ALA's Approach to Professional Certification - A Historical Perspective

A well designed certification program can do a great deal to raise the level of skill and knowledge of practitioners. ALA's certification program for professional law firm administrators was developed in three stages or phases:

1. Identification of professional competencies which then were field tested through a member survey, and refined by various committees of the organization.
2. A steering committee established professional standards or levels of competency and performance through construction of the certification examination and administrative policies and procedures.
3. Programs and products are designed to support the assessment process by enabling individuals to develop all the identified competencies and to exercise them at professionally prescribed levels.

During 1995, ALA collected job analysis and needs analysis information in a Knowledge, Skills and Abilities of Legal Administrators (KSA) Study. Using a 1992 Task Analysis as a starting point, focus groups were convened to refine the task list, identify associated competencies, and clarify needs analysis issues. A survey then was sent to a representative sample of the membership to collect data on these tasks, competencies and needs analysis issues, as well as task criticality and the competencies required for successful task performance. Simultaneously, information was collected relative to the perceived educational or informational needs of legal administrators and their reaction to alternative mechanisms for meeting those needs. An impartial organization specializing in psychometrics, Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), conducted the survey and documented the process and findings in a written report.

The survey clearly supported a determination that a legal administrators' certification program was an appropriate strategy to improve performance standards and enhance credibility of individual administrators and the profession as a whole. According to the research findings, 81 percent of administrators felt that certification would benefit the profession in some way. Additionally, data from principal administrators and their employers suggested that most stakeholders would support the decision to proceed with the creation of a certification program.

At its February 1996 meeting, ALA's Board of Directors voted to proceed with a certification program, constructing the written test and implementation procedures during 1996 with first test administration in 1997. As the first step, the Board named a Certification Task Force, a governing body consisting of 12 members who were considered subject matter experts in legal administration. This committee was charged with determining the procedures and processes for administering ALA's certification program. This included pre-test experience standards or criteria; recertification policy; appeals procedure; record keeping procedures, and other administrative matters. The primary task was the construction of the certification assessment or examination in anticipation of the first test administration in November 1997.

The Certification Task Force (1) identified the most critical of the 47 competencies of a legal administrator identified by the KSA study, and determined what percent of the examination would be devoted to each competency; (2) grouped or categorized items in subject areas; and (3) developed a written examination.

Because many of the competencies identified as important for most principal administrators are suitable for testing in a traditional, multiple-choice test format, the certification examination assumed this format.