TPA is an

affiliate of the

National Association

of Legal Assistants

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

♦ President’s Message

♦ Career Corner

♦ Paralegal Charged with

Embezzlement – Chris Whaley

♦ Think Prepare Achieve –

Upcoming Spring Seminar

♦ Fall Board Meeting

♦ Simplifying Your E-Discovery

Work Load – Michelle Kovich

♦ Annual Membership Meeting

♦ Winter 2007 Special Report

First Vice President

♦ TPA History: NALA

♦ NALA Campus Live!

♦ Congratulations New CLA’s!

♦ 2008 CLA/CP Certification

Exams & NALA Short Course

♦ Supporting Sustaining Members

♦ Chapter Information & News

♦Publications Message

♦ 2008 TPA Officer & Board

Members

Tennessee Paralegal Association

Post Office Box 21723

Chattanooga, TN 37424

http://www.tnparalegal.org

PUBLICATION OF THE TENNESSEE PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION

January 2008

President’s Message Dear Fellow TPA members:

It is hard to believe that my term as President is over. It has been an exciting

and rewarding two years for me and I want to take this opportunity to say

thanks to all who pitched in and helped turbo-charge TPA--taking it into its

second quarter century of existence with a bang! Special thanks to all of the

board members who helped spearhead the rejuvenation of TPA. We have a

great new board in place (with some of the same faces and some new ones).

The new Board, elected at our Annual Meeting in November, is already hard

at work planning and working to make our association even stronger. Let

me introduce them:

Our 2008 President, Tracey Williams (East Chapter), did a phenomenal

job for the past two years as First Vice President, as evidenced by the great

Fall Seminars we had. Tracey has set the bar high for future seminar

planners – not only putting together seminars with great speakers, but

making record profits for our association in the process. Tracey got her feet

wet before her term even started—filling in for me at the Annual Meeting

and Seminar while I was in the midst of trial preparation in Ohio.

I am confident our new First Vice President, Tammy Bradford (West

Chapter), will also meet the task. Tammy has already booked the hotel and

secured our contract for next year’s Annual Meeting and Seminar, so please

plan to be with us at the Hilton Suites in Brentwood on November 7 and

8, 2008. I know Tammy will put together an awesome seminar, as she has

done for the West Chapter in the past.

Louise Mulderink (Southeast Chapter) will be serving her second term as

Second Vice President, in charge of membership. Louise will be sending out

renewal notifications soon, so be watching for those via email. The Board

voted last year to begin sending our membership directories, updated bylaws

and other membership information via email (so we have searchable

documents). Watch for those in your email too. Louise is also putting

together a committee to help host a reception in Nashville in an effort to

form a new chapter in Middle Tennessee. Please contact her if you would

like to assist with that committee.

Phyllis Carter (Southeast Chapter), our faithful Treasurer, will continue in

that role again. We honestly could not keep TPA running smoothly without

her.

WINTER 2007 / 2008 Volume 25 Number 4

Melissa Ledbetter (Southeast Chapter) is joining the Board as Secretary this year. Melissa has been

serving as Program Chair and in other capacities in the Southeast Chapter for several years and has done a

great job keeping this Chapter active with great numbers participating in our monthly meetings. She is full

of great ideas and enthusiasm and is a breath of fresh air to us “old timers!”

Speaking of fresh air, Laysha McCullaugh (Southeast Chapter), who has also been very active in the local

chapter and doing a great job as Publications Chair, was elected to serve as NALA Liaison this year. Laysha

attended the NALA Convention in New Orleans in July and came back with great ideas for TPA and lots of

enthusiasm (which is contagious at NALA Conventions).

The new Board has great things in store for you for 2008. If you can’t wait until November to attend a TPA

seminar, please plan to attend our Spring Seminar which will be hosted by our Southeast Chapter this

year. It is set for April 18 and 19, 2008 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Chattanooga (near Hamilton Place

Mall). We have a great lineup of speakers planned with a “Survivor” theme for you Survivor fans. (No, you

will not have to eat worms). You can see the agenda and specific topics inside or on our website.

It has been very fulfilling to serve as President for the past two years and to witness firsthand a renewed

enthusiasm in our state association, which is one of the nation’s oldest paralegal associations. TPA is

growing stronger as it gets older, but still has greater potential to serve its members. If you have questions

about TPA, would like to join, or would like to become a more involved member, please contact any of the

board members via the website.

Susan Veal

Outgoing TPA President

CAREER CORNER

Lynn Hager, our SETPA Treasurer, shares the following job opening:

Estelle Winsett of Counsel on Call (a Memphis placement firm) contacted one of our attorneys. She is

looking for a paralegal with insurance defense experience to work with a Chattanooga insurance defense firm

on a contract basis. If anyone is interested, they can contact Estelle Winsett at

Estelle.winsett@counseloncall.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Garretson Firm has a job opening for a Subrogation Analyst. Please fax your cover letter/resumes to:

The Garretson Firm, Attn: Carol Brown, 6252 Ringgold, Rd., East Ridge, TN 37421, Fax #423.485.8378

The Garretson Firm Resolution Center assists the settlement community by satisfying health care providers

(federal, state and private) interests in personal injury, workers compensation and wrongful death settlements

by evaluating and resolving Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance reimbursement claims. We are

looking for a professional, diligent and detail oriented individual to fill our Subrogation Analyst opening.

