Once You\u27re In: Maintaining Competence in the Bar

Various mechanisms designed to ensure the continuing professional competence of the bar, are being considered, discussed, and adopted in the several states. These mechanisms involve five distinct, though often interrelated programs: (1) periodic reexamination, (2) mandatory continuing legal education, (3) specialization, (4) certification; and (5) peer review. This Commentary reviews these various programs and analyzes how each relates to the following goals: (1) to provide the public with better educated and more competent counsel, (2) to facilitate the selection of qualified counsel by clients with specific legal programs, (3) to decrease the cost and improve the efficiency of the legal system, and (4) to improve the ethical standards of the legal profession. This article also considers other effects such programs have, such as the preservation of the lawyers\u27 monopoly in certain areas, or the creation of a dominance of one portion of the bar over another