Abstract

There is no termination date for continuing education. To resort to the old cliche: Education is a journey, not a destination. Very clearly, in the case of the legal profession, it should continue to the grave or at least to that illusory date of retirement which some regard as a

delightful dream and others as a dreadful nightmare.4 There are three somewhat different forms of education for which opportunities should be offered to the practicing lawyer which I will mention from time to time and describe in some detail. Very briefly stated: The first is training for greater competence in practice. This is the orthodox variety with which all of us are familiar and which is appropriately but undignifiedly referred to as how-to-do-it, breadand- butter or grass-roots education.5 The second is instruction to qualify for professional responsibilities both in practice and beyond. These include much more than what is prescribed by the rules of conduct laid down in the Canons of Ethics. In a very general way, these responsibilities have to do with the improvement of the law or the administration of justice. The appropriate form of systematic education for this differs little from the traditional training and instruction except that it must have greater breadth and depth and must look towards the stimulation of activity outside of and beyond practice. The third form has been called education for public responsibility. This involves a further step beyond education for competence and professional responsibility and is designed to qualify for public service not frequently undertaken by lawyers or included within their commonly accepted professional responsibilities. This public service is frequently full-time and almost always so intensive as to require a greater reduction of activity in practice than does the performance of the more usual professional responsibilities.

Keywords

Legal education