How Continuing Legal Education Can Continue To Help You Make Money?

The problem with having less time to write blog posts also means that I have less time to read them.  Which is a shame, because in just a few days off the aggregator, I miss so much, including the recent, terrific string of postings by Peter Olson of Solo in Chicago. One neat idea that he offered a few weeks back is to use CLE as a profit center
Olson writes:

[CLE] might be a profit center for you. I honestly don’t know but it must not be that difficult to get certified by the Supreme Court to qualify. I just got a mailing for a family law seminar put on by former ISBA President Bob Downs, Joseph Gitlin and a handful of others coming up.  Not to be too cynical, but why should any of the fairly prominant lawyers in various practice areas speak for any of the bar association CLEs at this point when they can just form a small business of their own and profit from it?

The reason that Olson’s idea is so ingenious is that by offering CLE, you’re essentially paid to market.  You collect revenue from teaching the CLE courses, but you also get yourself in front of other lawyers who might refer cases to you and establish yourself as an expert in the field.  Why lose revenue marketing when with something like CLE, you can get paid for it?

10 Comments

  1. Howard Giske on August 25, 2006 at 5:15 am

    The whole spirit of caring about the general welfare is more and more absent. Look at the guy at United Way, stealing from charity. More on non-profits:
    The Goals and Means of Non-Profit Corporations
    A Non-Profit corporation, also known as a Not-for-Profit corporation, is a corporation that is established with the intention of not producing a profit for the investors in it. So it is not producing dividends and other streams of income. It can and should produce an excess income to be reinvested in the corporation itself, though its charter defines what the profit can be used for. What makes a non-profit corporation unique is its tax-exempt status. The most common federal tax exemption is Section 501-C-3, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code. The terms and procedures for getting this tax exemption are available at http://www.irs.gov, in Publication 557. This includes a full description of the Corporation’s activities, and financial data. If the Corporation has been in operation, the IRS needs your receipts and expenditures for the last three years, if you have been in existence that long. If not, they will accept a list of assets and liabilities of the corporation and a proposed budget for two accounting periods.
    One key advantage is that people who donate to “501-C-3” not-for-profit corporations can claim a tax deduction. A not-for-profit corporation is formed for the purpose of serving the public in social, general welfare type activities. Other not-for-profit corporations are churches. Other corporations can be labor unions, legal services organizations, and certain types of Credit Unions.
    Some corporations that are registered with the IRS, cannot take tax-deductible donations because their missions are considered to involve too much advocacy or political action for that status. This can even include some types of political action committees. For example for the corporation for “Verified Voting.org” and are engaged in active political lobbying, you have to apply to the IRS as a 501-4 organization, which unlike a 501-3 organization, cannot take tax deductible contributions. Such an organization then set up a linked foundation that is only involved in educational Voting promotion efforts. They can be registered as a 501-3 organization, and can accept tax-deductible contributions.
    Many non-profit corporations are formed with the purpose of collecting donations from the public for specific purposes; for example a Food Bank to distribute food and cook meals for low-income individuals and families. They will often try to keep expenses lower by getting people to volunteer in preparing food, gathering donations and other such work. If they want to accept grants from either government entities, or larger not-for-profit corporations and foundations, they must be a not-for-profit corporation also. For example if the “Habitat for Humanity” wants to receive a block grant from the not-for-profit giant corporation, the Ford Foundation, for constructing low-income housing, they need non-profit status,
    Another example of a non-profit organization is a community action type of organization. They are often involved in headstart programs and early educational needs of children. They can also develop job training programs for youth and the unemployed and programs to finance and encourage low-income housing. Such programs can also seek loans and grants from the federal government and other larger foundations like the Ford Foundation. A not-for-profit Corporation must apply and register as a corporation in the state that it operates in. It becomes tax-exempt, after it files to be tax exempt with the IRS and the State Comptroller.
    Howard G. is with legal information for small businesses and Incorporation services at http://www.incparadise.com



