If you could make a law ...

• Author: Hornsby, Will
• Position: THE ETHICAL MARKETER

Have you ever thought about having the power to make a law? It's sort of like making a wish, except everyone would have to follow it. Several years ago, I was at a reception during an ABA annual meeting. The sponsor had worked with a grade school on civics and the law. One of the exercises was to ask the eight- or nine-year-old kids to make a law. The "laws" came complete with drawings and the ones selected to show were as charming as you might imagine. They ranged from variations on world peace to individual indulgences: "I would make a law that all kids could ride a horse to school."

If I could write a law, I wouldn't even write a whole new law. I'd just make a change, and not even a change to a real law, just to a model rule. I would change Section 7(b) of the ABA Model Rule for Continuing Legal Education. As it stands, the rule states that in order for a lawyer to receive credit for a continuing legal education course, the course "must contribute directly to lawyers' professional competence or skill, or to their education with respect to their professional or ethics obligations." This model serves as a guiding principle for many state rules on CLE.

I'm sure I am joined by 300 million or so other Americans who believe that it is a good thing that lawyers be competent at what they do. I'm also sure that a good percentage of us think it is a good thing to require lawyers to have training so that they keep current in their practice areas. The trouble with this rule is not what it requires, but what it excludes. I would change the rule to permit lawyers to obtain training in practice management and client development--going beyond their "professional competence."

Mandating continuing legal education is a movement from the 1970s and 1980s that centered on the need to assure competence among practitioners. It was a time when we had fewer lawyers, less competition for services and more general practices. The need for a focus on professional competence was well-placed in that era. Mandatory CLE has also given the states an opportunity to advance training in ethical responsibilities and obligations of professionalism.

Without forsaking these goals, it is time we recognized the additional need to provide lawyers with practice...