Analyst will work with client base and various agencies to effectively evaluate, analyze, and resolve lien

resolutions in a timely manner. Position requires knowledge of Medicare/Medicaid policies and procedures,

medical terminology, ICD-9 diagnosis coding and CPT-4 procedural codes. College degree or equivalent

work experience required. Must demonstrate proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and have effective

verbal and written communication skills. The Garretson Firm offers a competitive salary and benefit

package. For more information about our firm, please visit our website at www.garretsonfirm.com.

Paralegal Charged With Embezzlement By Chris Whaley

Bingo! I thought that would get your attention. This was the headline of a news story that ran in The

Charlotte Observer on January 1. According to the report, a Union County paralegal has been charged with

embezzling approximately $1.2 million from her former boss. Allegedly, she wrote unauthorized checks

from the attorney’s trust account.

Okay, okay – I can almost hear some of you: “Wow, Chris! What a wonderful, inspiring article to

begin 2008 - and Happy New Year to you too.” Though the subject is certainly not positive, I think there are

some positive “nuggets” of wisdom to take away from a case such as this.

Believe it or not, as I read the article, the first thing that came to my mind was not “How dareth she

do thus to her benevolent employer!” Alright, I probably didn’t think it in those words – certainly not in

King James English. The point is that my dander immediately rose toward her employer, the attorney.

What’s that I hear? “But, Chris, he’s the victim . . . she stole money from him and you’re going to

add insult to injury by finding fault with the attorney?” Well . . . um . . . err . . . Yes! You’d better believe it.

Though less than 100% of the facts are known at this point, it appears to me that the attorney was woefully

lacking in his supervision of the paralegal’s activities.

*Whistle* Time out – I need a sidebar for this disclaimer: The paralegal, if proven guilty, deserves whatever

punishment is coming to her. She appears to be as guilty as . . . well, never mind (I was going to compare

this situation to several major league baseball players who allegedly took steroids – but I thought better of it).

The paralegal is charged with taking money, not only from her boss, but also from the clients. This is not an

Op-Ed piece arguing that the paralegal is without fault.

*Okay, time in. However, whatever the paralegal’s culpability (pretty fancy wording huh? I do teach

Criminal Law on occasion) may be, her boss/supervisor should have been keeping better track of what was

going on in the trust account. If this situation arose in Tennessee, Rule 5.3 of the Rules of Professional

Conduct (Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 8) states:

(a) A partner and a lawyer who individually or together with other lawyers possesses comparable

managerial authority in a law firm shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that the firm has in effect

measures giving reasonable assurance that the nonlawyer’s conduct is compatible with these Rules.

In the situation at hand, what measures were in place to give reasonable assurance that the paralegal’s

conduct adhered to the ethical rules?

Is it possible that the paralegal stole the funds in spite of measures and procedures the attorney put into

place? Yes. Is it possible that the attorney did everything professionally possible to prevent this theft? Yes,

it’s possible. However, it is also possible that the attorney (like many others) placed so much trust into his

paralegal that he failed to adequately supervise her work. Again, at this point we don’t know whether

procedures/systems were in place to protect against trust account misappropriation. All we know for certain

is that the paralegal has been charged and the clients’ funds are missing.

Chris Whaley serves as Dean of Social & Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Legal Studies at Roane State

Community College. He can be reached at whaleycl@roanestate.edu He doesn’t regularly speak in the

King’s English, but he does read a pretty mean Chaucer to his wife’s high school English class, on occasion.

SPRING SEMINAR

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE

APRIL 18 & 19, 2008

FRIDAY SCHEDULE

REGISTRATION – 9:00 to 10:00 AM

WELCOME – TPA President Tracey Williams – 10:00 to 10:15AM

RECORDS DISCOVERY – John Barber – 10:15 to 11:15AM

LUNCH – 11:30AM to 12:15PM

CIVIL RIGHTS & EMPLOYMENT LAW – Michael Galligan, Esq. – 12:30 to 1:30PM

BREAK – 2:45 to 3:00PM

BANKRUPTCY PRACTICE – Tom Ray, Esq. – 3:00 to 4:00PM

BREAK – 4:00 to 4:15PM

JURY TRIAL – David F. Ross, PhD – 4:15 to 5:15PM

SATURDAY SCHEDULE

BOARD MEETING – 8:15 to 9:30AM

CRIMINAL APPELLATE PROCEDURE – Appellate Court Judge Jerry Smith – 9:30 to 10:30AM

BREAK – 10:30 to 10:45AM

TIME MANAGEMENT – Kimberly S. Graves, CLA – 10:45 to 11:45AM

CLOSING REMARKS/ADJOURNMENT – 12:15 TO 12:30PM

ACCOMMODATIONS

Hilton Garden Inn

2343 Shallowford Village Drive

Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421

(423) 308-4400

chattanoogahamiltonplace.stayhgi.com

Rooms under the special rate of $109 per night are blocked until April 4. Daily breakfast buffet is included

in the price. See above accomodation information to book your room.

