About AAfPE

Welcome to the American Association for Paralegal Education (AAfPE), the premier resource and advocate for paralegal education and paralegal educators in the United States. Founded with the vision of promoting high standards for paralegal education and providing a vibrant community for educators, students, and professionals, AAfPE is dedicated to the advancement and continuous improvement of paralegal education and practice.

Our association is built on the cornerstone of collaboration, innovation, and shared knowledge. We believe in empowering our members through comprehensive resources, cutting-edge research, and opportunities for professional development. At AAfPE, we are committed to fostering an environment that supports the growth and development of paralegal programs nationwide, ensuring that they meet the dynamic needs of the legal community.

Through our efforts, we strive to enhance the role of paralegals in the legal profession, advocating for the importance of formal education and training in cultivating skilled and ethical professionals. Our members, comprising educators from accredited institutions, legal professionals, and institutions dedicated to paralegal education, work collectively to uphold the integrity of the paralegal profession and contribute to the effective administration of justice.

Join us at AAfPE as we continue to shape the future of paralegal education, creating opportunities for academic achievement, professional growth, and the advancement of the legal profession. Together, we are setting the standard for excellence in paralegal education.

Established in 1981, AAfPE’s roots go back to the mid 1970s when the American Bar Association sponsored the first conferences for paralegal educators. While much has been accomplished in the field of paralegal education from this beginning, there is still much more to be done to fully develop the potential for both the paralegal field and education for the profession. 

Recognizing the need to increase and improve access to the legal system, the AAfPE promotes quality paralegal education, develops educational standards and encourages professional growth, in order to prepare graduates to perform a significant role in the delivery of legal services. - June 9, 2001

The goals that AAfPE strives to accomplish include:

• Promote high standards for paralegal education

• Provide a forum for professional improvement for paralegal educators

• Plan, promote and hold annual conferences and seminars

• Provide technical assistance and consultation services to institutions, educators and employers

• Promote research and disseminate information on the paralegal profession

• Cooperate with the American Bar Association and other institutions and professional associations in developing an approval process for paralegal education programs

• Promote the goals of the Association through cooperation with other national, regional and local groups and organizations interested in paralegal education

These goals are consistently met through the action of AAfPE's members and the organization’s Board of Directors.

Establishing standards by which to measure paralegal education has been one of the central focus points of AAfPE. The Association recognizes the diverse nature of paralegal education and has developed a set of core competencies to complement this diversity. AAfPE also recognizes that a common core of legal knowledge must be coupled with critical thinking, as well as organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills in order for one to be a successful paralegal. Further, paralegal programs should provide an integrated set of core courses that develop these competencies.

Through AAfPE's continued emphasis on high standards, rather than standardization, to shape paralegal education, excellent programs are available throughout the country that offer the diversity necessary to meet the specific needs of the legal community serviced by each program.

AAfPE has an impressive history. More important than what it has done, however, is what it is doing currently in this rapidly changing paralegal profession. AAfPE membership includes some of the most respected educators and leaders in the field of paralegal education. As such, AAfPE is the recognized source for standards in paralegal education and the continuing development of quality teaching. 

Ratified in April 2023, this report represents the review, discussion, and compilation of strategic goals and objectives for the 2023 Strategic Plan (SP) for AAfPE conducted in October 2022 by Dave Wenhold, CAE, PLC of the Kautter Wenhold Management Group (KWMG). The strategic plan resulted from the AAfPE Board of Directors’ review of short-term goals and objectives and association-specific strategic planning articles as well as identifying activities that remain relevant for the upcoming one to two years. Additionally, new strategic priorities were identified through information gathered during the in-person planning session in Orlando:

• Conduct a member needs assessment to better understand the members' wants, needs, and expectations from AAfPE.

• Review the AAfPE mission statement and Board structure to ensure alignment with member feedback.

• Create a forward-thinking communications plan that highlights member benefits and the collective knowledge/information-sharing resources which will provide key, pertinent, and timely information to members.

