LOS ANGELES TRADE-TECHNICAL COLLEGE
PARALEGAL/LEGAL STUDIES CAMPUS ADVISORY MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 11:30 a. m. 12:30 p.m. Room A-114
Business-CAOT-CIS Department
Presiding: Karl Gary, Esq.
Present from LATTC:
o Nazanine Angoshtari, Community Services
o Paulette Bailey, Chair-Business-CAOT-CIS
o Dr. Theda Douglas, Dean, Student Services
o Karl Gary, Esq.-Faculty-Business
o Leslie Kite, Chair, Library Services
o Vincent Jackson, Dean, Academic Affairs
o Chini Johnson-Taylor, Counselor
Before the meeting officially started, Dean Jackson gave a few preliminary remarks about the scheduling of the approval process to the internal advisory committee. He described how the Paralegal/Legal Studies Program initiation will be announced in LOWDL, Los Angeles/Orange County Workforce Development Leaders meetings, in September or at the latest in October. He will also make an announcement about the LATTC Paralegal Program in the District local deans’ meeting on August 13, 2009. In the District local deans’ meeting, the Program will be assessed for any conflicts with other similar programs that are currently being offered in the other nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District. The Program will be closely evaluated for all the geographical location proximity issues that will be brought up by deans in other colleges. The focus of the LOWDL meeting, however, will pertain more to the vocational and academic justifications of the program and employment forecasting for after graduation.
Some of the issues that will be discussed in the local deans’ meeting include the necessity for the existence of the Paralegal Program at LATTC, the academic indicators that support the program, and the outlook for employment and what graduates of this program can expect following their graduation. It is very important to present Advisory board meeting minutes at local deans’ meetings. The LATTC Business Department will have its first Community Advisory Committee meeting Aug 13, 2009.
Dean Jackson indicated that he will present the program approval application in the CTE Deans’ meeting in September 2009. It will be important for the Department to include the preliminary information on the job market and the study of job opportunities. Mr. Jackson will send an announcement to the members of the LOWDL two weeks prior to the meeting. This program will also be placed in LOWDL’s October meeting agenda October 29, 2009, and will be officially announced to the CTE – Dean Members.
The meeting started officially at 11:45 a.m. in room A-114 of at LATTC. Each attendee gave a brief introduction of their role at LATTC. Ms Bailey asked Karl Gary to introduce the Program and share the department’s vision for this program.
Mr. Gary began the introduction by saying that the Paralegal/Legal Studies Program is both vocational and academic. He mentioned how this Program will prepare students to
take the state exam and become Certified Paralegal Assistants. The Department is going to conform the Program to ABA approval guidelines. A number of courses in this program will be transferable to those law schools that do not require students to have a B.A. degree and who will admit them with an AA degree in legal studies. The Paralegal/Legal Studies Program is intended to be a cohort program. This close relationship will help them to get support from each other and to overcome the personal and educational issues that are common among the students at LATTC.
Mr. Gary mentioned that one of the main reasons behind the Program’s initiation was the requested interest of those students who have taken paralegal courses in the past. Several Paralegal/Legal courses are currently offered at LATTC. Students have had concerns about the need for certificates of achievement for these classes, and also the lack of more classes in this field. The other strong motivation for starting this program is the vocational nature of LATTC. Paralegal assistants, especially the certified ones, are very successful in finding jobs. The geographical location of LATTC in the heart of downtown Los Angeles is another great motivation for this program. LATTC is located in commutable distance to major legal system components such as courts, dense concentration of law firms, Bar Associations, and public libraries. The accessibility of public transportation in this area is an important advantage for students at LATTC.
This Program will offer day and night classes for AA degree and a Certificate of
Achievement. It will also motivate students to continue their education to obtain a law degree. One of the other exceptional features of the Program will be the mock trials that will give a live opportunity to students to experience trial work from the different points of view of prosecutors, defense attorneys, witnesses, and the other involved parties in a case trial. Mock trials have been very successful in recent years in various law school communities. There are mock trial championships locally, regionally, and nationally from the high school level through law school. Schools such as Dorsey High School and Jefferson High School already have a mock trial program.
Attendees of the meeting were given a copy of the draft of the approval application and were asked to review the application and give their feedback. Dean Jackson pointed out that the full name and address for the program partners should appear on the application.