If you wish to share room expenses, contact Louise Mulderink: louise.mulderink@husch.com.

You will be put in touch with another seminar participant with the same wishes.

Directions:

From Knoxville: Take I-75 South toward Chattanooga. Exit at Shallowford Road, exit #5 and take a right at

the top of the off-ramp. Take the next right onto Shallowford Village Drive. Hilton Garden Inn is approx. ¼

mile on the left.

From Nashville: Take I-24 East toward Chattanooga. At the I-24/Highway 27 split, stay on East I-24 going

towards Atlanta/Knoxville. At the I-75 split, take the North route towards Knoxville (I-75 N). Then take Exit

5 Shallowford Road, turn left at light from the off ramp. Get in far right lane & go to 2nd light, take right onto

Shallowford Village Drive. Hilton Garden Inn is approx. ¼ mile on the left.

From Memphis: Take I-40 East toward Nashville. When you get to the 440 by-pass take the East route; then

when you get to the I-24/Highway 27 split stay on I-24 toward Atlanta/Knoxville. See Nashville directions.

PLEASE REGISTER TODAY

REGISTRATIONS FORMS READY AT

WWW.TNPARALEGAL.ORG/

SUMMARY OF FALL BOARD MEETING

November 2, 2007

First Vice President Tracey Williams called the 2007 Fall Board Meeting of the Tennessee Paralegal

Association to order at 9:15 a.m. CST at Hilton Suites in Brentwood, Tennessee. Members in attendance

were: Treasurer Phyllis A. Carter; Secretary Tammie C. Murphy, CLA; Second Vice President and Southeast

Chapter President, Louise Mulderink; NALA Liaison Caleeta Beagles; East Tennessee Chapter Chairperson

Nita Gorman; West Tennessee Chapter Chairperson Tammy Bradford; Publication Chairperson Laysha M.

McCullaugh; and Susan Westmoreland.

Election: The Slate of Officers (Candidates)

President Tracey Williams

First Vice President Tammy Bradford

Second Vice President Louise Mulderink

Secretary Melissa Ledbetter

NALA Liaison Laysha M. McCullaugh

Treasurer Phyllis Carter

Treasurer’s Report

As of November 3, 2007, checking account balance is $2,986.18 & savings account balance is $2,814.18.

The Board re-visited the 20-year lifetime membership provision. The membership directory has not

been sent out this year. When we are instituting the 20-year rule, we should not use the May 1st date and

should use the last date of the year because some members are late in paying their dues. We should also try

to send out the membership directory earlier in the year. Motion was made and passed to approve the

Treasurer’s Reports as stated to be submitted for audit.

First Vice President’s Report

Tracey Williams gave her preliminary figures for the Fall Seminar.

27 paid attendees so far.

2 more will pay their seminar fees today

29 total paid attendees

2 more may come but just attend for one day of the seminar and

they will pay half of the seminar fee if they come

There was a significant increase in the number of attendees from last year:

We have received $2,680.00 so far; $700.00 from the vendors. Tracey said that we really need the

vendor fees to pull in a profit this year. We are charging each vendor $100.00. Tracey noted that our

reception cost will be very expensive this year. So far, we have incurred $822.56 in other costs associated

with the seminar: $194.20 for notebooks and binders; $13.72 for paper.

Tracey thinks we will net an estimated $380.00 profit from the seminar. The Board discussed any

suggestions that we could utilize in organizing future seminars that would lower our overhead costs and

generate increased profits. Over the years, we usually do not make big profits from our seminars. If we break

even, we are doing fine. The food costs account for most of the costs.

Regarding the estimated hotel costs, we only pay for what we consume. We may want to consider

having the seminar again at this hotel next year. Tracey investigated the costs of other hotels in the middle

Tennessee area that were more affordable but they were not big enough.

Second Vice President’s Report

Louise Mulderink announced that all memberships applications are in and that she would get the

membership directory out before the end of the year. We have a total membership of 104. The Board

discussed the fact that we need a more definitive time in which to get the membership books mailed to the

members.

Louise Mulderink and Susan Veal are working on establishing a Nashville Chapter of the TPA. They

know of several paralegals who are interested in starting a chapter. Louise will contact Nashville area

paralegal schools. The Board also discussed giving the new chapter funds from the treasury to start the

chapter. Louise will review the Bylaws regarding same. We currently do not have a Middle Tennessee

Regional Director. Alisa Pruett is assisting Louise with preparation of a form letter to be sent to interested

paralegals. Our goal is to have a Nashville Chapter in place before the 2008 Spring Seminar.

