ALSP Backstory: Dedicated to Defining
and Supporting Litigation Support Professionals

In November 2006, a recruiter posted an article to the litigation support Yahoo group asking about the need for certification in the litigation support industry. Windy Brown (ALSP’s immediate past president) posted her response as an open letter calling for members of the litigation support community to band together and form a professional association that could develop standards and certification for the litigation support process. View Windy's initial message.

Why? Because she and many practitioners felt that the community was susceptible to losing control. Though the field of litigation support was growing rapidly, it had no a proper definition and was suffering from a lack of structure. In particular, she noted issues related to hiring and skills assessment.

She called for colleagues around the world to join the common cause of determining the direction of the profession. The flood of responses to her letter, and subsequent activities and directives, led to the formation of the Association for Litigation Support Professionals.

First Steps
Not long after Brown posted her open letter, enough interest was generated to hold a conference call, and 45 people joined the discussion. The calls continued on a weekly basis as the group discussed whether they needed to form a new organization to achieve their goals.

After much discussion, the group voted to form a new organization with a mission to facilitate centralized information sharing across the industry, and to develop and provide a certification program.

Meeting Face to Face
This core group held an open meeting at LegalTech New York in late January 2007 to gauge conference attendees’ interest in this new litigation support association. Though they thought they were on the right track, the group went into the meeting with the objective of gauging whether the larger community shared their opinion that a new organization was needed to facilitate cross-industry communication and certification.

The substantial group of individuals who attended not only confirmed the group’s convictions, but also expressed surprise that the new association hadn’t already been established.

With confidence that they were on the right path, weekly calls continued and a consistent Steering Committee of about 15 individuals — many of whom now serve on ALSP’s board of directors — evolved. The committee voted on several decisions including the association’s name, initial bylaws and the vendor community’s role in the association.

From Concept to Reality
Eventually, the committee realized they needed management assistance to take the association from concept to reality. Research led the group to SmithBucklin Corp., the world’s largest association management firm, and on June 1, 2007, Steering Committee representatives and SmithBucklin leaders convened in Chicago to discuss ALSP’s future. In late June, the committee voted to accept SmithBucklin’s proposal, and in July the Association of Litigation Support Professionals officially incorporated in Illinois.

The rest, as the adage goes, is history. Or at least it soon will be. The next 12–18 months will be extremely busy as ASLP develops an educational program, globally accepted standards and a certification program for the litigation support profession.