Dr. Theda Douglas expressed her support for this Program and stated that adding this Program to the LATTC curriculum is now long overdue considering the job market and students’ interest. She suggested that in the next meeting, the Department invite representatives from the student body. She suggested that Letia Royal-Burnett and Lourdes Brent be part of this meeting. She also asked about the source of funding for this program, especially for resources such as electronic databases.
Dean Jackson responded that VTEA/Perkins funds can be acquired for costs such as Westlaw and LexisNexis fees.
Leslie Kite mentioned that the current budget for databases is limited. LATTC currently depends on TTIP funds for such resources. Currently, the library cannot afford the LexisNexis fee. Library computers, however, can be used by students of this Program. These computers are three years old. Library computers must be appropriate for paralegal program activities including research and writing and browsing the Internet.
Ms. Bailey briefly mentioned the possibility of fund solicitation through the mini-grant process.
Dean Jackson brought up that the program needs reference books and a source of funding to provide them. In compliance with ABA requirements, the department’s preference is to locate computers and references in a separate space in the school’s library to be used only by Paralegal students.
Dean Jackson added that the ideal situation is for the Paralegal Program to dedicate a room for legal research projects. It seems more feasible at this time, considering the budget issues and campus construction, to install software and programs on computers in one of the department’s existing labs. He emphasized that the paralegal enrollment rate is a key indicator that will give justification to allocate a separate room and funding the requested resources.
Ms. Kite asked why the databases cannot be made available to all students given the fact that it actually might be necessary for paralegal students to work in the main library and have access to all other resources and references. She said that if the school has to pay for these databases we cannot stop other students from using them.
On the subject of access to computers, Mr. Gary continued that the Paralegal/Legal Studies Program needs to have certain hours of library/labs for its students in certain paralegal classes. Chini Johnson-Taylor responded that the Program has to have its own lab for courses such as library research methods.
Dean Jackson suggested that one solution to this problem can be scheduling paralegal classes as afternoon classes when the campus is almost dormant. He mentioned, however, that computers cannot be monopolized. LexisNexis can also be accessed remotely from the computers in the department’s labs. Ms. Bailey agreed with the possibility of hybrid classes. Ms. Johnson confirmed that using hybrid classes will ease the funding issue at the beginning.
Dean Jackson suggested that the initiation team visit West LA, LACC, and California State University Los Angeles to observe their library and computer rooms set up. These
are examples of similar programs, and we can learn from them especially regarding the dedication of a separate room for the research and library resources.
Ms. Johnson-Taylor directed the initiation team’s attention to the Academic Senate’s recommended procedure for establishment of a program at LATTC. Dr. Douglas acquired information from the initiation team on how the needs for this program have been determined. She mentioned how the enrollment rate is an outstanding issue in reality. Mr. Gary answered that in his experience of teaching classes on this campus since 2002, and the paralegal classes since 2006, students have always expressed interest in a paralegal program. In the past, his average class size was 15 students. Presently, the
average class size is 38 because of the consistency of offering such classes.
Mr. Gary added that they are many reasons that can justify the need for this program on this campus, one of which is students’ self interest. Many of the students on this campus are directly involved with the legal system. Among his students in the past were single fathers who were interested in family law, or students on probation who were enthusiastic about criminal law for their own self-help purposes. LATTC is located in an urban area with special demographic attributes such as immigrants’ density, low income families, high crime rate, and a few others. These socioeconomic attributes provide strong justifications for a paralegal program in addition to the economic indicators of job market growth in this field. According to the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Development, job market growth rate also projected to be above average for this program for the next 10 years.
Dean Jackson reminded the committee that all this information needs to be mentioned and discussed in the advisory committee meeting. It would also be very helpful if a
Member of the advisory committee would participate in the LOWDL meeting.
Ms. Bailey asked Ms. Johnson-Taylor for her support of the program through counseling students to take paralegal courses.
Dean Jackson suggested an 8-week format for Paralegal classes. He mentioned that students can take three classes in a regular semester by taking two 8-week classes one after the other and taking one Saturday class. This will make the Paralegal program more attractive for students by enabling them to finish their classes faster. He gave examples of 8- week formats from West LA College.
Ms. Johnson-Taylor asked Mr. Gary to contact her for more information on the procedure for the Establishment of the program.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:25 pm.
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