Join AAfPE Today!

AAfPE bylaws provide for 4 classifications of membership: Institutional, Sustaining, Individual, and Honorary.

AAfPE is the nation’s largest and continuously operating organization dedicated to promoting quality paralegal and legal studies education. AAfPE members enjoy access to a wealth of resources including:

  • The AAfPE Listserv, where you can post questions, learn, and share resources
  • The Legal Educator, our double-blind peer-reviewed professional journal
  • The Electronic Resource Library (ERL), our extensive collection of course and program-level content
  • Online Membership Directory to connect with peers
  • Discounts on registration for AAfPE conferences
  • And much more!

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.

How to Join

All new applications for membership must be completed online and include any specified supporting documentation. Applications will not be processed until all supporting documentation has been received and the non-refundable application processing fee and first year's dues are paid. Please allow 1-2 weeks for processing.

Where new applications for membership are made part-way through the year, an allowance is made to adjust dues for the first year of membership only. Please see the pro-rated dues table.

Membership dues are assessed on a calendar-year basis and are payable by January 1 of each year. Invoices will be sent to all current members by AAfPE Headquarters staff during the fall of the preceding year. Dues may be paid by VISA, MasterCard, or American Express. Credit card payments may be made online by logging into your account.

Member Types

Institutional Member

Institutional Membership is available to schools offering paralegal and legal assistant education programs that are 1) approved by the American Bar Association or 2) institutionally accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the Commission on Higher Education Accreditation of the U.S. Department of Education or a comparable agency. As an Institutional Member, one representative from that school may vote at the annual business meeting, but anyone teaching in the program may take advantage of AAfPE's many membership benefits.

Institutional members exercise a voice on decisions affecting the paralegal profession and may use AAfPE membership for advertisement or endorsement purposes.

Join as an Institutional Member

Sustaining Membership

Law firms, agencies, organizations, consultants, paralegals, or other individuals/entities interested in paralegal education may join as Sustaining Members.

Benefits include:

Dues are $525 annually (January 1 – December 31).

Join as a Sustaining Member

Individual Membership

Individual Membership is open to paralegal program educators or administrators who foster paralegal and legal studies education and endorse the policies of the Association, but who are not currently associated with any institution. Individual memberships cannot substitute for Institutional or Sustaining membership and is a non-voting category.

Benefits include:

Dues are $31.50 annually (January 1 – December 31).

Join as an Individual Member