Cleveland Law Library Weblog

OSBA Certifies 42 Paralegals

During its second year of credentialing paralegals, the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) has certified 42 brand new "Certified Paralegals."  According to OSBA President Gary Leppla, these paralegals "meet objective and uniform standards of competence and professionalism."  According to the OSBA, a certified paralegal "is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience, who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs substantive legal work."  The list of successful candidates can be found in the July 21, 2008 issue of OBAR, and a complete list of all OSBA Certified Paralegals can be found on the OSBA website. Local paralegals who deserve recognition for achieving certification are: Tiny Murray Broz, Cheryl L. Bunevich, Marie P. Haessly, Donald Jungquist, Leslie Miller Lang, Becky Louis Rickelman, Amy K. Sanovich, Patricia A. Stauffer, Charles Thomas Stich, and Lindsay Michele Wilson. Congratulations to everyone who passed!

9 Local Paralegals Certified by OSBA

As part of a new Paralegal Certification Program, the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) recently certified 9 local paralegals and more than 80 paralegals state-wide. Click here for the entire list of all of the successful candidates. The OSBA certification process is similar to the process it has used for several years to certify attorneys and includes a review of the paralegal's education, work experience, and CLE history, combined with passage of a brand new certification exam administered by the OSBA on June 2nd. The OSBA hopes that certification will be a valuable credential for Ohio paralegals through the use of standards to measure their training, knowledge, experience and skill. In January of 2008, the OSBA will begin accepting applications for the next certification exam.

New OSBA Paralegal Certification Program

The Ohio State Bar Association established a credentialing program for paralegals.  Education, experience, professional references, written test and continuing education requirements are set out for OSBA certified paralegals.  The OSBA Paralegal Certification Board will grant and revoke certification and administer testing.  Applications for paralegal certification will be available January 1, 2007.  Source :  Inside OSBA, Sept. 12, 2006.