VI. Continuing Legal Education

"Quality control" for the required Professionalism CLE courses has been assured through:

A. Review of the content of proposed Professionalism CLE courses by the staff;

B. Assistance to CLE sponsors in the design and implementation of Professionalism CLE;

C. The introduction of professionalism materials developed by the Commission.

A. Each year, the staff reviews more than 500 applications for professionalism credit submitted for approval by CLE sponsors, including local bar associations, law firms, corporate and government legal departments, legal services programs, and inns of court.

B. The Commission urges the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia (ICLE) and all other CLE sponsors to structure Professionalism courses to confront the question: How will you handle this situation when it occurs in your practice? The staff encourages each sponsor to tailor the professionalism session to the concerns of the group to whom it is presented and to use creative, introspective, interactive and simulation-based methods for presenting professionalism issues in the CLE course.

SAMPLING OF 2005 PROFESSIONALISM CLE PROGRAMS

Total Programs Conducted 942

Institute of Continuing Legal Education 372

Other Sponsors 570

Atlanta Bar Association
"Atticus Finch Meets Enron"
"Angst and the Billable Hour"
"We Can Work it Out: Dialogue and Reflection on the
Relationship Between Lawyers and Judges"

Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism/

Atlanta Bar Association/Law & Religion Program of Emory University School of Law/Georgia Justice Project
"Issues of Faith and the Practice of Law:
Toward a Deeper Understanding of Vocation and Work"

Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism/Atlanta Bar Association/Gate City Bar Association/ICLE/Southern Regional Council
"Thurgood Marshall's Coming"
(Celebrating the life and work of Thurgood Marshall
50th Anniversary Commemoration of Brown v. The Board of Education.)

DeKalb Bar Assoc/DeKalb Volunteer Lawyers
"Professional Considerations in Jury Trials"

Emory University School of Law
"Ethics & Professionalism in Trial & Transactional Practice"

Georgia Alliance of African American Attorneys
"Managing Your Law Practice"

Georgia Assoc. of Criminal Defense Lawyers
"Professionalism and Ethics in the New Millennium"

Georgia Indigent Defense Council
"Communicating with Your Client: A Professional Discussion"

Georgia Trial Lawyers Association/Georgia Defense Lawyers Association
"Resolving Litigation's Civil Wars"

Institute of Continuing Judicial Education
"Handling of Gender, Racial, Ethnic and Status Fairness Issues"

Institute of Continuing Legal Education
"Family Law Convocation on Professionalism"
"Professionalism and Trial Tactics"

IRS
"Professionalism for Government Lawyers"

Justice Center of Atlanta, Inc.
"Professionalism in the Mediation of Federal Workplace Disputes"

Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia
"Professionalism Issues for Prosecutors"

U.S. Attorney's Office
"Professionalism and the U.S. Attorney"

C. The materials developed by the Commission include hypothetical situations, scenarios, role plays, and guided videotape programs with discussion materials that are appropriate for courses on professionalism in general, as well as in civil practice, criminal prosecution and defense, and the in-house setting. The tapes can also be used for in-house CLE and retreat programs for law firms, corporate legal departments, and governmental agencies. Also available from the Commission is a list of other videotape programs which qualify for professionalism credit. Because all of Georgia's nearly 22,000 active lawyers fulfill their yearly professionalism requirement by taking a course sponsored by ICLE or a Commission-approved sponsor, the Commission's ability to provide solid instructional materials assures that what the professionalism courses teach is educationally as well as professionally sound. Materials produced by the Commission benefit not only Georgia's lawyers and judges, but also bench and bar groups around the country. The Case of the Silent Alarm: A Study in Professionalism was presented at the 1994 mid-year meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices and then given to the supreme courts of each state for use in continuing legal and judicial education. Through the Commission's marketing efforts, its videotape programs are sold to out-of-state CLE sponsors, state bar associations, law schools, and law firms. (See Description of Video-Based Programs Produced by the Commission). The New Mexico State Bar made The Silent Alarm the centerpiece of its required Professionalism course.

State Bar made The Silent Alarm the centerpiece of its required Professionalism course.

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