation-Certification Committee does?  On behalf of the Reg-Cert Committee, as we like to call ourselves, I would like to try to answer that question. 

As NALS members, we all know how important it is to be certified.  Many of us became ALS’s, then PLS’s, then PP’s.  Others of us have other certifications like the CLA, or the CLAS, possibly even the RP.  Many of us became certified because we wanted to, but what if someone told us we had to?  That someone may not be our boss. On the other hand, that someone, or something may be a bar association, a Court, or some type of legislative body.  Well, the fact of the matter is that there are states that are telling legal support staff professionals just that.  They are regulating the legal support profession by, among other things, requiring legal support professionals to be licensed, or to have a specific type of certification. 

The Reg-Cert committee’s purpose is to serve the members of NALS by tracking proposed or ongoing activity regarding this type of regulation and keeping NALS members informed.  How do we do this?  To name a few of our methods, we review state and international bar association websites, court websites, and websites of other legal associations; we read legal and trade publications, and monitor message boards and forums.  As we gather pertinent information, we compile it into a database, but we also publish articles like this one in Leading the Way and contribute any noteworthy developments in E-News.

At this time, there are only 11 of us on the committee:

Tina Boone, PLS (TN)                           Robin Kunce, PLS (NV)
Caroline Bryant, PLS (ID)                     Misty Lewis, PP, PLS (MS)
Stephanie Freundel (NY)                     Gina Negrin (NJ)
Nancy Gates, PP, PLS, CLAS (MS)    Cyndi Ronfeldt, PP, PLS (SD)
Jill J. Hale, PP, PLS, CLA (AZ)            Carole M. Schneider, PP, PLS (MI)

However, regulation of the legal support profession is not only affecting the 11 of us, it is affecting, or will eventually affect all of us at NALS; therefore, it is our hope that you will assist the committee by keeping your eyes and ears open.  We will use our available resources to monitor the situation and keep you in the loop.

If I’ve learned only one thing as a member of NALS, it’s this: cooperation is key.  Together, there isn’t anything we can’t do, so if you see or hear something, let us know.

We look forward to hearing from you.  Thank you for your time.