This report looks at how often and which lawyers take continuing legal education courses, and how much they spend on such courses. The report gives particularly detailed data on the use of, and plans for, taking continuing legal education courses given by law schools. However, it also presents data for courses from bar associations and other professional organizations, courts and other sources.
Just a few of this 47-page report’s many findings are that:
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32.61% of lawyers aged 60 or over had ever taken a continuing legal education course from a law school.
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More than 89% of lawyers specializing in banking and finance had taken a continuing education course from a bar association.
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Overall spending on continuing legal education was much higher for lawyers who attended top 20 law schools than those from lower ranked schools.
Data in the report is based on a sample of 229 attorneys at 65 major US law firms. Data is broken out by gender, work title, age, law school ranking, predominant area of legal practice and other variables. The study enables marketers of legal education courses to compare spending by different types of lawyers defined by gender, age, law school ranking, firm size, legal specialty and other factors.