To promote growth, development and education in the paralegal profession;To provide support to paralegals through networking, education and the job bank;To promote paralegals and the profession to the community;To represent and provide support services for paralegals working in Northeast Indiana;

Our organization began in 1986 as a chapter of the Indiana Paralegal Association ("IPA") which is located in Indianapolis with the intent to break away and form our own chapter when we acquired a substantial number of members. In 1995, this intent became a reality. With almost 100 members, we incorporated our own association, known as Northeast Indiana Paralegal Association, Inc. ("NIPA")

NIPA is a voting member of the National Federation of Paralegal Associations, ("NFPA") a professional organization of state and local paralegal associations representing over 17,000 North American paralegals. Members of NFPA benefit from a strong communication network among member associations and the opportunity to be heard on the national level. NFPA is the largest and oldest national professional paralegal association with more than 55 member associations located in the United States and Canada.

The NIPA membership meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at 924 S. Calhoun Street, Fort Wayne, IN 46802, from noon until one o'clock. The NIPA Board of Directors and Committee Chairs meet on the second Tuesday of each month in the office of the President of the Association. These meetings are open to the membership. Our fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30 .

Benefits of NIPA include:

• Monthly meetings with informative topics that highlight different aspects of the paralegal profession;

• Educational seminars focusing on pertinent legal topics;

• A Job Bank offering job placement assistance and a listing of employment opportunities in the local area.

• Affiliation with NFPA: Benefits of NFPA include: Subscription to the Paralegal Reporter; access to professional liability insurance; personal insurance; credit unions; and discounts on many other services;

NIPA has adopted the following as its definition of a paralegal:

"A paralegal/legal assistant is a person qualified through education, training or work experience to perform substantive legal work that requires knowledge of legal concepts which is customarily performed by an attorney. This person may be retained or employed by a lawyer, law office, governmental agency, or other entity, or is authorized by administrative, statutory or court authority to perform this work. The work performed by this person shall be under the ultimate supervision of an attorney."

There are four categories of membership which are defined as follows:

• VOTING MEMBER: Any person currently employed as a paralegal, legal assistant or any equivalent position and/or who performs paralegal duties as their primary work activity.

• ASSOCIATE MEMBER: (1) Any person who has recently graduated from a formal course of study, upon the completion of which such person is qualified to be employed as a paralegal; (2) Any person whose primary responsibilities and job classification shall be other than those described as a voting member and who does not fall within (1) of the Associate member, but who shall perform paralegal duties on a limited basis; and (3) Any person previously employed as a paralegal or equivalent position.

• STUDENT MEMBER: Any person who is enrolled in a formal course of study, upon the completion of which such person would be qualified to be employed as a paralegal.

• SUSTAINING MEMBER Any person, partnership, association or other entity interested in supporting the Association.

For further information contact:

Membership Chairman - Donna Gleason (260) 455-4332 DLGleason@LNC.com

President - Dawn Smith (260) 432-6684 dsmith@holleranlaw.com

NORTHEAST INDIANA PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION, INC.
P.O. Box 13646
Fort Wayne, IN 46865