Ok, so I have now forgotten twice to bring to the office the survey results I intended to blog about after getting my first full night’s sleep in a week. Instead, I am going to carry-on about why it pays to go to National CLE seminars.

I just got back from the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys’ national seminar in Philadelphia. Was it expensive? Yes. Was it a hassle to be out of the office and out of town from early Thursday morning until midnight Sunday night? You bet. Was it worth it? I can’t imagine practicing without this or something like it.

I’ve done countless CLE seminars locally. Generally, there will be one or two really good sections and the rest — um, less so. Look around the room after 3:00 sometime. The place is half empty. There is a reason the bar makes us sign in after lunch.

I used to think that out-of-state CLE was just an excuse for a tax deductible vacation, and I have seen brochures that fit that bill. I remember a Creditor’s Bankruptcy seminar several years ago that promised you could be on the ski slopes by 1:00 every day. At NACBA it is not at all uncommon for us to be in class or otherwise engaged with the seminar from 8:30 in the morning well into the evening.

Yesterday after my morning docket I had an attorney who practices some bankrutpcy ask me if I thought this kind of thing was worth the money. So, being a lawyer, I answered his question with a question — well, lots of them really.

There was another lawyer at the table who files more Bankruptcies than I do. Neither of them had any answers. Oh, and several of my questions were how to get creditors to pay debtor’s attorneys fee.

That is why it pays to go to National CLE.

If you do Bankruptcy work and are not a member of NACBA. Check it out
http://www.nacba.org

The brochure for Philadelphia is still up if you want to see what you missed.

Elaine