On Friday night, March 8, Stacey Hunt, CAPA President, attended a reception in her honor at Fresno City College where she is an alumnus of the Paralegal Studies Program. Following her graduation, she taught Discovery and Trial Preparation as adjunct faculty in the Paralegal studies Program at FCC. The FCC event, a combined reception/book signing of her most recent book, also allowed Ms. Hunt to address issues currently facing CAPA. She spoke about and asked for assistance on the proposed Assembly Bill 2756 introduced by Assembly member Canciamilla. This bill is an act to amend Sections 6450-6453 and 6455 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to paralegals.

Most of us know that when AB 1761 was enacted, it defined the role of paralegals in the State of California. It was a bill designed not only to protect consumers, but to set minimum standards for those using the term paralegal/legal assistant. Now, there is a group primarily made up of independent paralegal, who want to delete major portions of the code as passed by AB 1761 and subsequently AB 1083. The proposed bill would strike portions such as: "a paralegal shall not do any of the following: . . . (4) Act as a runner or capper, . . . ; (5) Engage in conduct that constitutes the unlawful practice of law; (6) contract with, or be employed by, a natural person other than an attorney to perform paralegal services.; (7) In connection with providing paralegal services, induce a person to make an investment, purchase a financial product or service, or enter a transaction from which income or profit, or both purportedly may be derived; (8) Establish the fees to charge a client for the services the paralegal performs, which shall be established by the attorney who supervises the paralegal's work. . ."

It appears this Assembly Bill would lower the standards for a paralegal and would also redefine paralegal to fit this specific group's agenda rather than benefit the paralegal at large in the state of California. If you would like to read the bill for yourself, go to www.leginfo.ca.gov, click on Bill Information, choose Assembly for the "House" and type in 2756 in the Bill number box. Then click the search button. Go down to Bill Text and click on HTML. Read for yourself the old law and the proposed new amendments.

This bill is scheduled for a possible hearing in committee on March 28. Contact the representatives in the Assembly voicing your concerning. On the 2756 page where you clicked on HTML to get to the text of the bill, scroll down to the bottom, and you can click on bottoms which allow you to comment to the author as well as to subscribe to the updates on the bill as it is working its way through our legislature.

You can also go to www.assembly.ca.gov to find your district and your assemblyman. Most of them have a link which you can click on to contact them directly by e-mail and let them know your opinion.

Let AB 1761 have a chance before making changes to it. If we want more respect as a profession and higher wages, then we need to show that we are willing to be accountable both educationally and experientially in what we do as paralegal/legal assistants.