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<b>Professional Development University:</b> CLE For The Soul

By Holly Hitchcock
February 03, 2006

Pen in hand, I write to report that the 11 years of being my state's compliance maven of CLE have given me an up-close and personal view of attorney-dom that few non-lawyers witness. I am the confidant to lawyer stress, struggle, and reflection on what it means to be a lawyer. This is often spoken in hushed tones, with perhaps a sense that such confession might somehow be disloyal to the proud profession.

With civility and ethics at the top of lawyers' agendas, it at times seems to some to be a fragile balancing act as the need to zealously advocate for one's client and keep the practice profitable in a very populated profession can bring one close to the ethical bright line. In fact, the inception of the continuing legal education mandate in many states came on the heels of ethics breaches that were grievous enough to demand that ethics, professionalism, and general professional development be mandated. Out of crisis did come opportunity.

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