Chapter Reports

A. Southeast Chapter --- The Christmas party is scheduled for December 8, 2007. The new

officers will be: Melissa Ledbetter (Chapter Chairperson); Lynn Hager (Treasurer) and

Heather Pearce (Secretary). Partnership for Children & Family Services (Crisis Resource

Center) is the Chapter’s project.

B. East TN Chapter --- Nita Gorman reported that the Chapter’s goal continues to be recruiting

new members and to get more members to attend their monthly meetings. The Chapter will

hold their elections in November and have a Christmas party in December.

C. West TN Chapter -- Jennifer Petty was elected their Chapter chairperson; Amy Cummings

will be their vice president; Courtney Snydor will be their secretary and Barbara Salinas will

be their treasurer. Their Christmas party will be held on December 11, 2007 and they will

continue to meet every other month.

Old Business

The final revisions to the Bylaws were emailed last week. We discussed the need to clarify when we

use the word “association” in the Bylaws. We decided that the Bylaws clearly state what the word

“association” means and no further discussion on this issue was necessary. We will send out the new Bylaws

with the new membership directory

New Business

The Board reviewed the scholarship applications and voted for Nancy Harrison as the 2007 Lawassa

B. Jones Scholarship recipient. Members also briefly discussed the issue, which arose this year, of a past

winner reapplying for the annual scholarship. The Board decided to table the issue for now, but we need to

clarify that the scholarship is a one-time award and that prior winners should not reapply and will be

disqualified.

SIMPLIFYING YOUR E-DISCOVERY WORKFLOW

By: Michelle Kovitch, Litigation Management Technologies

I don’t remember signing up for all of this e-discovery when I decided to enter the legal industry and support attorneys with litigation. In fact, for some of us, even moving from an electronic typewriter over to a desktop computer with Word Perfect was a huge transition. Most of the attorneys are still kicking and screaming, but the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have mandated that documents stored electronically are in fact discoverable, (“ESI”). It has always been our role to manage the discovery, find a document in a moment’s notice and track what has been produced and collected during discovery. Consequently, in order to represent our clients well, we must now understand electronic discovery. But don’t worry, we will keep it simple and start by providing you with four things to consider with your ESI workflow.

Keep in mind that while a PDF file produced on a CD is an electronic file, typically electronic discovery pertains to a file that is still in its native file format, i.e., Word, Outlook, Excel. There are really four phases to consider with a case involving ESI which include Collection, Processing, Review and Production.

Collecting the data varies as well as the types of media to collect data from. Simply copying the data from one computer to a CD can be performed with standard tools such as Windows Explorer. The computer system maintains properties about a file such as the date and time it was created, modified or last accessed which are all referred to as metadata. These properties are modified when the file is copied. For example, if a Word document was copied from a computer over to a CD, the creation date would be altered instead representing the date the file was copied. This is one of many things to consider when asking the client to copy files from servers, hard drives, flash drives or any type of media. Depending on the needs of your case, it may not even matter.

Since collecting e-discovery is such a new technique, many clients collecting data at the request of the litigation team follow a method such as this:

The client notifies the staff of the need to collect e-mail, in boxes, sent items, deleted items, etc.;

The staff locates all responsive e-mails and forwards them to their manager;

The client then forwards them to the attorney or paralegal;

The attorney or paralegal then load them into the database.

The problems with this method are that an electronic chain of custody trail now exists on these files. Each person that forwarded and/or received the item is now part of the thread and will be revealed on each piece of discovery. Identifying the needs of the case and whether or not your case hinges on metadata, can usually identify a method of collection and whether the data can be copied, harvested or imaged. Consider engaging a forensic computer expert to assist you.

Copying: Can be done with standard tools like windows explorer and obtains active data, but will almost always change some metadata like the last access date/time of files;

Data Harvesting: uses special tools to capture active data without changing any of the metadata. This will not retrieve any “deleted” data located in “slack” or “unallocated” space on the drive. When a file on a computer is deleted, the file actually remains on the computer but is tagged as unallocated space. Until the space is used again or becomes “allocated” it is possible to retrieve the file. Imaging: uses special tools to capture an exact bit by bit copy of all data on a drive, which allows you to recover deleted files located in “slack” or “unallocated” space.

Unfortunately, it is still common for litigators to engage in what I refer to as the “backwards method”. They simply print the e-mails not realizing how beneficial the files were while still in their electronic format. To make matters worse, they take it a step further and have the paper scanned turning them back into electronic copies. A GB of data is 75,000 pages. If your client shows up with 70 GB’s of data, how will you manage that? In order to search the data and manage the discovery effectively and efficiently you will require the use of a litigation review tool.

