Practising Law Institute

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Practising Law Institute (PLI) is a non-profit Continuing Legal Education (CLE) organization chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York, founded in 1933. [1]

“ ...to the end that the practice of law may be conducted with that of competence, moral integrity and breadth of understanding which will enchance the usefulness of the legal profession to the community and promote the administration of justice... ”

-Charter of the Practising Law Institute granted by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.

The Institute's mission is to provide training in the law to lawyers and allied professionals. PLI accomplishes this through the provision of CLE seminars held annually in locations across the United States. These CLE programs are also available as Online CLE via live webcasts, archived briefings, MP3s, CDs and DVDs.

PLI publishes legal books in the form of annually supplemented legal treatises [2], course handbooks,
course handbook CDs and an established law library relations service.

Practising Law Institute offers lawyer training, co-develop customized program content. PLI provides comprehensive and acclaimed patent bar review offerings, pro bono and public interest services, research and development,
law school services, and all with the guidance of practice specific Advisory Committees.

Non-profit Practising Law Institute grants full and partial scholarships to legal aid and government attorneys, law professors, judges, judicial clerks, law students, employees of nonprofit organizations and attorneys experiencing economic hardship. Since its founding, PLI has witnessed more than 3 million registrations and publication purchases by lawyers and allied professionals.

PLI is headquartered in New York City with offices in California. More information is available on its website at www.pli.edu[3]

1 Early History
2 Recent History
3 Notable Programs
- 3.1 Notable Faculty, Chairs, Speakers and Authors
4 Notable Treatises
5 Patent Bar Offerings
- 5.1 Notable Patent Instructors
6 CLE Credit Info
7 Partners & Formed Alliances
8 Links, Media & Press Releases

[edit] Early History

By the early Thirties, the apprenticeship training of lawyers had been replaced by a law school education. While providing a sound basis in legal principles and theory, law school could not, by its very nature, provide the practical lawyering techniques formerly covered by an apprentice system. In 1933—in the midst of the Great Depression—a New York City practitioner named Harold Seligson recognized the need for this practical training and originated a series of lectures called “Practising Law Courses.” These lectures would be the germination of the full-fledged Institute that exists today under the banner of the Practising Law Institute (PLI).

By 1939, that Institute had been formally chartered by the Regents of the State of New York. It was now poised to take advantage of certain historical forces: namely, the New Deal and the federal regulation of business activity it inspired. The Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1943, for example, initiated a new specialization in the law. This new specialization in turn created a need for a new kind of continuing legal education.

[edit] Recent History

Two important new developments included, in 1968, the Course Handbook series and the “First Annual Institute on Securities Regulations”—products and services that would become hallmarks of PLI to present day. Programs continued to expand, including pro bono programs, which had always been a part of the PLI philosophy, as well as the granting of scholarships [4] to lawyers and students who, because of the nature of their work, might not be able to afford the full price of the Institute’s services.

Increased specialization in the law created a need for new programs, lecturers and new publications. PLI also expanded its reach across the Atlantic, with a series of programs in Europe. By the end of the Seventies, 1,500 lecturers were participating in PLI programs per year.

In 1982, Victor J. Rubino, now current President, was nominated as Director.

Into the Eighties and the Nineties, all CLE providers, including PLI, were faced with two major tasks: (1) efficient delivery of programs to a large number of locations and (2) ongoing development of content to address a changing legal environment. This was done through expansive areas of instruction, increased deliverability of CLE formats and formed alliances with West Group and LEXIS, two legal information databases, to carry a growing range of PLI publications.