CAPA Committees & Special Projects
Which Committees Do What...?
 Community Services ~ The Community Services Committee is the "heart" of the Association. This committee is charged with keeping us informed of charitable events and organizing interested members to participate. Past activities have included participation in walks for the women's shelters, the Book Fest, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, raising funds for KLRU, and sponsoring "angels" at Christmas. The Community Services Committee determines which associations will be the beneficiaries of CAPA's "Flower Funds" to which members contribute at each luncheon meeting.
Continuing Education ("CLE") ~ The CLA Study Group is the responsibility of the Continuing Education Committee. Additionally, this committee is responsible for any special seminars the Association sponsors and the "Brown Bag" luncheons that are presented. Continuing Legal Education (CLE) is so important for each of us -- it is imperative that we provide as much as we can to our members.
Job Bank ~ The Job Bank Coordinator maintains the CAPA Job Bank, receives placement requests from legal employers in the area and posts them on the CAPA Job Bank.
Membership ~ The Membership Committee is responsible for everything regarding membership. The committee prepares and sends out the membership application on an annual basis. All applications and dues are received by the Membership Committee. The Membership Committee is also responsible for preparing the Association's directory, making it available to all members, and keeping it up to date. Membership drives are the responsibility of the Membership Committee. Ideally, this committee is comprised of at least two persons.
Programs ~ The Programs Committee is responsible for CAPA's monthly luncheon meetings. This committee arranges for the speakers, prepares the reservation list and name tags for those in attendance, checks us in at the meetings, introduces the speakers and draws the door prizes. This committee has a lot of contact with people outside the Association and has always been a wonderful representative of CAPA. This committee, probably more easily than any other committee, can include several members -- one member can be responsible for the speaker, another for the reservations and name tags; or, it could be that one person is responsible for "everything" for one month, and then it passes to someone else for the next month. You can easily see that without this essential committee, we would have no monthly meetings and therefore no ongoing CLE.
Publications ~ The Publications Committee is responsible for the printing of our Association newsletter, The Brief. The Brief is designed to be a monthly publication. This committee has fallen into the hands of just one individual over the last couple of years -- perhaps explaining why it is so difficult to fill. The publication of our newsletter cannot be done by just one person, unless that person has LOTS of time to dedicate to it and lots of patience! The gathering of articles, management of advertisements from our sustaining members, and the actual writing of the articles is a HUGE responsibility. We desperately need several members to step up and take charge of The Brief so it will continue to be a monthly publication.
Social Events ~ The Social Events Committee is our "party committee." This committee organizes CAPA'S Christmas party and "Legal Assistant's Day" event, and handles any other special social event like our Happy Hours. Needless to say, this committee can get down and have some FUN!
Sustaining Members Liaison ~ The Sustaining Members Liaison is charged with educating our members regarding the wonderful services offered by our Sustaining Members and making it easier for the Association's members to "connect" to the right Sustaining Member so that good legal services can be provided. Our Sustaining Members are amazing supporters of CAPA, and they provide the services we need -- they make copies, take depositions, obtain medical records, perform investigations, make court exhibits, make/edit video tapes, help fill job vacancies -- they make it possible for us to do our jobs and do them well.
Volunteer Legal Services Clinics ~ Volunteer Legal Services and Legal Aid of Central Texas provide legal services for those who cannot afford them in the Austin area. The Austin evening clinics perform initial client interviewing and take-in forms work. CAPA's "ad hoc task force" of volunteers joins the VLS evening clinics on Monday and Wednesday evenings. CAPA's volunteer liaison has been singularly dedicated to this program for many years, has been personally responsible for many volunteer hours logged toward pro bono work, and has proven long term to be an excellent representative for CAPA and for those who care in the Austin legal community. This "committee" (volunteer group) offers you the opportunity (for only two hours a month of your time) to use your legal and interviewing skills to help those who most desperately need our community's legal services.
Web Team ~ CAPA's website is constantly undergoing revisions and modifications. The volunteer "Web Team" is responsible for not only updating the content with current materials, calendar dates, and general content, but also for developing new areas and web pages as those needs arise. CAPA's intent is to provide an online presence and resource which will help you do your job, as well as provide general and specific information from CAPA, its projects and programs, news, legal services, and so much more. For this website to be the service that CAPA envisions, all CAPA members are urged to provide input and news and points of interest for the website to make it the voice of its member paralegals.
Updated 03.03.2010 | 
