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APRIL/MAY

BUSY LAWYERS CAN GO BACK TO SCHOOL ON THE INTERNET

By Mark Riordan

When you're one of the lead attorneys in the state's antitrust case against Microsoft, squeezing in those pesky, but necessary, continuing legal education courses can be all but impossible. But that didn't stop Florida Assistant Attorney General Peter H. Williams from earning five credit hours recently at his own pace, on his own computer, in the privacy of his own home.
Williams took the Online Professionalism Series, a joint venture of the Florida State University Center for Professional Development and The Florida Bar to provide continuing legal education (CLE) via the Internet.
"I was busy and I needed those five hours for relicensure, and I saw a story in the newspaper about the online CLE, so I logged on and signed up," said Williams.
The five-credit-hour course was designed to fulfill The Bar's relicensing requirements in ethics, professionalism and substance abuse. Overall, Florida attorneys must take 30 hours of approved courses every three years to maintain their eligibility to practice law.
"We've designed our online courses to be affordable, flexible and convenient for busy professionals; we're meeting a need," said Lori McCall, CPD Director of Online Professional Education. The Florida Bar and CPD have made registration a snap, or click.

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The topics are chemical dependency and stress management, formation of attorney-client relationships, client trust accounting for Florida attorneys, ethics and law-office management.
To register for the series of one-hour courses, attorneys point their browsers to http://cle.online.cpd.fsu.edu/flbar. Once there, they fill out the forms, submit them and take the free sample test to ensure that their computer, software and modem meet the minimum technical requirements.
McCall said that balancing work and family is always a challenge, but the online courses give professionals a flexible option.
"Going online to earn CLE is especially convenient," she said. "There are no travel expenses or interruptions to work or study. Attorneys can complete the courses in the privacy of their homes or offices when it's convenient for them."
Williams concurs: "If you spend the mental energy to go through the course, your retention rate will be much higher because you actually have to do the work."

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