So now the data has been collected . . . “Just get it in there,” have you heard that before? Try to get the attorneys involved in the decision making process in order to leverage the useful information that is provided within the electronic files. Processing is simply a means of extracting the data and bundling it up so that it can be loaded, searched, reviewed and produced in some type of a litigation review tool. For example, Outlook files when exported out of the program provide pieces of metadata that would benefit the litigation team when searching the discovery. They include fields of information such as “TO”, “FROM”, “DATE”, “CC”, “SUBJECT”, etc. These are the descriptive pieces of information that we presently manually review and index when working with paper discovery. The metadata allows the team to search the discovery by criteria and eliminates the task of indexing. For example, I could search for every e-mail “FROM Michelle Kovitch TO John Doe SUBJECT E-discovery Tips” right out of the gates! Processing ESI can be accomplished with an in-house tool or engaging a service bureau.

Take time to envision how it will be helpful to cull up the data as you proceed with your case. Even though the data has already been collected, each piece of information that is captured during the processing stage from the ESI and then put into your deliverable load file will have a fee associated with it. It is important when working with your service bureau to be clear about which pieces of information or descriptive fields to have extracted. Consider whether or not your case really hinges on things like the creation date of a file. If possible, keep it simple and just stick to the fields you have available by default in your review tool such as: TO, FROM, CC, BCC, BODY, DATE SENT, DATE RECEIVED, SUBJECT LINE, APPLICATION. Other things to consider when having the data processed include: deduplication, conversion to images, maintaining the structure between an email and its attachment and date ranges specific to your case.

After the files are loaded into your review tool and the team starts reviewing the discovery, make sure they are very comfortable with searching the database and retrieving documents based on all different types of criteria. Identify ‘buzz words’ early on in the case and make sure they are communicated to all of the reviewers. Keep a log of these terms as they may likely be an exhibit to your motion attempting to assert a “claw back privilege” later in the case.

With respect to production, the “output” (i.e., native files, pdf files, printed blow backs, etc.) should really be considered during the time of the processing as well. Often these decisions can be made during the meet and confer conference. Aside from producing documents, it is also very important to be clear within your request for production exactly how you want documents within your request be produced. In other words, identifying the specific file format of the production set you receive should be part of the case planning session so we can avoid backstrokes and unnecessary expense later.

While these tips, tricks and traps can be incorporated into using any type of litigation review tool, we sell Summation Software, train our clients and support firms with case consulting. In order to meet the requests of our clients we have also published a book on the practical way to use Summation, “Summ it Up”. The reference guide provides you with more detailed tips on ESI and which tools to use throughout the various phases of litigation. We also provide a long list of best practices, cheat sheets and checklists within the book. You can obtain further information regarding our services or a copy of Summ it Up at www.lmtsupport.com or info@ltmsupport.com.

SUMMARY OF ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

November 3, 2007

Caleeta Beagles distributed the proposed revisions/additions to the Bylaws. The revisions were read and

approved by the membership.

The Treasurer’s Report for 2007 was read and approved by those members in attendance. Phyllis noted that

in her proposed Budget for 2008, our postage costs are down because the Paralegal Advocate is mostly sent

out via email. The Budget was read and approved by members in attendance.

Tammie Murphy announced the winner of the 2007 Lawassa B. Jones Memorial Scholarship: Nancy

Harrison of Chattanooga.

The 2007 Outstanding Member Award was given to Jennifer Petty. Congratulations, Jennifer!

New Business: We briefly discussed having a Paralegal Proclamation issued every year. We had one issued

before.

Members elected the following members to the 2008 Tennessee Paralegal Association Board:

President Tracey Williams

First Vice President Tammy Bradford

Second Vice President Louise Mulderink

Secretary Melissa Ledbetter

NALA Liaison Laysha M. McCullaugh

Treasurer Phyllis Carter

Winter 2007 1st Vice President’s Special Report

Tracey Williams

This year’s annual meeting/fall seminar was held at the Hilton Suites in Brentwood, Tennessee on

November 2nd and 3rd. We had 29 registered attendees, including 3 students and 2 non members. The total profit

for the seminar was $577.01. We owe this mainly to the support of our vendors. I would like to give a special

thanks to Alpha Reporting Corporation in Nashville for sponsoring our reception on Friday evening it was a huge

success.

When seeking the help of outside professionals please remember the people that have supported us. The

vendors for the 2007 fall seminar were Document Solutions, RAS, NuCycle, Alpha Reporting Corporation, and

Herb Spencer.

I wish all the luck to Tammy Bradford as she takes on the new journey of 1st Vice President. Hope to see

everyone at the Spring and Fall Seminars this year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our great line of speakers for this seminar was Marcia Eason, President of the Tennessee Bar Association for

Ethics; Sherry Wilds, attorney with the Disability Law and Advocacy Center of Tennessee on Education

Law; T. Harold Pinkley, attorney with the law firm of Miller & Martin, PLLC, for Employment Law; Alan

Cates, attorney with the law firm of Husch & Eppenberger, LLC on Probate Law; and David Ringler on

Structured Settlements. We extend our appreciation to each speaker, as they contributed to the exceptional

outcome of our Fall Seminar.

Thank You Very Much!

