Brooklyn Bar Association offers online streaming for CLE courses

July 19, 2019 Rob Abruzzese

The Brooklyn Bar Association has begun offering online streaming of some of its most popular CLE courses including one titled, "Practical Tips for Avoiding Grievances," that included (pictured from left): Pery Krinsky, Richard Klass, Andrea Bonina, Steve Cohn and Daniel Antonelli. Eagle file photos by Rob Abruzzese

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The law is constantly changing so New York State requires lawyers to take 24 credits worth of continuing legal education every two years to stay on top of the most recent changes.

The Brooklyn Bar Association is one of the best providers of continuing legal education in the borough and now it has made access to those courses easier than ever by introducing online streaming.

“We partnered with this company called Vocalmeet,” said Jen Bryan, member services director at the BBA. “We’ve got eight of our most popular courses posted right now. We’ll be adding more in the next few weeks.”

A CLE by Christina Golkin on how lawyers can provide culturally competent services to the LGBTQ+ community is available.

Now attorneys too busy to attend an evening course can access lectures from the top legal minds instantly on their computers.

“This is available to anyone at any time,” Bryan said. “They can watch it on their laptop, cellphone, tablet, whatever they have.”

Previously, the BBA did offer courses available through video over the internet. However, under the previous setup, members could only request that videos of former CLEs be mailed to their office on a DVD. Now, the setup only requires a computer and internet access for instant availability of the lecture.

“I hope I don’t have to burn CDs anymore,” Bryan joked.

Courses cost $35 for members and $45 for non-members. There are eight courses currently available, but more are going to be added within the next few weeks. Courses will also be periodically be taken down as the information in them becomes outdated.

The most current courses include a civil practice law and rules update by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Devin Cohen. There is also a lecture by attorneys Gena Usenheimer and Nila Merola on the #MeToo movement, including new laws pertaining to it and suggestions for best practices for attorneys how to run their own offices.

There are currently 16 1/2 CLE credits available to stream online including courses that fulfill all ethics and diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias requirements.

To access these videos, attorneys should head to the Brooklyn Bar Association’s website and click on the “New Online Streaming CLE” box or go to https://bba.vocalmeet.com/home/. In an effort to promote the website, the BBA is offering a limited time discount: The first 25 users should enter “nyfirst25” to receive $10 off.