Competence Issues

Why this credit exists

The competence requirement exists because the profession has an evidence base it did not want. Impairment is a competence problem before it is anything else, and it usually shows up first as missed deadlines and unreturned calls rather than as anything dramatic.

The sessions cover detection and prevention in yourself and in colleagues, and what the professional obligations are once you have noticed.

Where it sits in the California cycle

Active California attorneys complete 25 hours of MCLE every 3 years. Within that total, the State Bar requires 2 hours in competence issues.

Compliance groups, deadlines and required hours are set by the State Bar and change from time to time. Confirm yours at calbar.ca.gov.

How CDTA delivers it

As part of full-day MCLE events at the Indio campus, taught by practicing trial attorneys, prosecutors, public defenders and judges rather than by a recording. All required subjects are covered across the academic year.

For dates and registration, call (760) 342-0900 or request the schedule.

Other required subjects

• Legal Ethics
  4 required hours. The largest single required block in the California cycle. Conflicts, confidentiality, fees, candour to the tribunal, and the duties that follow you out of the courtroom.
• Elimination of Bias
  2 required hours. Bias in the legal profession and in society, including a required hour on implicit bias and the strategies that reduce it.
• Technology in the Practice of Law
  1 required hour. Remote proceedings, electronic evidence, and the duty of competence as it applies to the tools now sitting on every practitioner’s desk.
• Civility in the Legal Profession
  1 required hour. Professionalism toward opposing counsel, court staff, clients and colleagues, and why incivility is a case-management problem as much as a manners problem.