A Reminder

All Legal Assistants working in California are subject to a Continuing Legal Education requirement under California Business & Professions Code section 6450.

If you were a Legal Assistant on January 1, 2001, your compliance period for Ethics requirement ends on December 31, 2003.

California Business & Professions Code 6450 became effective on January 1, 2001. The statute requires legal assistants to meet certain continuing legal education requirements.

Obtaining Continuing Legal Education Credits: Attend programs that are approved for CLE credit by the State Bar of California will qualify towards your CLE requirement. Look for CLE information on training announcements (it is a State Bar rule that all programs approved for CLE credit must have this language in the advertising materials) to see if a program is approved for CLE credit and , if so, how many hours you can count toward your requirement.

You will receive a certificate of Attendance, when you attend a State Bar of California approved program, this certificate will help you keep track of the hours that you have accrued.

According to the statute, paralegals are responsible for keeping a record of the approved programs paralegals attend. Paralegals should keep the certifications thy receive at each State Bar of California approved program they attend.

Excerpts taken from LAPA article “A Reminder” by Roma Shropshear, Paralegal of Morrison & Foerster LLP