Membership Applications and Details

Membership is granted on a calendar-year basis.  While memberships are not prorated, memberships approved after the renewal period begins in October will receive the benefits of membership through the end of the following calendar year.

Dues Are Not Tax Deductible:

Dues, event registrations, and other contributions to NAPPA are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal tax purposes. Further, as NAPPA does not engage in lobbying activities, no portion of these receipts is allocated to lobbying or political expenses that are not deductible under section 162(e) of the code.

If You Change Employers:

You must reapply for membership by submitting a new membership application, payment and, if applicable, a Recommendation Form. 

Applying for Membership:

Please do not log in under another member's name to complete a membership application. Doing so will corrupt that individual's membership information. 

Your application must be accompanied by payment and, if applicable, a completed Recommendation form.  Your application packet will be reviewed, once complete.  The review may take several days; you will be notified by email regarding the status of your application.

Membership is subject to review at any time by the Executive Board.   

Membership Categories:

Membership may be granted in one of three categories (governmental, non-governmental or retired) to individuals meeting the requirements described below. 

Governmental Membership may be granted to:

(a)  Actively licensed attorneys who are public employees who directly provide legal representation for, or legal advice to, one or more public employee pension plans.

(b) Actively licensed attorneys who are employees of a public employee pension plan who were previously governmental members as defined in (a) above, but no longer provide legal representation to the plan(s).

Governmental Public Entities (Other than Authorized Retirement Systems): Individuals applying for membership from a governmental public entity, other than a retirement fund, must submit the Recommendation Form with the electronic signature of the Chief Executive Officer of the public pension plan they represent.

Examples of such governmental public entities include, but are not limited to: State Treasurers Office, Office of the Attorney General, Office of the State Comptroller, Department of Human Resources, Office of City Attorney, Department of Justice, State Board of Administration, Office of Personnel Management.

The fee for governmental membership is $350 per individual per calendar year.

The Recommendation form can be found under the "Join NAPPA" tab of the website. Please have the Recommendation submitted within two weeks of your application.

         Membership application

Non-Governmental Membership may be granted to:

(a) actively licensed attorneys who provide legal representation directly for, or legal advice to, one or more public pension plans. Effective February 12, 2015, there may be no more than ten (10) non-governmental members from any single firm or company. The fee for non-governmental membership is $550 per individual per calendar year.

RECOMMENDATION FORM REQUIRED within TWO WEEKS of application. All applicants for non-governmental memberships must have the electronic Recommendation Form submitted by 1) a current NAPPA governmental member; 2) a current governmental counsel employed by a public retirement plan; or 3) an executive employed by a public retirement plan. 

          Membership application

Retired Membership is limited to:

(a) former NAPPA members (Governmental and Non-Governmental) who were members 10 years or more, who are not providing legal or any other services, directly or indirectly, to a public pension plan, are not currently representing or seeking to represent a plan as a class member or any party adverse to a plan, and are not eligible for membership under another category. The fee is $50 per calendar year.

Retired membership entitles a member to receive the benefits of NAPPA at a discounted membership fee. A retired member who is not attending the conference, but desires to attend one social event during a conference, may attend if the per-person cost of the social event is paid.

      Membership application