MEMBERSHIP
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 at your leisure
-
The Legal Educator, where you can subscribe and remain informed through AAfPE's double-blind peer-reviewed professional journal
-
The Electronic Resource Library (ERL), our extensive collection of course and program level content and materials available for AAfPE members and their faculty to use
-
Access to the online Membership Directory to connect with peers
-
Discounts when registering 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.
Join AAfPE Today!
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 United States Department of Education or a comparable agency. As an Institutional Member, one representative from that school is able to vote at the annual business meeting, but anyone teaching in the program may take advantage of the many membership benefits AAfPE offers.
​
-
Post questions, brainstorm solutions, share resources at your convenience via the AAfPE listserv
-
Review real-life resources such as sample syllabi, assignments and assessment templates in the Electronic Resource Library (ERL)
-
Stay up-to-date on the latest paralegal and legal studies topics through AAfPE's double-blind peer-reviewed professional journal The Legal Educator, published one to two times per year
-
Easily connect with your peers utilizing the online membership directory
-
Save money on timely, informative and well-organized conferences across the nation and in your own backyard with discounts on fees for AAfPE regional and national conferences.
-
Stand out from other paralegal and legal studies programs by forming a chapter of Lambda Epsilon Chi (LEX), the national honor society founded by AAfPE to recognize students who meet high academic criteria
​
Institutional members of AAfPE also exercise a voice on decisions affecting the paralegal profession and may use AAfPE membership for advertisement or endorsement purposes.
Sustaining Membership
Law firms, agencies, organizations, consultants, paralegals or other individuals or entities interested in paralegal education may join as Sustaining Members.
Benefits include:
-
Post questions, brainstorm solutions, share resources at your convenience via the AAfPE listserv
-
Stay up-to-date on the latest paralegal and legal studies topics through AAfPE's double-blind peer-reviewed professional journal The Legal Educator, published one to two times per year
-
Easily connect with your potential customers utilizing the online membership directory
-
Save money when you exhibit or sponsor AAfPE regional and national conferences
​
Dues are $525 annually (January 1 – December 31)
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 be used as a substitute for Institutional or Sustaining membership. This is a non-voting membership category.
Benefits include:
-
Post questions, brainstorm solutions, share resources at your convenience via the AAfPE listserv
-
Review real-life resources such as sample syllabi, assignments and assessment templates in the Electronic Resource Library (ERL)
-
Stay up-to-date on the latest paralegal and legal studies topics through AAfPE's double-blind peer-reviewed professional journal The Legal Educator, published one to two times per year
-
Easily connect with your peers utilizing the online membership directory
-
Save money on timely, informative and well-organized conferences across the nation and in your own backyard with discounts on fees for AAfPE regional and national conferences.
​
Dues are $31.50 annually (January 1 – December 31)