The Tennessee Paralegal Association History: NALA

In celebration of our 25+ years and as a tribute to our founding members, we printed the “First Five Years” in our 2006 Spring Issue. It was the first portion of our history prepared by founding member, Lawassa Jones. Then in our 2006 Fall Issue the “Commentary” for the next five years (1986 – 1990) was printed; followed by “Chapter Activities (1981 – 1990)” in our 2006 Winter Issue. Lawassa included Chapter Activities, Education, and TPA Officers through the Years for the State and Local Chapters (1981 – 1990) in this “History” she prepared. The Spring/Summer Issue of 2007 included the “Education (1981 – 1984)” section that she wrote, followed by the Fall 2007 Issue including the “”Education (1985 – 1990)” section. Below is the NALA section. Additional sections will follow in future issues to come through The Advocate.

We lost Lawassa to cancer in 1995, but the history she prepared through 1990 will be with us forever. Historian and co-founding member, Susan Westmoreland, has been updating Lawassa’s work to bring us through to 2005 and we will print her updates in future issues.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NALA

TPA is affiliated with the National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc. NALA was incorporated in 1975,

with its corporate office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As an affiliate, TPA subscribes to NALA’s Code of Ethics and

Professional Responsibility, adopted in May 1975 and revised in November 1979 and September 1988.

Affiliation does not require that all TPA members be members of NALA also. However, a number of TPA

members are individual members of NALA.

NALA’s continuing legal education programs include workshops, seminars and publications, including

printed materials and video and audio records. Each year NALA holds two workshops and a CLA Short Course.

The mid-year membership meeting and a two-day workshop are held in March and a two-day workshop is held is

held prior to the annual meeting in July. The CLA Short Course is held in November each year. NALA’s Manual

For Legal Assistants, published by West Publishing Company, is frequently used a textbook in paralegal training

classes. Its Form Book and Procedures Manual is a compilation of forms used in law offices throughout the

nation. A number of other publications are also available to NALA members. In 1985 NALA published its Model

Standards and Guidelines for the Utilization of Legal Assistants. NALA keeps abreast of developments in the

law and of cases which affect the paralegal profession. NALA is no only alert to developments, but actively

supports the interests of paralegals. The organization has filed Amicus Curiae briefs in cases before the United

States Supreme Court which sought to answer questions regarding paralegal compensation. One of these cases

was Missouri vs. Jenkins, which the court decided on June 19, 1989. One question before the court was “Should

the fee award compensate the work of paralegals and law clerks by applying the market rate for their work?” in its

affirmative answer, the court stated:

By encouraging the use of lower-cost paralegals rather than attorneys wherever possible,

permitting market-rate billing of paralegal hours “encourages cost-effective delivery of legal

services and, by reducing the spiraling cost of civil rights litigation, furthers the policies

underlying civil rights statutes.”

NALA’s Amicus brief was mentioned in a footnote to the court’s decision. This is but one example of NALA’s

continuing efforts on behalf of the paralegal profession.

In 1976 NALA established it voluntary Certified Legal Assistant program. In order to become a CLA

the candidate must pass a comprehensive two-day examination covering Communications, Ethics, Human

Relations, Interviewing Techniques, Judgment and Analytical Ability, Legal Research, Legal Terminology and

Substantive Law. The Substantive Law section consists of an overview of the American Legal System and the

examinee’s choice of any four of the following areas: Administrative Law, Bankruptcy, Contracts, Corporate

Law, Criminal Law, Estate Planning and Probate Law, Litigation, and Real Estate Law. Upon successful

completion of this examination, the candidate earns the CLA designation for a five year period. Five continuing

education units must be earned during each five year period. The CLA is no an automatic lifetime title.

In July, 1982 NALA began what it calls “the second phase of the CLA program” - - Specialty

Certification for CLAs only. Four-hour specialty examinations are offered in the areas of Civil Litigation,

Corporate and Business Law, Criminal Law and Procedures, Probate and Estate Planning and Real Estate Law.

CLAs who successfully complete a specialty examination earn two continuing education points.

NALA offers the CLA exam three times each year - - on the third weekend in March, on the weekend

prior to the annual workshops in meeting in July and, since 1984, on the first weekend in December to members

of Affiliates at a location chosen by the Affiliate organization. This last test is available NALA affiliates which

have two members apply to take the entire exam. TPA has administered the exam in Chattanooga in 1984 and

1986, in Jackson in 1987 an in both Knoxville and Memphis in 1988 and 1989. We expect to administer the exam

in Tennessee this year also. There are now 3,505 CLAs and 241 CLA Specialists.

Each year TPA sends its NALA Liaison to NALA’s annual workshops and meeting in July. The members

holding this office have returned with valuable information for the association and individual TPA members.

Affiliation with NALA has been a positive and rewarding experience for this organization. We anticipate a long

and fruitful relationship.

