Welcome, Paralegals, to a New Bar Year!
To my fellow colleagues, welcome to the 2026-2027 bar year!
It is my honor to step into this role and serve as your chair of the Paralegal Division for this bar year. I want to start by saying thank you to the members who have helped build this division into what it is today, to the leaders who came before me and to every paralegal across North Carolina who shows up each day and does the work that keeps our legal system moving. This profession doesn’t always get the spotlight it deserves, and I look forward to representing your voice.
As I look ahead to the year before of us, three words are going to guide everything we do: membership, community and education.
Membership
A division is only as strong as the people who show up for it. This year, one of my top priorities is making sure every paralegal in North Carolina, whether you’ve been in the field for thirty years or thirty days, knows this division exists, knows what it offers and feels like there’s a seat at the table for them.
If you know a paralegal who isn’t a member yet, this is your invitation to bring them along. Growth doesn’t happen from the top down. It happens with introductions, invitations to join in the conversation and a welcoming community.
Community
Membership gets people in the door. Community is what makes them stay.
This year, we’re focused on creating more real and meaningful ways for paralegals to connect — not just at the annual meeting, but throughout the year. That means meetups and spaces where you can ask questions you can’t always ask at your own firm. It means making room for paralegals in every practice area to feel like they belong to something bigger than their individual job.
Community is also how we take care of each other. This can be a demanding profession, and having a network of people who understand exactly what your day looks like and a space to ask questions for guidance matters more than people realize. This division is that network.
Education
Finally, strengthening our profession through education is how we grow with it. This year, we’re expanding our Power Hours — focused, hour-long sessions built to fit into a lunch break, so you can sharpen your skills without taking a full day away from the office. Alongside that, we’re broadening our continuing paralegal education offerings and bringing back the Intellectual Property CPE.
Advancing our profession’s education starts with participation. Tell us what topics would actually help you in your practice area. Volunteer to lead a session yourself, since some of the best programming comes from paralegals teaching paralegals what they’ve learned on the job. The more we invest in each other’s growth, the stronger this division and this profession becomes.
Elevating our careers isn’t about waiting for someone else to hand us a seat at the table. It’s about building skills, relationships, and the confidence to pull up our own chair.
I’m genuinely excited about this year. I believe in this profession, I believe in this division and I believe that when paralegals are connected, supported and growing, everyone we work with — attorneys, clients and the justice system itself — benefits.
So here’s my ask: Get involved. Come to an event. Volunteer for a committee. Bring a colleague who isn’t a member yet. This division runs on the energy of people who show up, and I hope it’s something that we can all be a part of.
Here’s to a great 2026–2027 bar year! Let’s continue to build a division we are proud of.
Andrea Blosser is the 2026-2027 chair of the Paralegal Division. She is a paralegal with Smith Anderson, specializing in business disputes, appellate practice, class action defense and general civil litigation, providing support in complex legal matters. Dedicated to professional excellence and service, Andrea is a recipient of the North Carolina Bar Association Outstanding Paralegal Pro Bono Service Award, a member of the North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society and serves on the Board of Directors and Board of Governors for the North Carolina Bar Association. She has also been actively involved with a nonprofit organization focused on youth mental health education and awareness for over a decade. Andrea holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Legal Studies in Business Law and Compliance from Wake Forest University School of Law.
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The Paralegal Division Blog is managed by the Division’s Communications Committee. Via the blog, the Communications Committee provides information written by attorneys, paralegals, and other experts designed specifically for paralegals in the areas of substantive law, ethics, technology, paralegal practice advice, and more. If you are interested in signing up to submit a blog post on a future date, you can do so here. When you are ready to submit a blog post, you can do so by using this form.
You may also wish to participate in the Division by using our virtual suggestion box to submit suggestions/ideas to the Division Council, nominating a paralegal for Paralegal Spotlight, or completing the Paralegal Spotlight Questionnaire if you are nominating yourself. If you are interested in volunteering with the Communications Committee, please contact the Communications Committee Chair at [email protected]. If you are interested in joining other division committees, you can review a list of committees and sign up here.