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NALA’s Online CLE is Effective, Efficient & Proven

National Association of Legal Assistants
1516 South Boston Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74119
www.nala.org
(918) 587-6828

Back to Success Stories


Online CLE success comes only with a clear vision, attention to detail, and the kind of solid administration a national organization such as NALA can provide.
Marge Dover, CAE
[email protected]

It has been nearly five years since the National Association of Legal Assistants sliced into the Internet with cutting-edge continuing legal education for paralegals. The original NALA Campus (www.nalacampus.com) has become even more robust with the addition of NALA Campus LIVE! now in its second session of courses through May 1. Development is also well underway toward offering CLA/CP Specialty certification by way of the Internet.

When NALA Campus went on line in August 2000 with eight courses offered around the clock, paralegals quickly took note of the substantive course work prepared by acknowledged authorities and educators. The new online format was enthusiastically embraced, and within six months, nearly 3,000 visitors logged on at the site and there were 800 enrollees.

The original NALA Campus concept still appeals strongly to paralegals who wish to pursue CLE at their own pace and from their own computers. Employers appreciate the fact that their paralegals do not need time away from the office in order to take the course work, and some office managers have incorporated NALA Campus courses in their in-house training programs. A number of business professionals outside the legal field have also made use of the courses.

NALA Campus LIVE! adds the new dimension of “live” course instructors in synchronous presentations allowing questions and interactive teaching techniques. Some learners are more comfortable and confident in this real-time environment, and 153 of them enrolled in the first session of 11 courses last fall.

The 13 courses in the NALA Campus LIVE! Winter Session now in process range from Discovery Investigation and Trial Preparation to Employment Discrimination and 401(k) Basics. A number of the courses—Ethics, Judgment and Analysis, Written Communication, and Legal Research—are CLA/CP review courses ideal for paralegals preparing for the examination.

Use of the Internet was growing exponentially when NALA began to exploit the educational possibilities offered by this technology. Success was assured by adhering to some established basics. It was crucial to keep the educational mission in mind and not to fall in love with Internet technology for its own sake. Service and attention to the needs of users have remained high on NALA’s priorities as its online CLE curricula have grown.

These basic principles also have a major part in NALA’s development of online CLAS credentialing. The Specialty Task Force assembled by NALA in 2002 to consider the challenge of offering specialty certification in a relevant, more convenient and time responsive way, has developed a program implementing a curriculum-based certification via the Internet.

Development of an online CLA/CP Specialty program has had input from NALA members, paralegals with the CLAS designation, professional educators, attorneys and paralegal managers, and an expert in developing professional certification programs.

Online continuing legal education has proven effective, efficient, and an unqualified success as a service to paralegals and the profession. The possibilities are virtually limitless, but online success comes only with a clear vision, attention to detail, and the kind of solid administration a national organization such as NALA can provide.

 

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Updated 08/25/06
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