A Conversation With ... Kelly Angle-Markley

The local chapter of the national legal professional association NALS, Springfield Area Legal Support Professionals has been an active chapter for 56 years. Tell me more about it.
Our biggest local effort is our monthly meetings. We meet the second Tuesday of every month and have continuing legal education with a speaker. We have our meeting, but also sit and talk with each other. These women have a wealth of knowledge that helps in so many situations. Being able to share that with each other is key.

Once a year, we have NALS basic and advanced legal training courses so you can get your certification. That’s a fun thing to do, but also essential. You can take the test three times a year, working your way up the levels.

Our monthly meetings also fulfill the CLE needs of certification, so it’s double duty. We will have speakers that range from a police officer to someone from the Boys & Girls Club. All of us work in different fields, so we try to diversify the offering.

How did you get involved with SALSP?
Just through speaking with other paralegals in town, you get to know them. You call each other a lot about cases. A friend of mine got me involved in 2011. It has been great ever since. I started as a member and was asked to be governor. I thought that would be a good way to get onto the board and see how things worked out. I moved up to secretary and this past year to president. I was elected in May for a one-year term.

It’s been great for me. It’s made me more confident in my career. I would have never thought I’d be on the board of something like this. The women in this organization mentor you and help. We can call on each other to help with a document or whatever is needed.

Who is eligible to join?
We join together paralegals, legal assistants, legal secretaries, court clerks, law office administrators and students who are working toward certification in the field. Right now we have 29 people and that’s average for us. Years ago they had a lot more members, but people are so busy now and have a lot more responsibility. We are actively recruiting through area law firms and making that initial contact with area professionals. We serve all of Greene County and local, state and national dues are $130 annually.

SALSP members participate in community service each month. Why is that important to the organization?
We want to give back to the community, especially with children. That really hits home for most of us. We are working with GEMS all year this year. That’s Girls Empowering Minds & Spirits and it is through the Greene County Juvenile Office. It’s young women who are at risk or have family issues. Each month, we try to provide them with something. One month they were doing tie-dye shirts. As a group we collected items for that. When school started, we collected school supplies. Each month they need something different or we might go over and volunteer one month.

We are working with GEMS all year, but we also take on other projects. We might do Newborns in Need, or help at a cancer walk. We try to stay busy.

As president, what are you goals for the group this year?
I would love to see us have more members. Like I said, it’s been wonderful for me to be in the group and has really changed my life. Some of these young girls coming up as paralegals, this would be wonderful for them. If I could have gotten in when I was younger and first started out, I could have done a lot more.

I want to recruit more at the college level, but really anybody in the legal field. We are reaching out to law officers and trying to get them to let their paralegals see what we have to offer. This office supports us and they want us to be involved because we learn so much.  I would love to see us out in the community more and do more legal training courses. I think those are important, especially for these younger women and men.