NALA CAMPUS LIVE! Spring Program – Schedule of Presentations

February through May 2008

Basic Business Organizations - - February 20

Basic Ethics - - February 21

Blue Book Review of Citing - - February 22

American Legal System (Part 1) - - February 26

American Legal System (Part 2) - - February 28

Billing Practices - - February 29

E-Discovery - - March 3

Deciphering the Medical Record - - March 4

The Art & Science of Witness Interviews - - March 6

Judgment & Legal Analysis - - March 7

Basic Evidence - - March 10

Daubert Your Experts - - March 13

Digital Movies & Your Association - - March 14

Intermediate Evidence - - March 17

Real Estate Title Closings - - March 19

Fundamentals of Editing & Proofreading - - March 21

Advanced Ethics - - March 27

Advanced Evidence - - April 3

Working for a Corporate Law Department - - April 4

Deciphering the Medical Record (Intermediate) - - April 8

Evictions - - April 16

Immigration Pitfalls - - April 22

Time Management - - April 24

The Paperless Office - - May 7

Registration is $80 per session for NALA members and $105 for non-members

Special fees are offered for multiple participants at single sites*

Each course provides up to two hours of credit toward maintenance of the CLA/CP credential

GO TO http://www.nalacampus.com FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS

*Group Registration is available. A minimum of two people from the same site is required to qualify as a

group; and group members must use the same telephone line. The registration fee is discounted for groups.

To register your group or if you have questions concerning group registration contact Mariah Williams

(mwilliams@nala.org) at NALA Headquarters.

CONGRATULATIONS!

RODGER G. COLEMAN, CP of Kingston Springs, Tennessee; CASANDRA J. FERRELL, CP of Summertown, Tennessee;

H. REBECCA LONG, CP of Memphis, Tennessee; SHALAND T. RIDENOUR, CP of Maryville, Tennessee;

MARIAN P. THOMPSON, CP of Loudon, Tennessee; And

ELIZABETH S. TRENTHAM, CP of Maryville, Tennessee

FOR PASSING THE DECEMBER 2007 CLA EXAMINATION

2008 CLA/CP CERTIFICATION EXAMS

Filing: May 15, 2008 Exam: March 28 – 29, 2008

Filing: October 1, 2008 Exam: December 5 – 6, 2008

GO TO www.nala.org FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Remember the Sustaining Members That Support Us!!!!!

Tracy Imaging Roane State Community College National Networks Reporting, Co.

http://www.tracyimaging.com http://www.rscc.cc.tn.us/ http://www.nnrc.com/

Gibson Court Reporting The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga London & Amburn, P.C.

http://gibsonreporters.com/ http://www.utc.edu/ http://www.latlaw.com/

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville Miller & Martin, PLLC Records Acquisition Services,

Inc.

http://www.outreach.utk.edu/ http://www.millermartin.com/ https://www.rastn.com/

Truesdel & Rusk Registered Professional Reporters Precise Reporting, Inc.

http://www.truesdelrusk.com/ http://precisereporting.net/

The Norcross Group

http://www.norcrossgroup.com/

CHAPTER INFORMATION & NEWS

East Tennessee Chapter

Our monthly meetings are held the 3rd Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. and alternate between Knoxville and Oak Ridge. Please contact Penny Wilson at pwilson@bvblaw.com or Nita Gorman at ngorman@latlaw.com for information regarding the meeting location and CLE topic.

Officers: Nita Gorman, Chapter Chair, ngorman@latlaw.com Penny Wilson, Vice Chairperson, pwilson@bvblaw.com Pamela Leckey, Secretary Tracey Williams, Treasurer, TWilliams@msw-law.com Dawn L. Holt, Newsletter Editor, dholt@colemanedwardspc.com

West Tennessee Chapter

Our last meeting was Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. at the Flatiron Grille in Jackson. We discussed our plans for the coming year, as well as starting preparations for our part in the local Law Day Celebration and nominations for the Ernie Gray Paralegal Utilization Award. Meetings are now being held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

Officers: Jennifer Petty, Chapter Chair, jlhp@bellsouth.net Amy Cummings, Vice President, acummings@hillboren.com

Courtney Snydor, Secretary, court3275@bellsouth.net Barbara Salinas, Treasurer, bsalinas@pictsweet.com

Southeast Tennessee Chapter

Our monthly Learn at Lunch meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. at Murphy's Ale House at 618 Georgia Avenue in Chattanooga. Our speakers provide information on timely topics in the legal field and CLE credit is provided through NALA.

Officers: Melissa Gerber Ledbetter, Chapter Chair, meledbetter@chattanooga-law.com

Melinda Killian, Secretary, Melinda@tombiblelaw.com

Lynn Hager, Treasurer, hager@chattanoogainjurylaw.com

Heather Pierce, Program Chairperson, hpierce@chattanooga-law.com

This past Christmas the Southeast Chapter sponsored Partnership for Families, Children and

Adults by donating needed basic kitchen utensils and stuffed toys. Picture below:

Publications Chair Message

Another year is before us – a time for resolutions – Is this true? Why does it take the “New Year” to make a

resolution? Every day should be a day to make a resolution. It’s already February – should you wait till the next

year to begin a new goal or change for yourself? I have a response to this question I propose – absolutely not.

