President's Message
by Charlene Bullock  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I find it hard to believe that another year has passed, and we are celebrating Thanksgiving again. It only seems like yesterday when we were shopping for Christmas gifts, and we’re getting ready to do it or some are already done. I hope that it has been a good year for all of you.

We had another successful year for SJALA. Our membership is up over 100, with new members coming in all the time, and inquiries coming in about SJALA. We have recently had requests for sustaining membership from two business people which is exciting.

Our website has been extremely successful with many hits. Thanks to member Holly Silver’s husband, Rod, who manages ARTCO, a web development company, for having designed a great website for SJALA.  It has been used as an example by Taecan.com in its advertising for MCLE courses for paralegals. The website is also linked to Taecan.com under the "Events" button where paralegals can take online courses to complete their substantive law requirements prior to January 1, 2003, as required by B&P 6450. You will note in this issue a couple of inserts regarding the MCLE requirements that must be obtained under the law. Please take a few minutes to read the literature in this newsletter regarding the MCLE requirements.

The Fresno County Bar Association was extremely pleased with our assistance at its annual picnic in May this year, and I look forward to SJALA assisting them again next year.

Equally successful was SJALA’s assistance at the annual American Heart Association Walk/Lawyers Have Heart Run. Our own Pam Buchnoff is a member of the American Heart Association committee and attends the monthly meetings all year long. Anthony DeMaria will resume as chairman of the Lawyers Have Heart Run in 2003 after taking a year off. The event will be held at Woodward Park which should prove to be a good place for both walkers and runners. There will be ample parking, and some great courses can be set up in the park and outside for the runners.

Our first attempt at a tri county educational seminar was very well attended, although the turnout from SJALA was disappointing. The event was MCLE sponsored, and for $60.00 you cannot find a seminar offering MCLE credit in your own back yard. The ethics portion in the afternoon was paneled by Judge James Petrucelli, attorney Anthony N. DeMaria, Brian McCully, program director for the paralegal program at Fresno City College, and Kay Kasic, CLA, CAS, a trust administration paralegal and professor at the University of Sonoma. It was by far the most excellent ethics seminar I have attended to date anywhere, and the cost was minimal compared to what I have paid to attend seminars at a long distance within California. Our very small turnout must mean all of Fresno County’s paralegals have their four hours of required MCLE credits in substantive law and ethics already completed. Of course, the ethics MCLE credits are much more difficult to obtain and that four hour requirement must be completed by January 1, 2004. If you are lacking credits and don’t want to leave your house, click on our website www.fresnoparalegal.org and take them online for a discounted fee which was negotiated by CAPA with Taecan.com.

I hope that all of you will take the time to attend the Christmas Social on December 11, 2002, to be held in the upstairs room at the World Sports Cafe in River Park from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Free hor’dorvs and soft drinks will be provided with a no host bar. It is a good time to visit and see old friends during the holiday time.

For the 2003 year, SJALA is in dire need of someone to chair its Quarterly Programs. This requires obtaining a place for our membership luncheon or dinner, a speaker, and accepting RSVPs from the members. We have three membership meetings a year in March, June and September. And there is also the arranging of our Christmas Social and the food in early December. The locations and speakers can be obtained early in the year and confirmed, and you are done except for the reservations. We are also in need of someone to chair the Newsletter committee. One person has done the newsletter this year, but two people did it in 2001. The newsletter is printed quarterly on March 1, June 1, September 1, and December 1. We need your help on these committees. I know that some of you in SJALA are very talented, and we need those talents put to use for the good of our association. We always need help from the members at the Bar picnic and the Heart Walk. If you are interested in volunteering your time for the committees for one year, or helping at the functions we assist others on, please give me a call at 433 2328.

Jennifer Sadler of the Walton, Mitchell firm in Sanger has recently taken over as membership chair with such enthusiasm that it has been a very welcome addition to SJALA. Welcome Jennifer.

The nomination and election of officers for 2003 is running a little behind schedule this year, but hopefully I will have put the nomination ballots in the mail by the time you read this newsletter. Once those are received back (and I know each of you will do so quickly to help me out), I will get the voting ballots in the mail to you. Keep your eye out for those in the mail and get them back to us ASAP.

Membership applications will be mailed out the end of December or early January. Dues will be due by March 1, 2004.

Our planning meeting will be held in early January to map out events, committees, and dates. If you are interested in the committees, check our website for the date which has not yet been set.

Some of you may not be aware of the fact that we have among our members several who are Certified Legal Assistants. The CLA certification is obtained in a two day grueling test put on by the National Association of Legal Assistants located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The tests are administered three times yearly at various locations in California. California is one of the very few states that also offers a certification in a specialized area of law. That certification is a California Advanced Specialist. You must be a CLA in order to take the test to become a CAS. Pam Buchnoff, Suzie Martin, Michael Flanagan and Lisa Ellis are all members with the CLA certification. Lisa Ellis also obtained her CAS earlier this year. We are fortunate to have such caliber of paralegals among our membership. I believe in the years to come all California paralegals will be required to have such certifications. If you are interested in obtaining certification, take a look at NALA’s website.

If you have any suggestions for locations for membership meetings, speakers or topics of interest to you and the membership in general, or suggestions for other things that might be of interest to paralegals, let us know. Your Board of Directors are here to try to keep the association giving its members what they want and need, but we cannot do it without your involvement, input, and help. Let us hear from you; let us see you at the meetings; let us have your assistance at functions; let us visit with you at the Christmas Social.

Thank you for allowing me to be your president this year. It has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience. It has been a lot of hard work and has taken a lot of my time, but it has been worth it. The members of the Board of Directors have worked tirelessly and thanklessly throughout the year to make this the best association for the members. I want to thank each and every member of the Board, and all of the volunteers who came out and assisted us during the year. I especially want to thank the members of the Board who stepped up and took over during the illness and recent death of my son. They kept things moving forward and took over my job to complete SJALA’s assignment for the educational seminar in October. THANK YOU!

I want to say a big THANK YOU to the Fresno County Bar Association and Vicki for printing our events and meetings in the Bar Bulletin all year, as well as articles from time to time, and for calling to remind of the publication deadlines and to double check information on special events.

Thank you for your assistance, for your ideas, for your attendance, for your membership. Now, let’s make 2003 even better for SJALA and its members. Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.