The 2023 strategic plan is meant to be a living and dynamic document that serves as a guide for the organization and volunteer leaders in providing targeted benefits for the membership of the organization. The plan’s actionable items better position AAfPE to continue to provide superior membership value through enhanced member communications, education, and organizational efficiencies. 

AAfPE Statement on the Sunsetting of Washington LLLT Program

The American Association for Paralegal and Legal Education (AAfPE), the nation’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to paralegal and legal studies education, opposes the sunsetting of the LLLT program in Washington state. The LLLT program addressed the gap in access to justice, a great and growing problem in the US. Further, the program by design had excessive barriers to entry that a team of experts in paralegal and legal studies educators can fix. Finally, the state used inappropriate means to measure the program’s success.

The gap in access to justice is a universally recognized crisis. The current global crisis magnifies the need for access to justice. Throughout the world paralegals and other nonlawyers independently administer legal services with much success. The LLLT program and others like it can build upon these models.

In its decision to sunset the program, the Washington high court cited the costs of the program. Yet, Washington state developed the LLLT program in 2012 to provide access to justice for its citizens – many of whom couldn’t afford even the most basic legal services – and to protect them from unscrupulous unlicensed providers.

AAfPE’s goal is to teach paralegals and other legal professionals to serve the cause of justice. We look forward to working toward that goal together.

AAfPE Comment to the ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education

As directed by the membership during the 2013 Annual Business Meeting, the board drafted, approved, and disseminated a comment reflecting AAfPE's position on the education and training of paralegals as nonlawyer legal service providers and limited licensed legal technicians.

AAfPE Core Competencies for Paralegal Programs

In order to be a successful paralegal, an individual should possess not only a common core of legal knowledge, but also must have acquired vital critical thinking, organizational, research, writing, oral communication, and interpersonal skills. All paralegal education programs, regardless of the specialty areas they choose to emphasize, should provide an integrated set of core courses that develop these competencies.

AAfPE Statement on Diversity and Inclusion

AAfPE respects and values the unique attributes, characteristics and perspectives of all persons. We believe that our strength lies in the diversity among our talented members. We consider diversity and inclusion essential to our ability to effectively accomplish our mission.

Inclusion fosters full participation and helps our organization leverage the diversity of our members, engaging them and encouraging collaboration. AAfPE promotes the open exchange of ideas and an organization that is free of cultural barriers.

AAfPE Statement on Academic Quality

AAfPE, established in 1981, is an organization dedicated to promoting high standards for paralegal education. Educational institutions that are voting members of AAfPE have adopted this Statement of Academic Quality.

Quality paralegal education programs monitor responsibilities and competencies expected by employers on an on-going basis, design curriculum with logical sequence of courses emphasizing interactive learning, and more.

Paralegal Definition

Paralegals perform substantive and procedural legal work as authorized by law, which work, in the absence of the paralegal, would be performed by an attorney. Paralegals have knowledge of the law gained through education, or education and work experience, which qualifies them to perform legal work.

AAfPE Policy Statement Regarding Short-term Programs

AAfPE's membership includes hundreds of universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher learning throughout the United States and in Canada. Since 1981, AAfPE's member schools have trained thousands of paralegal students each year to help increase, improve, and support access to the legal system in their communities.

AAfPE Educational Standards for Paralegal Regulation Proposals

AAfPE's membership includes hundreds of universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher learning. AAfPE acts as the national resource for paralegal education and has set minimum recommended educational standards for paralegal education programs to become institutional members. AAfPE believes that the paralegal profession requires training of sufficient length, sophistication, intensity, and quality to produce a functional entry-level paralegal.

Certain educational components should be required in any paralegal regulatory plan. It is the position of AAfPE that some form of formal paralegal education should be present as a meaningful requirement in any paralegal regulation plan.

In recent years there has been a proliferation of short-term entry-level paralegal training programs of very limited duration, some with as few as 125 clock hours. These programs do a fundamental disservice to the legal profession by creating unrealistic expectations in employers and students that a quality paralegal education has been delivered, when such is not the case.