To the surprise of many, Massachusetts does not have a continuing legal education requirement. Most states do. Whether a requirement or not, a consumer has every right to expect his/her personal injury lawyer to be well-versed in the developing law and in the latest legal trends. Can you imagine having your tooth extracted by an oral surgeon who is using techniques from the 1970s? I speak from experience on that having had two wisdom teeth extracted almost twenty years apart. The first tooth took over an hour and the second tooth took less than a minute to extract. Believe me, there are parallels in law.
One of the best ways for a lawyer to be acquainted with the latest developments is to avail himself/herself with the tremendous opportunities in continuing legal education whether from the local bar association, trial lawyers association, or the national groups. Knowledge is power, or so it is said. For me, the Massachusetts requirement, or non-requirement, is an irrelevancy. Every professional with any self-respect and any enthusiasm for his or her work would want to be in the classroom again.