What is National Paralegal Register and How You Can Use It?
65.5% of NALP members believe that being listed on the National Paralegal Register is the most useful member benefit.*
What is NPR?
With approximately 700 members now, the National Paralegal Register (NPR) is an online portal that allows Paralegal Practitioners to market themselves to potential employers. Paralegals who are granted a Licence to Practice, can also advertise their services to potential clients on NPR.
Paralegals are listed on NPR according to their membership category:
- A.NALP – An Associate Member of NALP who has a minimum Level 3 Qualification in Law or 3 years’ experience
- Grad.NALP – a Graduate Member who has attained a degree in Law, or postgraduate qualification in Law but who has limited experience
- F.NALP – a NALP Fellow member who has either a Level 6 Qualification in Law (e.g. a degree) and 3 years’ experience or a member who has a minimum of 5 years’ experience
- PF.NALP – a NALP member who has gained the highest status of membership by having at least ten years’ relevant legal experience
Note: if not listed, the Paralegal is not a NALP Paralegal.
What are the benefits of NPR for Paralegals?
Being listed on the National Paralegal Register can enhance your chances of being discovered by employers and clients who specifically look for Paralegals and their services. NPR also proves you have a high-quality, well-recognised qualification.
The NPR can also increase your networking and professional opportunities, since you may be invited to become a member of other organizations like McKenzie Friends, the way it happened to the NALP member Craig Johnson.
What are the benefits of NPR for employers?
Nowadays, due to cheap training courses available online, there are plenty of Paralegals who are not properly qualified and, therefore, finding the right Paralegal could be a long and daunting task. But with the National Paralegal Register, it has never been easier: all listed Paralegals are members of NALP, recognized by Ofqual as a Qualifications Awarding Organisation, which makes this portal an easy and reliable medium to use when searching for qualified Paralegals.
What if I am not happy with the work of a Paralegal listed on NPR?
If you are not satisfied with the conduct or the service provided by a NALP Member listed on NPR, you can make a complaint within three calendar months from the day of the incident which gave rise to a reason for it.
You can make a complaint via any reasonable medium (e.g. verbally via the telephone or in writing via email, etc.). Verbal complaints are dealt with as informal. Any complaint received in writing (email or Royal Mail) by NALP will be treated as official.
All official complaints are required to be accompanied by evidence to support the claim being made and, if upheld, NALP may take a number of measures against the member. For more information about the complaint process click here.
*According to data collected for the NALP Member Survey run in September-October 2019