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CLE Leadership & Management
Ideas, Resources, and Techniques for
CLE Professionals
A periodic e-newsletter
By Chuck Bingaman - chuck@chuckbingaman.com
#21 June
2005
Leadership  In one of the major developments
in the CLE worldwide, Sheila Redel, Director of Professional Education and
Competence of the Law Society of Manitoba, reports that the past year has
marked a significant departure for law students taking the bar admission
course in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. A
new regional professional education and licensing program has replaced the
previous provincially-administered classroom based course. The CPLED program
has four distinct features: it is founded on fresh research on what new lawyers
need to know, it is multi-jurisdictional, it is skills-based, and it is delivered
partly on-line. For detailed information on this innovative new approach,
see www.lesa.org/CPLED.asp. Julene Franki, director of the State
Bar of Texas' Continuing Legal Education program, has been named executive
director of the American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA)
and begins on July 11. "Julene has been instrumental in creating and
continually expanding a tremendous CLE program in Texas and her selection
as executive director of ALI-ABA is testament to her contributions to that
effort," said State Bar of Texas Executive Director John Edwards. "Her
experience and dedication will be missed. We wish her well as she accepts
this great opportunity." The ALI-ABA Search Committee was chaired by
long-time CLE friend and leader Albuquerque lawyer Roberta C. Ramo. Old friend
Pat Nester is filling in temporarily as Interim Director of the Texas State
Bar CLE program.
Management
Donald
Trump has, I think, made another fortune based on highly questionable management
thinking with his “Apprentice” program. (What serious enterprise
builder would spend time trying to find people to fire rather than building
on their skills?) So I was very skeptical to discover Trump University and
his entry into continuing education, even in competition with some of us. But
I must admit that www.TrumpUniversity.com is pretty impressive as a web site
offering continuing education. Colorful, practical, well-organized, impressive
faculty members and vital customer connections such as a free newsletter. May
be some lessons here to learn for all of us! Blogs were the “hot
topic” at the ABA TechShow in April and the cover story in BusinessWeek May 2. To quote the BW article, “It’s time for a frank talk. And
no, it can’t wait. We know, we know: Most of you are sick to death of
blogs. Don’t even want to hear about these millions of online journals
that link together into a vast network. And yes, there’s plenty out there
not to like….Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford
to close your eyes to them, because they’re simply the most explosive
outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they’re
gong to shake up just about every business—including yours. It doesn’t
matter whether you’re into shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos
of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone
or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business
elective. They’re a prerequisite….Potential customers are out there,
sniffing around for deals and partners. While you may be putting it off, you
can bet that your competitors are exploring ways to harvest new ideas from
blogs, sprinkle ads into them, and, yes, find out what you and other competitors
are up to.” CLE leaders need to face this reality today and build blogs
into the current business service mix!
Resources On that
subject, I have opened a new CLE blog called www.CLEleader.com. Check
it out. On it I enter CLE news and opinions—several each week—and
it will eventually supplant this e-newsletter. If you register on the
site—at no charge—you receive an email when a new entry has
been posted, AND you may enter your own comments, opinions or alternate
views at any time. And I welcome your comments! In
preparing for an upcoming teaching session with a CLE management team,
I re-read Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey B.
Mackay (Ballantine Books, 1988) and was reminded of the many really valuable
tips it contains for selling your ideas, motivating your customers and
volunteers, and negotiating your way through your career! I also found
Mackay’s web site, www.mackay.com, that contains a daily idea,
a free newsletter, and excerpts from his other books and speeches. Good
stuff!
I welcome your feedback! Please
keep in touch! CCB
Following 20 years as Executive Director of a major American CLE organization,
Chuck now consults on strategic planning, marketing, blogging and management
challenges with CLE and other legal organizations, law firms, law schools and
others. He welcomes your inquiries
on projects designed to
enhance your organization’s effectiveness. You
can contact him at chuck@chuckbingaman.com,
at 1-603-756-9268, or at P.O. Box 390, Walpole, NH, USA 03068-0390. Past issues of this newsletter are archived
at www.chuckbingaman.com.
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