When you have come to a decision to accomplish a goal – or even consider an idea – you must act then.

Otherwise, it will become one of your many goals and ideas that are set in the procrastination mode that is

inevitable as you face each day with the numerous personal, home and career demands.

Of course, you have to decide whether this resolution has a high priority. If it meets the high priority criteria, you

can find a way to incorporate it into your already busy schedule that is effectively balanced with your lifestyle.

Remember to be realistic in meeting this resolution. Whatever the resolution may be, you can do it. Sometimes it

takes a little bit more time and planning.

A Good Winter Season’s Greetings to You – My above message is an insight that I wish I could remember and

follow every day during the year. It is February, a new year starting to fly by faster than I desire. I always want to

fit everything into my schedule that I want to accomplish. It is an impossible task since I have too many to count.

It is easy to be discouraged and choose only a few that meet the high priority criteria. The never ending saying of

“Get Organized” is not enough, despite the fact that it is a very true statement. I am organized. It is finding the

more effective approach to include – or exclude – new different goals or ideas; and actually stopping to

implement them. It is easier to keep going with the built momentum and “keeping with the program” that is

already in place. Remembering to stop long enough to re-evaluate and find realistic measures to meet all or the

majority of my goals and ideas is a conscious decision that must not forget. It is a daily challenge.

One goal that I have set for me is to obtain my CLA. It has been a goal of mine since 2003. You would think that

I would have already completed all my studying and taken the exam. It has been a long time in moving forward

and taking steps towards this goal. I find it discouraging to have not pursued this goal with more zeal. I have to

remember life has placed other important goals in front of me, which I have pursued and accomplished, and the

small steps I have taken towards preparing for the exam. I share this because I know that I am not the only person

in this situation, to hold myself to the decision to pursue this goal, and pledge to share my ideas for studies,

including generated study notes & outlines. You have already seen one approach in the past few issues of The

Advocate. The crossword puzzles and vocabulary words are chosen from suggested terms to know for the exam.

Creating your own crossword puzzle from selected vocabulary words is one idea that is easy, yet requires a

thought process which reinforces the respective chosen word’s definition.

In future issues you will see a new section on CLA study tips and ideas, topic outline notes, suggested reading,

and other related material regarding study for the CLA exam. Please forward any suggestions, ideas, articles, or

any topics that you want to see in The Advocate. It does not have to be about the CLA exam. This is your

newsletter. We look forward to your feedback, ideas, and suggestions. – Laysha M. McCullaugh

2008 TPA Officers and Board Members (Contact the officers/board members via our website: www.tnparalegal.org)

President: Tracey A. Williams, CBA, Mostoller, Stulberg & Whitfield, Oak Ridge First Vice President: Tammy R. Bradford, Hill Boren PC, Jackson Second Vice President: Louise C. Mulderink, CP, Husch & Eppenberger, LLC, Chattanooga NALA Liaison: Laysha M. McCullaugh, Fleissner, Davis and Johnson, Chattanooga Secretary: Melissa Gerber Ledbetter, Horton, Maddux & Anderson, Chattanooga Treasurer: Phyllis A. Carter, CTFA, SunTrust Bank (Retired), Chattanooga East Region Director: Alisa C. Pruett, Baker McReynolds O’Kane Atkins & Thompson, Knoxville West Region Director: LaFran Plunk, West Tennessee Legal Services, Jackson East TN Chapter Chair: Nita Gorman, London & Amburn, P.C., Knoxville S.E. TN Chapter Chair: Melissa Gerber Ledbetter, Horton, Maddux & Anderson, Chattanooga West TN Chapter Chair: Jennifer Petty, Trenton Historian: Susan Westmoreland, CEBS, Horton, Maddux & Anderson, Chattanooga Publication Chairs: Laysha M. McCullaugh, Fleissner, Davis and Johnson, Chattanooga & Susan E. Veal, Miller & Martin PLLC, Chattanooga

Message From The Paralegal Advocate Team

We would appreciate your contribution to The Paralegal Advocate by submitting articles of interest to you to be published. Please note the deadlines for each issue and feel free to provide any information you would like published prior to the deadline. If you would like to have articles published on specific topics in the Advocate, please contact us.

- The Paralegal Advocate Team

THE PARALEGAL ADVOCATE

is published quarterly by the Tennessee Paralegal Association, an affiliate of the National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc. Articles and other information for the newsletter should be sent to the Advocate Team at the below address. Please title subject heading “For TPA Advocate:

Tennessee Paralegal Association

Attention: Advocate Team Post Office Box 21723

Chattanooga, TN 37424

or lmccullaugh@comcast.net

DEADLINES FOR UPCOMING ISSUES:

SPRING: MARCH 31, 2008 SUMMER: JUNE 30, 2008

FALL: SEPTEMBER 30, 2008 WINTER: DECEMBER 31, 2008