What requirements need to be met prior to sitting for the CLA exam? The best way to get information about the requirements to sit for the CLA exam is to visit NALA's website at www.nala.org.  There are several different ways to meet the eligibility requirements, either through experience, education, or a combination.  Our program at AIPS meets the paralegal educational requirement, so check out the other requirements to see if you qualify. As a general rule, if you have 45 semester credits of undergraduate college completed, then the combination of your AIPS certificate and those undergraduate credits will meet the NALA requirement.    The 45 hours of college credit do not have to be law related.  In fact, the intent behind the educational requirement is that paralegals will have both general studies courses and law related courses. Am I eligible to sit for the exam if I don't have 45 hours of college credit? Maybe...there is a provision that allows people who have significant paralegal work experience to use that in lieu of college credit.   The requirement is:  A high school diploma or equivalent plus seven (7) year's experience as a legal assistant under the supervision of a member of the Bar, plus evidence of a minimum of twenty (20) hours of continuing legal education credit to have been completed within a two (2) year period prior to the examination date. But, you must submit evidence that you have actually been doing legal assistant work and that you have 20 hours of recent continuing legal education. Your classes at AIPS qualify as CLE.