Technology

Asked And Answered: What Types Of CLE Courses Do You Wish Were Eligible For Credit?

State bars need to revise their philosophies on CLE credits so that they comport with the reality of practicing law in the digital age.

By  
on

CLE courses are a necessary part of maintaining a law license. They keep lawyers up to date on changes in their practice areas and ensure that lawyers maintain a required level of competency. While ensuring compliance with CLE requirements can sometimes tedious, these courses nevertheless serve an important function.

Traditionally, CLE courses eligible for credit were required to relate to substantive practice areas. But over time, as the practice of law has changed, so too have the categories for foundational CLE courses. Ethics credits are now required in most jurisdictions, and some allow credit for certain types of courses related to law practice management issues. But those are decidedly in the minority, and many jurisdictions do not permit credit to be granted for topics related to the ins and outs of running a law practice in the 21st century — many of which involve online marketing, law practice management, and technology issues.

This is unfortunate, since the effects of technological change on the practice of law are undeniable. That’s why so many jurisdictions (33 states to date) have adopted the duty of technology competence. For that reason, some jurisdictions are evolving with the times and mandating that lawyers take technology courses as part of their CLE requirements. Florida was the first and now requires that lawyers take two technology CLE credits per biennial cycle, and North Carolina and Pennsylvania have announced plans to follow suit.

But even though standards for CLE credit requirements are evolving, they’re not changing quickly enough. In 2018, lawyers need training to prepare them for the realties of practicing law in the 21st century legal marketplace. However, lawyers have limited amounts of time, and will therefore, understandably, focus on taking courses that will provide them with the CLE credits necessary to maintain their law licenses. As a result, learning about law practice management and technology change often fall by the wayside.

For that reason, state bars need to revise their philosophies on CLE credits so that they comport with the reality of practicing law in the digital age. Because I believe this is such an important issue, I recently asked my online connections for the input on CLE courses for a two-part blog post series on this topic.

In Part I, I asked them to share the most useful non-substantive CLE courses they’d taken. Their replies were varied, but three areas of focus emerged: 1) attorney discipline, 2) technical skills, and 3) legal technology and law practice management. You can learn more about the reasons these topics resonated with them here.

Next, for Part II of this series, I wondered what topics lawyers would like to learn more about, and asked my online connections this question:

Sponsored

What types of CLEs do you wish were offered for credit but typically aren’t?

Lots of lawyers across my social networks responded, and provided a host of interesting ideas. What follows are three areas that cropped up repeatedly.

A FOCUS on topics tangential to substantive law issues

One trend that quickly emerged from the responses was that lawyers are interested in learning more about topics that inform their areas of practice, but are not necessarily concentrated on substantive law.

Sponsored

For example, one New York lawyer who is a litigator advised that he wanted to learn more about medicine and medical issues, which makes sense since these are subjects that are the focus on intense scrutiny during many types of litigation matters. An Oregon lawyer offered that he would be interested in seminar that offered a deep dive into the tax issues that affect estate planning.

Practice management issues

Another popular theme was that lawyers wanted to learn more about how to run more efficient, responsive law firms. For example, an upstate New York lawyer shared that he would appreciate an update on a topic covered in law school, accounting for lawyers, so that he could better understand and manage his law firm’s books.

Similarly, a Brooklyn-based lawyer shared that a course on effective billing practices would be useful. Specifically he wanted to obtain “practical advice on how to bill for tasks” so that clients wouldn’t object to or refuse to pay for  billable time.

A California lawyer suggested that a course focused on the legal client’s perspective would be valuable. In other words, she wanted to learn more about how to best communicate information that clients need in order to make decisions about their case. One example that she offered was a seminar on advising clients regarding the claims process and the “information needed to value a claim.”

Off-the-beaten path topics

Finally, lawyers expressed an interest in courses that were atypical and off-the-beaten path. After all, CLE seminars can be a bit dull since they often involve, necessarily so, the dissemination of complex — and sometimes detailed and tedious — information. So it’s no surprise that there’s a desire to shake things up a bit by providing CLE credit for decidedly interesting topics.

One example offered by a Philadelphia-based lawyer was a seminar “celebrating pioneering nationally recognized Black attorney trail blazers.” Another suggestion from an Ohio lawyer was to liven up the course format on occasion in order to increase interest and participation through “interactive opportunities, and humorous yet educational presentations, such as the musical CLEs performed by a troupe from San Antonio.”

Those are just some of the suggestions offered by my online network. Do any of these topics resonate with you? What subjects do you wish were eligible for CLE credit in your jurisdiction?

Niki BlackNicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.

CRM Banner

Topics

, , , ,