As medical science advances and people live longer, so too professionals remain in the practice of law longer than previously. Yet New Jersey’s required program for continuing legal education (CLE) exempts attorneys 75 years of age and older and those admitted to practice in any state for more than 50 years from the mandatory requirements of CLE. They need not take the 24 hours of required course work, including five for ethics and professionalism with two of those dedicated to diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias, in every two year cycle. See R. 1:41–1, –2, reg.202.

Attorneys who remain in practice for such a long period of time are presumed to understand their profession or at least the work and subject matter of their practice. On the other hand, the practice, like the rest of the world, is becoming more complex independent of specialization, and developing issues relating to cybersecurity, technology, the use of meta-data and the like affect our respective practices and the cases and matters on which we work.