Charie Turner, CLA

Education:
Native Houstonian and have lived in Houston all my life. Graduated from Lamar High School.
Attended University of Houston night classes for 6 years to finish undergraduate degree while working as a single mother with two sons.  Earned 4-year degree, Bachelor of Science in Business Technology, at U of H.

Worked 15 yrs. for Gulf Oil Corporation as an administrative assistant to the Assistant Director and Director in the Gulf Oil Corporate Security Department for investigations and physical security of global operations.

Graduated from SPI's 11 month evening paralegal program and earned Paralegal Certificate in 1986. Earned NALA CLA certification in 1991. Earned Paralegal Board Certification from Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Personal Injury Trial Law the first year the TBLS Specialty Certification was offered to paralegals in 1993-1994.

Worked in Gulf's Law Department and then Chevron's Law Department as a paralegal from 1987 to 2001. At Chevron, I worked on cases with attorneys responsible for litigation involving Chevron/Gulf's natural gas department, their chemical plant divisions, their production department (oilfield cases), their downstream marketing and refining departments (personal injury, toxic tort, environmental and product liability cases arising from incidents at Chevron/Gulf service stations and refineries) in six states (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and part of Florida).

Have worked for Beck, Redden & Secrest, LLP, as a paralegal since 2001 to the present, mostly on a product liability docket.

Professional Associations:
SERVICE IN LOCAL, STATE and NATIONAL PARALEGAL ORGANIZATIONS
State Bar of Texas Paralegal Division Member (1991 to Present) and Member of State Bar College
• Chair of the LAD CLE Committee in 1995-1996
• Course Director for LAD Personal Injury and Corporate Law CLE seminars at the Marriott West Loop in Houston;
• Responsible for coordinating (5) LAD CLE Seminars at the Houston Marriott West Loop to prepare paralegals to
test for the new TBLS certification exams for paralegals in Civil Trial, Personal Injury, Probate & Estate Planning,
Criminal Law and Real Estate
• Planning Committee, State Bar Convention LAD Annual Meeting , George R. Brown Convention Center, 1997
• Co-Chair, State Bar Convention LAD Annual Meeting & CLE Seminar, Hyatt Regency, Houston
• Chair of LAD Forum and Panel on the Regulation of Paralegals, Southwestern Paralegal Institute, Houston
• Annual volunteer at Paralegal Division’s LAU and TAPS annual 3-day CLE Seminars

ACLAA, now Houston Corporate Paralegal Association (1994 - Present)
• President in 1996, V.P. – CLE for 3 years, V.P.-Membership for 2 years, on Board of Directors 7 years. Speaker oncertification for Exxon, Conoco, and Cooper Industries in-house paralegal meetings.

Houston Paralegal Association (2000 - Present)
• President in 2001, President-Elect 2007, Board of Director 5 years, and on Planning Committee for Annual Spring CLE seminars at Crowne Plaza, The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center, The NASA Bay Hilton, and this year’s Spring CLE on May 4 at the Galvez Hotel in Galveston

HLAA, now Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association (1989 – 1999)
• Chair-Professional Development & Certification and Board of Director 5 years, on Planning Committees for Annual Gala, HLAA volunteer for Channel 8’s Membership Drive, speaker for HLAA’s Career Day at South Texas College of Law several years and for HLAA monthly luncheon, nominee for HLAA’s Legal Assistant of the Year award.

NALA, National Association of Legal Assistants/Paralegals
• NALA Administrator of Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) Exams in Houston for 9 years (1995 – 2003)
• NALA Liaison for HPA to NALA Annual Meeting in Kansas City in 2005

TAPA, Texas Alliance of Paralegal Associations
• HPA and ACLAA Representative to numerous TAPA Annual Meetings

Southwestern Paralegal Institute, Houston - Advisory Board Member, for 7 years (1996 - 2002)

Montgomery County Dispute Resolution Center, Montgomery County Courthouse – Co-Mediator (1996-1997)