What hard evidence is there that MCLE actually improves attorney competence?
Although there are no empirical studies showing that MCLE increases lawyer competence, this lack of evidence has more to do with the difficulty of measuring such traits objectively, than the merits of MCLE. A task force of the D.C. Bar advocated MCLE in 1995, notwithstanding the lack of empirical evidence, because such evidence “is essentially unobtainable in realistic terms[,]” due to the difficulty of defining “competence” and controlling for the many variables that affect it.
