NALS: The Association for Legal Professionals

The National Association for Legal Secretaries evolved from casual meetings during 1929 of legal secretaries discussing things that were affecting their jobs into a national organization by 1949.  NALS, claiming the honor of “oldest association formed for legal support professionals”, has been certifying legal support individuals since 1960.

NALS established its legal assistants’ membership section in 1973 and approved a legal assistant certification board in 1974.  An identity issue emerged during the mid-1970s. An additional organization was born of the NALS known as the National Association of Legal Assistants with the two closely aligned and “related” but separate entities, NALS and NALA, sharing headquarters facilities until the early 1980s.  The membership of both grappled with name issues throughout the 1980s and 1990s with “NALS” emerging in early 1999 as the surviving name combined with the official tag line to identify the organization previously known as the National Association of Legal Secretaries.  Somewhere during the evolution the NALA became extinct as a separate organization.  Name and identity were topics discussed by members for years before the action was taken in 1999 officially changing the organization’s name to NALS and adopting the tag line “the association for legal professionals” to be officially associated with the name.  Today NALS is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is divided into eight regions covering the entire U.S. It publishes @Law magazine circulated to approximately 8,000 readers.

Although over half of NALS’ members today are paralegals or legal assistants, the remaining members include several other professionals in the legal profession.  Among them are legal administrators, office managers, and legal secretaries.  NALS members have always been found in virtually every area of legal services.

The officially declared Mission Statement of NALS is “to enhancing the competencies and contributions of members in the legal services profession.”  It strives to accomplish this mission through “continuing legal education and resource materials; networking opportunities at the local, state, regional, and national levels; commitment to a code of ethics code and professional standards; and, professional certification programs and designations”.

NALS offers three certifications for legal services professionals: the ALS, basic certification for legal professionals, the PLS, advanced certification for legal professionals, and the PP, for professional paralegals.

Three years’ experience in the legal field is required to be eligible to take the Professional Legal Secretary (PLS) examination.  Membership in NALS is not a requirement. A partial waiver (a maximum of one-year) of the three-year legal experience requirement may be granted for post-secondary degrees, or other certifications. The PLS exam is a one-day, four-part examination consisting of (1) Written Communications, (2) Office Procedures and Technology, (3) Ethics and Judgment, and (4) Legal Knowledge and Skills.

A candidate for the Advanced Legal Secretary (ALS) exam and certification must have completed either an accredited business/legal course; or, the NALS Legal Training Course; or, one year of general office experience. The ALS certification exam consists of three parts covering (1) written communications, (2) office procedures and legal knowledge, and (3) human relations and judgment.

To be eligible to take the Professional Paralegal (PP) certification exam, a non-degreed paralegal must have five years’ experience performing paralegal/legal assistant duties. A paralegal with a post-secondary degree, other certification or a paralegal certificate must only have four years’ experience, while a candidate with a paralegal degree need only have three years’ experience. The PP certification exam consists of four parts covering (1) written communications, (2) legal knowledge and skills, (3) ethics and judgment skills, and (4) substantive law. Candidates may retake any failed portions of the exam.  Recertification is required every five years and may be accomplished by accumulation of continuing legal education hours and other specified activities.