Boutique Law Firms, Continuing Legal Education / CLE, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

How To Make The Most Out Of CLEs

Here are some tips for how to handle CLE requirements, particularly for SmallLaw practitioners.

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Gary J. Ross

Gary J. Ross

We always knew when someone’s CLE was due. Their door would be closed the entire day, but we could see the light underneath the door and their admin would say, “Yep, she’s in there.” It was that time.

PLI time. Time to “click here to continue” every six minutes. Trying not to let the video distract from work. Some attorneys took the opposite approach and would try to keep up, saying the videos were unbearable if they’re not paying attention. I never saw how that was realistic if you had something like 15 to do on the last day of the month. Binge-watching CLEs isn’t as much fun as binge-watching Silicon Valley.

It doesn’t have to be like this. CLEs don’t have to be a waste — something to put off until the last minute, and then have to kill an entire day or two on it. Here are some tips for how to handle CLE requirements, particularly for SmallLaw practitioners.

First, pare down the number as much as you can. In most jurisdictions, you can get CLE for writing legal articles, judging law competitions, and even pro bono. (For the first and last, it’s on the honor system in terms of how long you spent on it.) Hopefully you’re doing these things anyway. You can’t fulfill all of your requirements this way, but you can knock them down to a manageable number.

Once you’ve done this, time to figure out which classes to take, and how.

Local ethics. If you’re in SmallLaw, staying on top of the ethics rules is important. Most local bar associations will offer yearly ethics CLE classes to keep its members up-to-date. Maybe most years there won’t be anything new. But when there is something, it’s better to find out as soon as you can — hey, if you ain’t first you’re last — and hearing it in an open forum like a CLE, where other practitioners are sharing their thoughts and ideas, is the best place.

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Expand your horizons, but don’t “waste” CLE on something completely unrelated. Some attorneys and CLE providers are very good at writing headlines, and they can make just about anything sound intriguing. But make no mistake: if you don’t know anything at all about the subject matter, unless someone with the mannerisms of Jim Cramer is teaching the course, it’s going to be excruciating to sit through, no matter how catchy the headline. If you really can’t resist viewing a CLE way outside your wheelhouse, make sure it’s not one that lasts longer than an hour.

By the way, in general, longer videos are tough. I’d think, oh great, I can bang out four hours by seeing the video from this conference earlier this year on intellectual property considerations in M&A deals, but then two-and-a-half hours through my head feels like an anvil. Plus, the longer ones tend to be conferences, and sometimes a third or more of each presentation in a conference will be Q&A, which can be hard to follow on a video.

“Year in review” or other annual updates in your practice area. Even if you feel like nothing has changed in the past year, you may be surprised. Though the law might not have changed, maybe best practices have.  Maybe everyone else has started doing something you’re not.

Go to some in-person. No one has time to do them all in-person. But in-person CLEs provide valuable networking opportunities, as well as the chance to ask questions. Of course, it’s also much easier to pay attention when you’re actually there, as opposed to being in your office staring at the mounds of paperwork that have to get done.

Remember, at in-person CLEs you can still bring your laptop and do work. Trust me: the vast majority of the time the CLE instructor is not going to get upset. I once gave a CLE for which I was told it would be all new grads, so I had prepared a presentation about very basic things junior associates can do that partners will appreciate (e.g., using spellcheck, checking cross-cites and defined terms). I go in the room and it’s all people in their 40s and 50s who had been practicing 20 years. I didn’t have any other presentation to give, so I powered through it. After 30 seconds, everyone opened their laptops and started doing work, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

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Conferences. Two conferences a year could bang out all of your requirements, plus provide you with referral sources (and friends, if you’re looking for that sort of thing).

Teach. In most jurisdictions, you get three CLE credits for teaching a course. Granted, it typically takes longer than that to prepare to teach a class that you’ve never taught before. But it’s not much longer, and you also get fodder for your website bio and your résumé (which even when you have your own practice you still occasionally have to send out to people), plus you have a PowerPoint you can send out to prospective clients. After you teach a certain class once, it doesn’t require very much prep time to teach it again, though you typically get only one credit for teaching the repeat classes.

CLEs can suck. But, like death, taxes, and Donald Trump in the headlines, they are certain. Might as well make the best of it.

Earlier: Why Do CLEs Suck So Badly?
CLE – Continuously Lucrative ‘Education’
Why Can’t CLE Deliver Real Value To Solos By Teaching Real Skills?

Gary J. Ross opened his own practice, Jackson Ross PLLC, in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and securities matters for startups, large and small businesses, private equity funds, and investors in each, and also has a number of non-profit clients. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.

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