Ditch the LLM and CLE; Get Micro-Credentialed Instead

Looking for an entree into a new practice area, or a way to segue out of solo practice to something new?  Forget CLEs  or LLMs  and consider micro-credentials or “nano degrees” instead.

Never heard of micro-credentialing? Basically, it’s certification training on very specific skills , ranging from web development, social innovation, data analytics, and even a No Pay MBA. With a subscription fee model  and support from university institutions and large companies which are potential employers, micro-credentials – also known as nano degrees – are one of the hottest tech darlings in Silicon Valley these days.

Could micro-credentials benefit solos and smalls? Absolutely. For example, if you’re a lawyer serving small businesses but hoping to represent tech clients, a tech degree could demonstrate your dedication to the industry and show that you can speak your clients’ language.  A nano degree can also help you stand apart from the competition. Real life example: recently, I was reviewing resumes from energy attorneys and the one that stood out included several micro credentials from Stanford in energy innovation.

You could also use micro-credentials to learn a new skill that can help your practice in non-legal ways. As I wrote last week, visualization is gaining importance in the legal world – but hiring designers to create pictorials and flowcharts can be costly.  Thus, a nano degree in photoshop or UI might help.

Let’s face it, micro-credentialing will never come to the legal profession – though certainly, it could by providing credential on basics like estate planning and family law to more obscure and emerging topics like bitcoin or blockchain technology. Most law firms would rather hire someone with an Ivy League degree, law review membership and a clerkship than a micro credential in securities analysis or business accounting – skills that might really help in dealing with clients. And even if legal micro-credentialing received buy-in from the profession (as it has in the tech and business world), no doubt the bars would muck it up with onerous regulations subjecting micro credential providers to a 6-month review process or requiring all kinds of disclaimers to accompany a posting of a nano degree on a website.

Sadly, whether the legal profession ever warms up to law-related nano-degrees doesn’t really matter – we and perhaps the law itself are, indeed, that irrelevant.  There’s enough of a selection in existing degrees for forward-thinking lawyers to complement and expand their existing capabilities and practices.