Paralegal Career Benefits to Participating in Your Paralegal Association

Here are 14 benefits of joining a Local, State, or National Paralegal Association:

1. 1. Camaraderie and Social Interaction Among Paralegals
   2. Mentoring Opportunities
   3. Networking Opportunities
   4. Professional Development: Association and/or Affiliate sponsored CLEs and webinars
   5. Exchange of Information from Fellow Members with Expertise in a Particular Area of Law
   6. Speaker-led Events (i.e. my local association and county Community College’s Paralegal Studies Program hosts an Annual Law Roundtable Discussion focusing on topics within the industry and provides CLE credits for Attorneys and Paralegals. Attorneys, Judges, and Paralegals are the panelists for these discussions.)
   7. In Pennsylvania, a Discounted Rate for Members of a Paralegal Association within the Keystone Alliance Applying for their Pa.C.P. Certification.
   8. Member Discounts on Car Rentals, Hotels, Travel, Insurance, Office Items, Technology, and Online Service Providers like the American Bar Association (ABA). Other National Associations offer the opportunity to open a credit union account, as my local Association offers.
   9. Members-only Job Postings
   10. Contribution to the Advancement of the Paralegal Profession on a Local, State, and National level
   11. Volunteer Opportunities to provide Paralegal assistance or speaking engagements for events your Association may host or participate in. My local Paralegal Association has volunteered to speak for paralegal students at Sponsored colleges/programs
   12. Charitable Donations and Fundraising Events from your Association. My local Paralegal Association has had toy drives and item donations for our county’s domestic abuse project.
   13. Looks good on a resume or LinkedIn profile to show your involvement in organizations whose mission is to advance the Legal and Paralegal professions. Demonstrates a well-rounded professional who wants to interact and add value to their profession.
   14. Opportunities to utilize your talents in a leadership, administrative or communication role as an Association President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Regional Director, Association newsletter/magazine staff, or a Social Media Manager.

Most states or counties have paralegal associations that you can join. Do an online search of Paralegal Associations in your county or state to find them or check with your state or county bar association.  Some bar associations like my county bar association work with paralegal associations on CLE events and even allowed us to use their building for our pre-pandemic in-person quarterly meetings. We have been holding our meetings via Zoom since the pandemic and continue to successfully conduct the activities of our association online. We hosted a CLE event at the bar association in May with registration help from their staff.

Remember Don’t Work for Free as a Paralegal in These 3 Key Areas.

Opportunities to Get More Involved

Some of the national paralegal associations that I am a member of and would suggest exploring for the benefits mentioned above are the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA), NALA The Paralegal Association, and the American Bar Association (ABA) which have memberships for paralegals, provides member discounts, a career center, free CLEs, and member groups that focus on different practice areas.

I am glad that I made the decision to join my local paralegal association because it led to what I feel has been one of my greatest learning experiences so far in my paralegal career – becoming the Social Media Manager of our association’s LinkedIn and Instagram pages. 

I have enjoyed being a member of my local paralegal association. It has made me feel like a bigger part of the paralegal community. I feel recognized and being a member has led me to pursue my PA Paralegal Certification (in Pennsylvania, if you have the education, experience, and other requirements, you can become a Pa.C.P. which stands for Pennsylvania Certified Paralegal through the Keystone Alliance of Paralegal Associations). My local paralegal association is in one of the PA counties that is a member of the Keystone Alliance. It was a great achievement to become a Pa.C.P. 

As a Pa.C.P., Continuing Legal Education (CLEs) is necessary to maintain your certification so the learning does not stop! I began looking on LinkedIn more to find more opportunities for CLEs and additional paralegal training which made me begin to utilize LinkedIn more and search online for further paralegal knowledge. 

In that quest, I began to see how different paralegal organizations have LinkedIn pages and what might improve our paralegal association’s existing pages. In 2019, my paralegal association decided to revamp its social presence and create a new page that I was asked to manage. I accepted! It was then that I decided that I wanted to make our new page a resource, a go-to hub for people in our county and around the country to read interesting articles, listen to podcasts, attend events, earn CLEs, and network with fellow paralegals nationwide.

Managing Your Association’s Social Media

The Social Media Manager role consists of:

1. 1. Networking (making Connections Requests with fellow Paralegals that I do not know and inviting them to our group page)
   2. Searching websites, LinkedIn, and Instagram for relevant content for our pages
   3. Searching for relevant podcast providers to share on our pages
   4. Posting Association-related events, photos from the events, and reminders to Association members who check the platforms more than their email
   5. Deciding what is acceptable content for the pages
   6. Monitoring and reviewing the pending posts to make sure they are relevant and following the guidelines of our page and mission
   7. Monitoring the growth of our membership on our LinkedIn and Instagram pages
   8. Setting performance goals for our pages
   9. Reporting growth and any information about our pages and the engagement on them to our paralegal association President for monthly board meetings 

I have obtained and enhanced the following skills as a Social Media Manager:

1. 1. Increased networking skills and a willingness to connect with people I didn’t know to make the page grow. This is similar to a sales technique called cold calling.
   2. Increased technical knowledge of the LinkedIn and Instagram platforms
   3. Enhanced knowledge for my Paralegal career through CLEs, coursework, and certificate programs that I found out about from the connections I made for the Association’s pages
   4. Creating performance goals and learning how to identify an audience and what they want
   5. Improving my online research skills to find content

Managing my association’s LinkedIn page has brought me recognition and respect from my association and colleagues in the industry. My association valued my input enough to pursue the idea I had to extend our reach through Instagram and create a page. We started this page in January of this year and it has already gained followers and engagement. 

Read more about Social Media Ethics.

Lessons Learned in my Paralegal Career

I’d like to share the following takeaways from my experience as a Paralegal Association Social Media Manager and my paralegal career:

1. 1. Get involved in a local, State, or National Paralegal Association.
   2. Seek to achieve new goals, certifications, etc.
   3. Seek out more knowledge; there is always more to learn! 
   4. Don’t be afraid to connect with people that you do not know; that’s what Networking is!  It could lead you to various resources and opportunities for knowledge and advancement in your career.
   5. Utilize the opportunity to learn more about the paralegal profession through LinkedIn, courses, blogs, and podcasts, like Paralegal Boot Camp and others within the industry.
      
      

Remember that you are the master of your own destiny and career. Seize opportunities that are presented to be the best in your field. Don’t limit yourself or think it is impossible. If you are thinking of creating a blog or podcast or being active in a paralegal organization, do it! I decided to pursue this guest writing opportunity to combine my enjoyment of writing and my profession. The sky is the limit! Carpe Diem!