Board Certified Legal Assistant
In 1976, while a high school senior, I was interested in the law. I was the “Speaker of the House” in my civics class and had the opportunity to travel to Austin, Texas, to see our state Legislature in action. (I still have a gavel from the Texas House of Representatives that is “Texas sized!”)

My church pastor referred me to an attorney to talk about the legal profession as a career. Will Barber who later served on the Texas Court of Appeals, 5th District, Dallas, was kind to meet with me, and during our discussion, he showed me a magazine article that described, as he called it, “This new thing called ‘paralegal.’” Although I had an interest in law, I was unsure if I wanted to be an attorney. “Paralegal” was a concept that was only beginning at that time.

I investigated educational programs and found an associate degree course of study at El Centro College in downtown Dallas. El Centro’s program had been recently initiated with the assistance of the Dallas Bar Association. Local attorneys helped set up classes and provided attorney instructors. I enrolled and began the program in 1977.

After I graduated from the program, which is now an ABA approved program, I worked in a small firm practice. In 1986, I moved to a medium-sized tax and litigation boutique firm and extended my experience to tax litigation and white collar criminal defense, as well as more complicated commercial litigation matters. In 1989, the attorneys for whom I worked moved to the largest law firm in Dallas at that time.

The large law firm environment was a new experience for me, and I had the opportunity to work on very large, document-intensive matters. This was the beginning age of databases (the old “dBase” and Summation). I moved with my attorneys to other law firms, and since 1998, I have been at the firm of Hughes & Luce, LLP., doing specialty litigation. I have served as the chair of the firm’s paralegal committee.

I returned to college and completed my Bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude from the University of North Texas. I received an “Outstanding Student” award. In an unique degree plan of “applied arts and sciences,” my degree gave academic credit for my former paralegal courses, and I took courses in two additional concentration areas of Criminal Justice and Mediation, which met the State of Texas statutory requirements to be a mediator.

In 1984, after joining the Dallas paralegal association, someone asked me to serve on a committee. That was the beginning of 20 years of paralegal association participation, as I then served on the local board as president (1987-88), and president of the state organization (Legal Assistants Division, State Bar of Texas, 1990-91)(now the State Bar of Texas Standing Committee on Paralegals). I am on the editorial advisory board for Legal Assistant Today magazine. I have often given CLE presentations on the local, state, and national level.

EDUCATION/HONORS/CERTIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree, Applied Arts and Sciences, University of North Texas, magna cum laude, GPA: 4.0, overall GPA, including associate degree hours,3.84

Outstanding Student Award for Applied Arts and Sciences, School of Community Service, University of North Texas

Associates degree and certificate, El Centro College Paralegal Assistant Program (3.68 GPA)

Board Certified Legal Assistant, Civil Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization (first offering of such an exam for legal assistants, 1994)

Certified Paralegal, (Certified Legal Assistant Examination, National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA), May 1985

Completed Basic Mediation Training, and received certificate from the University of North Texas, Alternative Dispute Resolution Program administered by the Institute of Applied Economics, August 2001, which complies with Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, §154.052 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code to serve as a Mediator

UIL College Scholarship recipient, DeSoto High School, 1977 (top 7%, and faculty voted “Most Outstanding Student”)

PROFESSIONAL

1990-91
Chair of the Board, Legal Assistants Division of the State Bar of Texas (position now known as president), approximately 2000 members; and Director (Dallas, District 2),

1989-91
State Bar of Texas Joint Task Force on Specialty Certification, Justice Linda Thomas, Chair (to promulgate specialty certification of legal assistants by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization)

1991-93
State Bar of Texas Joint Task Force on Specialty Certification, Justice Linda Thomas, Chair (to promulgate specialty certification of legal assistants by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization)

1992-2004
Committee member, State Bar of Texas Legal Assistant Committee (appointed by Texas State Bar President); Subcommittee chair, responsible for Pro Bono Partners

1999-2004
Legal Assistant Today magazine – Editorial Review Board member 1988-89 President, Dallas Association of Legal Assistants (now known as Dallas Area Paralegal Association), and prior Board positions as President-Elect, Education Vice President (1984-88)

1994-95
Dallas Area Paralaegal Association (DAPA)(formerly "DALA")primary;representative to (NFPA)

1996-2004
Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam (“PACE”) Standards Committee Member (NFPA)