Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
This chapter critically examines the intersection of mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) and pro bono service in the United States, focusing on the growing practice of awarding MCLE credits for pro bono work. It argues that MCLE, widely justified as promoting lawyer competence, rests on a striking lack of empirical support and is structured in ways that undermine effective professional learning. A pro bono option for earning MCLE credit, introduced as an incentive to expand access to justice, has similarly failed to demonstrate measurable impacts on pro bono participation. Nonetheless, the pro bono option holds untapped potential because, if properly structured, the option would provide both needed service and the type of experiential learning that better aligns with established principles of adult education.
Publication Citation
Rima Sirota, Required Learning, Voluntary Service: A Critical Look at Mandatory CLE and Pro Bono Options, in Beyond Mandatory Pro Bono: Compulsory Lawyer Mechanisms in Access to Justice (Helena Whalen-Bridge ed., Cambridge University Press forthcoming).
Scholarly Commons Citation
Sirota, Rima, "Required Learning, Voluntary Service: A Critical Look at Mandatory CLE and Pro Bono Options" (2026). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 2716.
https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2716