Just musing here.....do lawyers have to

[DustMolecule]

do 'continuing education' every few years in order to keep their (bar??) license? How many hours? How often? Is it one of those 'joke' things, or do the attorneys REALLY learn some of the new direction of law (be honest here, please).

In order to become a judge (even locally, city/county) MUST one be a lawyer/member of the bar?

What the *heck* does being a 'member of the bar' MEAN anyway? The bar association? (no drinking jokes here pleasse....) ....I thought the 'bar' had ties to the Royal Courts of England and that the USA has declared their freedom from English such ties? So why the 'bar' in the US????

[qazplm]

1. I know I do

I need 3 hours of ethics every year and i believe 15 hours total for my state.

Luckily being on active duty in the army i get plenty of free continuing legal education (CLE) which is what it is called.

But otherwise, my understanding is just for a few hours of training you can pay 100s of dollars.

I thought I had heard that in some states you dont have to be a lawyer to be a judge, but in most states I am pretty sure you do.

[BigBigBear]

2. Yes

My late wife was a lawyer. She was required to do a certain amount of CLE classes every two years - the classes varied in the amount of credits. She had to provide proof to the Attorney Regulation arm of the state Supreme Court that she had done those classes. she usually found the classes informative, if a tad inconvenient and sometimes expensive.

As far as I know, being a lawyer is not a technical pre-requisite for being a judge, but it is a practical one.

I don't know the origin of the term 'bar'.

[Bake]

3. Generally 12 hours of CLE per year.

Including 1 or 2 hours of "ethics." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I love how law schools and business schools try to teach "ethics" these days. HINT: Try knowing the difference between right and wrong, dammit!!

The 12 hours means: 12 hours of "classroom" time. Usually at the bar convention, when most of us are thinking about getting to the first tee, or the beach, or whatever.

Some CLE is actually valuable. Some of it isn't worth shit.

Bake, Esq.