  2. Howard Giske on August 25, 2006 at 5:15 am

    The whole spirit of caring about the general welfare is more and more absent. Look at the guy at United Way, stealing from charity. More on non-profits:
    The Goals and Means of Non-Profit Corporations
    A Non-Profit corporation, also known as a Not-for-Profit corporation, is a corporation that is established with the intention of not producing a profit for the investors in it. So it is not producing dividends and other streams of income. It can and should produce an excess income to be reinvested in the corporation itself, though its charter defines what the profit can be used for. What makes a non-profit corporation unique is its tax-exempt status. The most common federal tax exemption is Section 501-C-3, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code. The terms and procedures for getting this tax exemption are available at http://www.irs.gov, in Publication 557. This includes a full description of the Corporation’s activities, and financial data. If the Corporation has been in operation, the IRS needs your receipts and expenditures for the last three years, if you have been in existence that long. If not, they will accept a list of assets and liabilities of the corporation and a proposed budget for two accounting periods.
    One key advantage is that people who donate to “501-C-3” not-for-profit corporations can claim a tax deduction. A not-for-profit corporation is formed for the purpose of serving the public in social, general welfare type activities. Other not-for-profit corporations are churches. Other corporations can be labor unions, legal services organizations, and certain types of Credit Unions.
    Some corporations that are registered with the IRS, cannot take tax-deductible donations because their missions are considered to involve too much advocacy or political action for that status. This can even include some types of political action committees. For example for the corporation for “Verified Voting.org” and are engaged in active political lobbying, you have to apply to the IRS as a 501-4 organization, which unlike a 501-3 organization, cannot take tax deductible contributions. Such an organization then set up a linked foundation that is only involved in educational Voting promotion efforts. They can be registered as a 501-3 organization, and can accept tax-deductible contributions.
    Many non-profit corporations are formed with the purpose of collecting donations from the public for specific purposes; for example a Food Bank to distribute food and cook meals for low-income individuals and families. They will often try to keep expenses lower by getting people to volunteer in preparing food, gathering donations and other such work. If they want to accept grants from either government entities, or larger not-for-profit corporations and foundations, they must be a not-for-profit corporation also. For example if the “Habitat for Humanity” wants to receive a block grant from the not-for-profit giant corporation, the Ford Foundation, for constructing low-income housing, they need non-profit status,
    Another example of a non-profit organization is a community action type of organization. They are often involved in headstart programs and early educational needs of children. They can also develop job training programs for youth and the unemployed and programs to finance and encourage low-income housing. Such programs can also seek loans and grants from the federal government and other larger foundations like the Ford Foundation. A not-for-profit Corporation must apply and register as a corporation in the state that it operates in. It becomes tax-exempt, after it files to be tax exempt with the IRS and the State Comptroller.
    Howard G. is with legal information for small businesses and Incorporation services at http://www.incparadise.com



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  9. W. Davis on December 25, 2006 at 8:49 pm

    I have a friend that is making a pretty good living using bar associations to leverage his business. He offers bar associations programs that will help attorneys market themselves using the internet. Although he doesn’t charge the bar association a cent, he tells me that the referrals he gets are huge moneymakers. The object of the program is to make attorneys aware of the potential new business coming from the internet. He makes a pretty good argument and some attorneys will contact him soon after the session. I am pretty sure he has worked it out with the bar association to offer it as a CLE.



  10. W. Davis on December 25, 2006 at 8:49 pm

    I have a friend that is making a pretty good living using bar associations to leverage his business. He offers bar associations programs that will help attorneys market themselves using the internet. Although he doesn’t charge the bar association a cent, he tells me that the referrals he gets are huge moneymakers. The object of the program is to make attorneys aware of the potential new business coming from the internet. He makes a pretty good argument and some attorneys will contact him soon after the session. I am pretty sure he has worked it out with the bar association to offer it as a CLE.



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