2021 Summer TBPA President’s Message

Exciting News! TBPA’s Annual Seminar will be held in-person on Friday, November 19, 2021 at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park with the theme “Paralegals vs. The Pandemic: Our Power & Positivity!” With the pandemic seeming to be waning locally and nationwide, your TBPA Board has determined with following the CDC guidelines and local protocols in place for safety, including the Hilton Carillon Park’s Pandemic Protocols for Safety and Sanitation, we can host the Annual Seminar this Fall. Look for details soon on speakers, session topics and registration! Don’t forget to Save The Date!

TBPA is also making plans on resuming the in-person Monthly CLE Luncheon’s commencing with the September 16, 2021 event at the University Club in downtown Tampa. We will continue to offer the virtual option; however, we know many of you are thrilled to be meeting in-person again to network with friends and colleagues. For our safety, the University Club is offering a safe environment with social distancing protocols in place. Keep an eye out on email with the details in late August for the September 16, 2021 CLE Luncheon.

With our in-person events starting back up, now is the time to “Get Involved!” Summer is here and all of us are scrambling to make plans and fill our calendars with things to do this summer and into the fall. Now is a perfect time to pencil in a few hours this summer to join one of our committees, including the Educational/CLE Committees to help with having a successful in-person Seminar and Monthly Luncheons. You may reach out to our 1st Vice President, Valerie Cisco at Seminar@TBPA.org or MonthlyCLE@TBPA.org if you are interested.

Also, we are hopeful that the Community Service and Pro Bono Events will be resuming before the end of the year as well, so we’ll be looking for our TBPA Members to get involved with these committees as well or by simply joining us at an event in making a difference in the lives of others. We will send announcements on these events once we have dates. Remember, by joining a committee or being involved at an event, you make a difference. It is a great way to network with other members, connect to your peers and build strong relationships.  You can volunteer as much or as little time as you like. We have a committee for any interest and skill level.

And to continue keeping you all up to date, here are a few important announcements: 

UPCOMING EVENTS FROM OUR STATE AND NATIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

NALA’s 46th Annual Conference & Expo will take place on July 22- 24, 2021 which will be virtually hosted in Louisville, Kentucky. Over 1000 people registered during the Early Bird Registration, however, it’s not too late to register if you are interested. Go to NALA.org for registration details.

NFPA 2021 Convention will be held on October 7-10, 2021 in Portland, Oregon “Nurture, Flourish, Participate, and Aspire in Portland!” Save the Date and look on the NFPA website Paralegals.org for details on registration.

FAPA Seminar has been rescheduled for May 14, 2022 as a hybrid in-person and virtual event at the Keiser University Ft. Myers Campus. Many of our TBPA Members do attend these quality seminars, so we will keep you informed.

CALL FOR CLE TOPICS AND/OR SPEAKERS:

We are always striving to provide quality Monthly CLE and Annual Seminar Events, so if you are interested in hearing about a particular topic or know of an outstanding speaker, please let me know or you can reach out to Valerie Cisco, our 1st Vice President, at monthlycle@tbpa.org or seminar@tbpa.org with your suggestions.

CALL FOR CLE SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS:

We invite any of our Legal Service Vendors to sign up as a Monthly CLE Sponsor and/or a 2021 Seminar Sponsor or Exhibitor.  These are great opportunities to market your business, especially enduring the reopening of businesses across the Tampa Bay area. Interested vendors may download and review the Monthly CLE Commitment Form and/or the 2021 Seminar Prospectus. Also, you may reach out to Valerie Cisco, our 1st Vice President, at monthlycle@tbpa.org or seminar@tbpa.org for details.

NEW MEMBERS WELCOME:

We welcome all Guests to join TBPA and enjoy the many benefits TBPA Membership offers.  If you know of any fellow paralegals in the community who are not yet members of TBPA, please let them know about our legal association and ask them to please check out our Membership webpage for details. They may contact our Membership Chair at membership@tbpa.org with any questions.

Don’t forget to join/like the TBPA Facebook page and LinkedIn group page. Just click on the icons in this email and you will be linked to those website pages.

Thank you, be well and stay safe!

Sincerely,
Yvonne DeAntoneo
President, Tampa Bay Paralegal Association, Inc.
president@tbpa.org
www.tbpa.org

A special “THANK YOU” for our Gold Sponsor and Exhibitors
who continued their commitment to the

Annual Seminar during the pandemic.

Gold Sponsor:
Avalon Document Services

Exhibitors:
Client Legal Funding
Erika Williner Designs
Language Pickup
Registered Agent Solutions Inc. (RASI)

IMPORTANT UPDATE - 2021 SEMINAR!

Further details coming soon! 

The Florida Bar News recently posted a very interesting article on March 21, 2019 titled Survey Looks at Paralegal Salaries that discusses paralegal's salaries.  "Sixty-two percent of Florida law firms use paralegals and 51 percent of those say their paralegals averaged more than 1,000 billable hours last year"  Do you know what average salaries for paralegals are where you live?  Take a look at the full article here.