GOALS:

• To provide quality legal education seminars to enhance the knowledge and credentials of paralegals and other legal professionals.
• To ensure that generally accepted educational standards and ethical guidelines for paralegals are uniform in the state of Florida.
• To ensure that an independent and fair system exists for entry into the profession.
• To protect the public from unqualified persons who often perform services for the public that exceed current statutory or court approved guidelines.
• Require continuing education to maintain specific levels of ethics and competency.
• To prohibit entry into the profession by unqualified individuals who use the title "paralegal" to deceive the public about their qualifications (see Florida Bar Survey results).

HISTORY:

The Alliance is currently comprised of four regional paralegal professional associations located around the state of Florida: Northeast Florida Paralegal Association (NEFPA), South Florida Paralegal Association (SFPA), Southwest Florida Paralegal Association (SWFPA)  and Tampa Bay Paralegal Association (TBPA) and comprised of individual paralegals who have joined FAPA directly as Sustaining members as well as businesses who support the paralegal profession under the Patron membership category.

The Florida Alliance of Paralegal Associations ("FAPA" or the "Alliance") was initially organized in 1996 with the purpose of establishing a forum in which all paralegal associations with the state of Florida could meet to address common issues affecting the paralegal profession.  Originally named the Florida Alliance of Legal Assistants/Paralegals (FALAP), the organization later formally incorporated under the name of the Florida Alliance of Paralegal Associations (FAPA) in 2004. FALAP began as a group representing three paralegal professional associations: Central Florida Paralegal Association ("CFPA"), Jacksonville Legal Assistants (now Northeast Florida Paralegal Association, or "NEFPA") and Florida Legal Assistants (now Paralegal Association of Florida or "PAF"). 

At its largest number, FALAP represented eight paralegal associations in Florida: CFPA, Dade Association of Legal Assistants (now South Florida Paralegal Association or "SFPA"), NEFPA, PAF, Gainesville Association of Paralegals (now a defunct organization), Legal Assistants of Southwest Florida (now Southwest Florida Paralegal Association, or "SWFPA"), Pensacola Legal Assistants (now Northwest Florida Paralegal Association, or "NWFPA"), Volusia Association of Legal Assistants (subsequently Volusia Association of Paralegals, or "VAP" but dissolved on March 3, 2010) and Gulf Coast Paralegal Association ("GCPA"). 

A comprehensive chronology of FAPA's history and participation in the efforts of paralegal regulation in Florida will be made available here when complete.  Links within the chronology document will provide historical background to many of FAPA's efforts on this issue.