NALP is a non-profit company limited by guarantee and registered in England & Wales with the number: 7028255. It is a professional Membership Body for Paralegals. Through our Centres, NALP offers recognised and accredited paralegal qualifications and training courses.
NALP is the only paralegal membership body that is recognised as an awarding organisation by Ofqual – the regulator of qualifications in England.
NALP strives to ensure that its members are recognised as a key part of the legal profession by the quality of its qualifications and professional development. NALP encourages, promotes and develops the role and practice of the paralegal and represents the best interests of its members.
NALP’s aim is to strengthen the voice of NALP Paralegals in the legal world. NALP has advocated in the past on behalf of its members, to the The Law Society, Bar Council, Solicitor’s Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board and Legal Services Board.
We offer membership to a rapidly expanding profession within the legal sector. We actively lobby on the behalf of our members to develop the status and perception of Paralegals and the work that they do.
We encourage any person who performs legal work, within any organisation or company to join NALP. We offer a wide range of membership status’ for all levels including Legal Secretaries, Associates and Graduates.
NALP encourages all its members who wish to practise in their own right, to gain a NALP Licence to Practise subject to eligibility, insurance requirements and competency.
NALP is an awarding organisation regulated by Ofqual and through NALP Centres (Colleges and Training organisations) offers recognised qualifications.
The Training arm of NALP National Paralegal College (NPC) offers CPD accredited courses and is one of a number of NALP Approved Centres that offer Paralegal Qualifications to support the professionalism of Paralegals that exist at many levels within an organisation. There are junior paralegals and very senior paralegals performing many different functions. However, at whatever level they are, they have one thing in common, and that is the necessity for a thorough grounding in the English Legal System, the main areas of substantive law and also legal procedure.
The philosophy of NALP is that to succeed as a specialist, a paralegal must start as a generalist. No specialist area exists in a vacuum or in isolation.
The role of the paralegal is crucial to the practical and economic sustainability of the provision of legal services by solicitors’ practices and alternative business structures (ABS), as well as roles played within commerce and industry. They are an extremely important part of the legal profession.
Now, more than ever before, Paralegals have taken on an even more significant role due to changes occurring within the Legal Services Sector. With Barristers being able to conduct litigation, there will be more opportunities for paralegals to work within the ‘regulated’ legal sector.
Also, since legal aid has been withdrawn for all but a few cases, the public need access to more cost effective legal advice and assistance. This gives further opportunities for trained and qualified paralegals with a NALP Licence to Practise to work as paralegal practitioners under strict rules and guidelines of NALP.
Many organisations are now employing paralegals, as opposed to ‘in house’ solicitors, as a more financially viable alternative if there are tasks requiring a legal content to them. For this purpose and those mentioned above, it is vital that a paralegal has not only a recognised qualification but also membership of a recognised body.
The National Association of Paralegals was founded in 1987 by John Stacey Hibbert.
At a time when few in the UKÂ knew what a Paralegal was, John brought the concept over from America. A country where the profession had been established for more than 30 years, but only in a role where they assisted attorneys in law firms.
John realised the potential of Paralegals and what they could bring to both legal and non-legal firms in England and Wales.
Once established, NALP’s mission was, and still is, to ensure the proper recognition of its Members as an integral part of the legal profession. NALP aims to do this by developing and offering high quality qualifications, professional development and ensuring the standards of behaviour and rules of membership laid down for its Members in its Code of Conduct and Ethics. Its aim is to encourage, promote and develop the role and practice of the Paralegal and represent the best interests of its Members
NALP’s main benchmark qualification was introduced in 1988: The Higher Certificate in Paralegal Studies (latterly known as the NALP Level 4 Diploma in Paralegal Studies). Since 1989 when the first examinations were held, over 10,000 people have taken this qualification which allows them Associate Membership (A.NALP).
Continuing growth saw the introduction of further qualifications:
The Level 7 Diploma in Paralegal Practice which was introduced in 1999, as a result of referrals by The Law Society, to assist law graduates, who were unable to obtain a training contract, to achieve the necessary knowledge and skills in procedural law to progress to the alternative career route as a professional paralegal practitioner.
In 2004, after wide consultation, John created the idea of Licensing for those experienced paralegals who wanted a higher status and who wished to branch out on their own. And the organisations’ name changed to The National Association of Licensed Paralegals.
In December 2009, NALP became an Awarding Organisation regulated by Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) and since 2010 both the Level 4 and Level 7 qualifications have been on the NQF (National Qualifications Framework).
In 2013 NALP’s new Level 3 Qualifications were added to this framework. These qualifications and single subject courses are now delivered by a growing number of Training Centres across England and Wales.
