subject: Thoughts From The Outside Regarding Continuing Legal Education Courses [print this page] Professionalism is keyProfessionalism is key. In any job or occupation professionalism is the solid bedrock that business relationships of every sort stand upon. With it, the two sides can work for the betterment of the other. Without it, a relationship is pretty much impossible and any existing cooperation is destined for failure. You need at least to maintain a modicum of professionalism in order achieve what needs to be done. Of course, both sides would prefer everyone involved were on the same page. For practicing attorneys and students working to acceptance into the bar, this is especially true. Because for some lawyers - namely, criminal defense lawyers and prosecutors - it can mean the difference between an innocent person being allowed to go free and a guilty criminal being delivered to justice. The initial training and education to become a lawyer is where it must begin. As a layman, this much I understand. But it does not stop there. Continuing legal education courses takes that training much further.
Continuing legal education is an important aspect of a new lawyer's training. It is so important in fact that many states actually require practicing attorneys to enroll in continuing legal education courses in order to keep their license. New York is one such state that requires its attorneys to be enrolled. As someone on the outside I actually did not know how important these courses were. I had heard of them but I did not fully comprehend their worth to both the attorney and their future clients. I had initially thought it was a way to sharpen their skills; I had no clue that continuing legal education could forge a better practitioner of the law, so to speak.
From doing research - which is my only course of action considering I am not a lawyer - I have begun to understand that continuing legal education courses serves a very valuable purpose to lawyers and prospective clients. Going into each course, they can specialize even further in certain fields of law. They are trained even more, they learn even more, and are able to keep up to date on the latest news regarding their practice. They have a host of resources with which to become the best possible attorneys they can be. As a person who may need an attorney to represent me one day, I love this fact. This means I can fully trust the person that will help decide the outcome of something that is vitally important to me.
