Things That Suck

1)  The nearly-universal requirement for attorneys to participate in Continuing Legal Education.  (Yeah, yeah, yeah -- I suppose it's good to expect people to stay on top of the law, but don't most people do that by virtue of performing their jobs instead of by being forced to listen to boring people lecture about the blah blah blah of the licensed territory and the yadda yadda yadda of the subsidiary rights and the gobbledygook of the indemnification clause)?

2)  The fact that some people seem to be procrastinators by nature and leave all 24 hours' worth of their Continuing Legal Education requirements until the week before their biennial Bar Registration is due, forcing said people into cramming two years' worth of boring information into their brains in a few short days, much like a binge eater might do with a gallon of Ben and Jerry's or a giant bag of teryaki flavored beef jerky.

3)  The fact that even a comparatively interesting-sounding class like "Wine Law 101" (which instructs the student to "sit back, grab your own glass of wine, and enjoy!") will reduce the listener to tears of boredom (and, quite likely, the need to turn to alcohol) after a mere 10 minutes of droning nonsense.

4)  The fact that I AM THAT PERSON described in Paragraph 2.

5)  The fact that I SAT THROUGH THAT CLASS described in Paragraph 3.

6)  The fact that it's not socially acceptable to "sit back, grab your own glass of wine, and enjoy!" when one is forced to listen to "Wine Law 101" on streaming Internet at 10:00 in the morning.  Especially when one needs to drive to the Post Office to have one's Attorney Registration Form postmarked by later that afternoon and expects that a police officer wouldn't take kindly to the "But Continuing Legal Education Really Sucks!" defense to a DUI charge.

7)  (FOR EXTRA CREDIT):  Facts 1 - 6 taken into account in conjunction with the fact that EVEN WHEN ONE IS NO LONGER A PRACTICING ATTORNEY, one must still complete said CLE requirements (at least when licensed in the great state of New York).

Comments

[CLK]

I feel for you. I luckily finished mine this year, but I have a coworker who waits until 2 days before her birthday (when our CLE is due)to do all of her hours. Actually, I have a few of them. And then, there is my husband who has finished his for the next 3 years....

[Andrea]

Oh, I've been there! Although apparently I get out of it in Tx by being on "inactive" status right now. The really scary thing is that I won't have to prove any sort of comptency to go back to "active" in the future.

[Pammer]

That sounds very very bad in many many ways.

But?

DONE!

Proceed with wine now.

[lisa]

I spend two entire, precious Saturdays a year sitting in an invariably freezing cold room listening to boring speakers in order to keep up my speech pathology license. One of these times will be more exciting as I'm certain to actually hit the next annoying woman who has the nerve to ask a question when the speaker has finished and we are moments away from freedom!

[honestyrain]

poking one's eyes out seems the only refuge.

[JenBun]

Happy Mother's Day, Martha! :)