Continuing legal education is useful in the professional development of attorneys after their initial admission to the bar. When selecting an online CLE provider, you need to ensure the provider will offer compliance you need while providing value to the practice. Here are five things to check when looking for the best CLE online provider.
- Courses Relevant to Your Legal Practice
When you’re working as an attorney, you will learn time is precious, and you need to spend it carefully, like learning something useful. The purpose of the CLE program is to stay relevant and updated regarding legal changes that will impact your work and clients. The website of the CLE online provider will have a variety of content. But the thing most important to you should be relevant content.
The program should help you earn specialty credits (mental health, ethics, diversity, and inclusion, professionalism) that are necessary to complete it. However, if the program provider is not offering any content regarding what’s happening in the industry like new strategies, policies, reports,etc., how will the CLE program prepare for changes in the future?
- On-Demand Content
Nowadays, most CLE participants prefer to study online. The online course options suit the busy schedule of attorneys. However, the feature of on-demand content is preferable as not all days are the same for the attorney. Sometimes the attorney might not have the time to attend online CLE classes. Hence, you need to look for the CLE program that offers on-demand content to meet CLE credit requirements.
- Credible and Diverse Speakers
The credibility of the CLE program depends on the quality of instructions. High-quality instruction needs speakers who are qualified by their experience and education. In simple words, the speaker delivering the course content in class should have subject expertise on the topic they are presenting.
In the absence of subject expertise, legal professionals will not have an impactful experience. This might seem like a no-brainer to many. However, the fact is many CLE online providers do not have credible speakers to deliver course content. An easy way to determine the quality of the CLE program is by looking at the speakers addressing it.
- Data Security
Any organization that is delivering online services or programs, including CLE, should consider the protection of personal and financial information as a priority. Many consumers are wary that several websites are not compliant with web security standards, and there are instances of sending marketing communication to the user without their explicit permission.
Since online CLE programs also capture the personal and financial information of the student attorney for billing purposes, there is always a hidden risk of their personal and financial information being intercepted and misused online by miscreants. Hence, it will help if you read the fine print of the data security and compliances of the CLE online provider.
- Automatic Certificate Delivery
The electronic certificate delivery is a massive plus for the online CLE program. While you have spent hours to earn CLE programs credit, you deserve to have the CLE program certification in hand without delay. It will help if you look for a CLE provider that allows end-users to purchase new events, track their CLE credits, and obtain CLE certifications online.
These are some of the essential things you need to focus on when selecting a CLE program provider.