Membership Categories

Active Member - An Active Member shall be any person who is a paralegal as defined by the Ohio State Bar Association, as follows:

"A paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience, who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency, or other entity and who performs substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible."

An Active Member has the right to vote and hold an elective office. In the event a member who has maintained Active Membership for a period of two (2) years becomes unemployed, that member has the option of maintaining the Active Membership for a period of two (2) more years.  If the member is not employed as a paralegal as defined above at the end of the two (2) year period, then that member shall be permitted to maintain Associate Membership.

Associate Member - An Associate Member shall be a graduate of a paralegal training program, who is currently not employed as a paralegal, is a retired former voting member, or is a person as outlined in Section 7.01(1) of the Code of Regulations.  Associate Members shall have all the rights and privileges of GDPA, except they shall not have the right to vote or hold an elective office.

Student Member - A Student Member shall be any person enrolled in a formal paralegal training program not currently employed as a paralegal or a student presently participating in an internship program.  Student Members shall have all the rights privileges of GDPA, except they shall not have the right to vote or hold an elective office.

Sustaining Member - A Sustaining Member shall be any person, partnership, organization or other entity interested in supporting GDPA.  Sustaining Members shall have all the rights and privileges of GDPA, except that they shall not have the right to vote or hold an elective office.

(effective May 2008)