CPD Tips for the Law Society of Upper Canada

I’ll be tuning into the videocast of Barry Fisher’s 16th Annual Employment Law Summit in a few hours, so I suppose I have CPD on my mind.

Today’s post might be half rant, half tip, but I do have a few suggestions on Ontario’s CPD program for the LSUC that I will take the liberty of outlining:

1. As your technology departments are capable of the miracle that brings CPD programmes directly to our video screens in real time, surely they can also develop a simple protocol to automatically post our LSUC CPD hours directly to the LSUC portal once a programme has completed. (Simply place the onus on any lawyers who didn’t attend to correct the record).
2. While we are on the topic of the LSUC portal, is it really necessary to spend untold licensee dollars to send reminders by snail mail (in October) to licensees who haven’t yet posted their CPD hours?  This vital communication probably could work just as well by email. And save a few dollars and trees along the way.
3. I’d be interested in videocast of CPD’s offered in other provinces by other law societies.  They’d broaden my perspective. Could some kind of inter-provincial CPD exchange agreement be considered?
4. We need to have an on-demand videocast library.  The Law Society’s CPD video library is a buried treasure that should be as important a research tool as CanLii. In fact, CPD videos should all be made available via CanLii after a reasonable period of time has passed.
5. There is not enough advanced CPD content for senior practitioners.
6. It is time for a survey of all licensees as to how well the mandatory CPD programme is meeting actual learning and professional development objectives.
7. LSUC shold be more proactive in seeking licensee input on CPD curricula and suggested subject matter.
8. LSUC should consider providing training workshops for presenters.
9. The LSUC CPD programme is on balance extremely well done and state of the art.  It is a real feather in LSUC’s cap, in my view.  But there is still much room for making it even better…

(Sorry to readers outside Ontario that this post was a bit Ontario-centric).

– Garry J  Wise, Toronto