Aside from being a fountain of youth (See my post of April 27, 2006: Continuing Legal Education may help lawyers live longer.), Continuing Legal Education for attorneys who work in law departments ought to have great value (See my post of Dec. 19, 2005: think of law departments in terms of “learning organizations.”).
Much is made about how vital it is for in-house lawyers to keep abreast of business developments (See my posts of Nov. 6, 2005: Continuing Legal Education should be Continuing Business Education; July 16, 2005: general counsel now “measured by their business acumen”; August 3, 2005: for general counsel, a stint on the business side; April 12, 2006: opportunities at universities for law department lawyers to learn about business; and May 7, 2006: in-house training on financial literacy.).
Talent management posts that refer to CLE and its importance in that domain have also been plentiful (See my posts of August 27, 2005: “Human capital” reporting; Sept. 5, 2005: career spotlights on up-and-coming lawyers; May 14, 2005: executive development courses for high-potentials; and July 31, 2005: succession planning.).
Diverse methods to deliver CLE and training generally have graced several posts (See my posts of July 14, 2005: spectrum of training methods; April 13, 2006: antitrust training at Philips; April 15, 2006: role play as a training technique; and March 8, 2006: law department education at Northwestern Mutual.). Among those comments are several about law firms and their potential contribution to CLE (See my posts of July 21, 2005: law firms help with training; May 28, 2007; distribute online TV feeds for CLE; May 24, 2007: law firms provide CLE training; and Dec. 1, 2006: knowledge transfer from firms to departments.).
Many logististical aspects of CLE programs have received attention (See my posts of May 31, 2005: bar membership and a law department’s role; Dec. 17, 2007: New Jersey requirements for CLE in-house; Feb. 1, 2006 #3: UK CLE requirements; Jan. 20, 2006: where CLE is mandatory, in-house compliance may be perfunctory; June 16, 2007: tracking CLE compliance; March 6, 2007: getting accreditation for CLE courses departments offer; Feb. 19, 2006 #3: Viacom accredited CLE program; May 24, 2007: outside counsel to provide CLE and save money at Allstate; June 9, 2007: thoughts on the distribution of training; May 1, 2005: spreading CLE knowledge to the rest of the law department; and June 30, 2007: the evaporation of knowledge gained formally.).