By Gabby DiSilvio, Lead Learning Solutions Attorney
I recently had the opportunity to speak at the ACLEA Mid-Year Meeting in San Antonio on a plenary panel titled “Programming with Purpose.” ACLEA brings together CLE professionals from across the country, including providers, state and local bars, and law firms, all focused on one shared goal: building better educational content for the legal profession.
I joined an impressive group of co-presenters:
Together, we explored how CLE programming decisions are actually made: not just what programs exist, but the strategy, tradeoffs, and lessons behind them.
As Lead Learning Solutions Attorney at Lawline, my focus was on how intentional design shapes meaningful attorney development. We discussed a few core ideas that resonate strongly in today’s CLE landscape:
Attorneys have access to more content than ever. The challenge isn’t volume, it’s clarity and intentionality.
Format should serve the learning goal, not the other way around.
Data is most valuable when it informs what to refine, or even what to retire.
Perhaps most importantly: useful programming doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by design.
One of the most rewarding parts of the session was the candid dialogue with attendees about common challenges: balancing compliance requirements with meaningful engagement, avoiding content overload, and defining what “success” really looks like in CLE programming.
Speaking at ACLEA was a meaningful professional development opportunity for me personally as well. Presenting to a room of people who think deeply about the same questions I work on every day, including how attorneys learn, how skills develop over time, and how programming decisions impact both, reinforced why this work matters. Conferences like this create space not just to share ideas, but to pressure-test them, refine them, and build relationships with others who care about improving the profession.
It was also especially nice to see some wonderful colleagues, Ariel Pena and Cali Franks-Field, at the conference. Having familiar Lawline faces there made the experience even more rewarding.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent Lawline and contribute to conversations about the future of CLE and attorney development. Events like the ACLEA Mid-Year Meeting are a reminder that thoughtful programming is a collaborative effort, and that we’re part of a community committed to doing it well.