Saturday, December 31, 2011

Prediction for 2012: Free CLE Changes the Legal Education Landscape

Cross-posted from 4freeCLE - and representing one of my big projects for next year:

2011 was the year in which free, on-demand continuing legal education began to really take off, both as a business model for the sponsors and as a real choice for practitioners. I'll list a couple dozen below for the sake of those who need a few credits quick, but first let me make a few predictions:

Predictions for 2012:

  • There will always be a market for paid, premium CLE. Just as free books and images on the internet have not destroyed the market for books and art IRL, so too free CLE on the internet will not destroy the older market. It'll just change the, possibly shrink its overall dollar value but by increasing the need to prove value, it'll improve quality. And higher-quality items usually command a better mark-up.
  • In 2012, at least 1 percent of the market for CLE in general will be satisfied through free CLE, and most of that will be on-demand via the internet.
  • Although economic issues may encourage some lawyers to exit the profession, the overall demand for CLE will increase, as on-demand access makes it practical to use it as a resource for problem solving. For example, if an ethical issue involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act occurs to you while you're stuck at the airport with your cellphone; you can take a quick, short on-demand ethics CLE to help you now!
  • 4freeCLE is going to do a *lot* more in 2012 to radically improve free continuing legal education. If you have any special requests, contact us!
OK, enough predictions. Here's some links for those who have waited until now to earn credit. Let's have an educational 2012!


Intellectual Property Colloquium (IPC)

Most IPC recordings have been granted credit in CA, FL, IL, NE, NY, PA, TN, TX, WA

Lexvid




Trial.Com


Black Duck Software

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See also: "Why Free CLE? Because it’s a commodity and because “interesting CLE” is oxymoronic"  by The Irreverent Lawyer

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Cat Drinking Preferences

"I don't like it when it's on tap"
We have three cats. We figure that so long as we have no more cats than humans, we aren't crazy cat people. It's important to set such a limit, because at heart, we just might be crazy cat people.
Cats are not intelligent the same way humans are, but they seem to have feelings and personality and preferences. Michelle (the largest, colored like a milk cow) likes to drink water from the sink. She'll come right up to you, stare at you until you follow her to the bathroom, and wait for you to turn the tap on.
Imp, on the other hand, either hasn't figure out the sink-drinking thing, or just doesn't care for it. Just now she carefully followed me to the bathroom and looked like she wanted the water turn on, just like Michelle. Then she looked the whole thing over carefully, as if pondering what it all meant, and then walked away. I know she knows it's water, but she is just not interested in that sort of drink.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas Air Shark

Houston, We Have A Problem
It's been a busy holiday (?aren't they always?) but slowing down now. We had time for fun, in between running around, stocking books, decorating the house and what-all.
Christmas Eve we drove up to my sister Kat's for a gift exchange and huge amount of food; Christmas Day we drove to Kris' sister Susie's for a gift exchange and moderate amounts of food. See the difference?
Kris found for me a gift that I would never have gotten for myself but which we all enjoyed very much: an air shark. We assembled it right away; Jason was a very steady and necessary hand in this; it may be possible to assemble the shark single handed but the room had a very high ceiling and the first step in the directions was to inflate the unit. This put plenty of firm tension on the skin of the balloon on which to attach the hardware, but it meant it was untethered and unballasted much of the time.
Once assembled, it was a huge amount of fun. Propulsion is by a motor that moves the tail either left or right, as you direct; it gives you an appreciate of how fish may maneuver.
Once we got it home, I thought dangling a ribbon from it would give the cats something to play with but they seemed to elaborately ignore it. It may be that it is too large and slow to around their chase and play feelings. Well, we humans have enough of that to fill in for them.
Thanks Kris!