The legal secretary certification route our research documents runs through NALS — the association for legal professionals — whose 2025 certification resource manual names three credentials: the ALP (Accredited Legal Professional), the CLP (Certified Legal Professional) and the PP (Professional Paralegal).
Membership is not required for any of the exams.
The two credentials this page follows both renew on CLE — the ALP with at least 50 hours every five years, the CLP with 75, including 5 in ethics.
The ALP (Accredited Legal Professional)
The ALP — Accredited Legal Professional — is one of the three certifications NALS's 2025 manual names, alongside the CLP and the PP. You do not need to be a NALS member to sit for it: membership is not required for any of the association's exams.
The exam itself is computerized and multiple-choice, and NALS attaches no minimum age to it.
The credential runs on a five-year cycle.
It is valid for five years, and recertification takes at least 50 hours of CLE credits and activities — a standing commitment, not a one-time test.
NALS's own framing puts the ALP at the start of the ladder: the association describes it as a possible first step toward the CLP or the PP.
What the sources we read do not settle is the fine print.
NALS's exam fees and the exact eligibility criteria for the ALP were not verified in our research, so the price and the entry requirements are questions to take to NALS itself before you plan around this exam.
Confirm fees and eligibility with NALS before you register
Is the PLS certification still offered?
Not under that name.
The 2025 certification resource manual names exactly three NALS credentials — ALP, CLP and PP — and PLS is not among them; the same is true of ALS.
Whether and when an earlier name changed into one of the current ones is history our sources do not verify.
So treat any PLS or ALS you meet in older articles or job ads as a prompt to check the current name with NALS — especially before you pay an exam fee.
If you went looking for a professional legal secretary certification, the names to write down are the current ones.
On the secretary track, the credential to look for today is the CLP — Certified Legal Professional.
Its exam has four multiple-choice parts, and NALS requires all four to be taken on the first attempt; parts you pass stay valid for two years.
That all-parts-on-the-first-attempt rule is the detail to plan around if you are weighing the CLP against the ALP's single computerized exam.
The renewal load is heavier too.
The CLP is valid for five years and recertifies on 75 hours of CLE and activities, with 5 of those hours specifically in ethics.
The ALP's verified renewal figure is at least 50 hours of CLE credits and activities — the named ethics block is in what we read for the CLP, not for the ALP, so check NALS's current ALP renewal terms rather than assuming the two match.
Is a NALS certification worth it for a legal secretary?
What you can weigh from the record cuts both ways.
On the plus side: a named credential from a professional association, no membership hurdle for the exams, a stated ladder — NALS describes the ALP as a possible first step toward the CLP or the PP — and a five-year validity window renewed through required CLE.
On the cost side: the renewal hours are real — at least 50 for the ALP, 75 with 5 in ethics for the CLP — the CLP wants all four exam parts taken on the first attempt, and the fees are something we could not verify, so your budget question goes to NALS.
What the record does not show is payoff.
The sources behind this page are NALS's own certification materials, and our research turned up no verified figure linking these credentials to a legal secretary's salary.
Any claim that certified secretaries earn more has no basis in what we could check.
The payoff question for the neighboring paralegal track is what our does paralegal certification increase pay article takes up.
So the honest decision rule: treat the credential as a commitment you maintain rather than a line you earn once.
If you want the structured signal and can carry the renewal hours, NALS describes the ALP as a possible first step and the CLP is the deeper investment on the same track.
And let the market weigh in — the requirements and preferred qualifications in current legal secretary jobs tell you what employers are asking for where you want to work.
Career information, not legal advice. The certification details on this page come from NALS's 2025 certification resource manual; requirements change, so confirm current credential names, fees and eligibility with NALS before you register for any exam.