The mission of Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE) is to keep raising the caliber of lawyers' professional and ethical service to their clients and communities, by providing comprehensive and highly practical continuing legal education of the highest quality to the broadest possible audience.

MCLE is the Massachusetts legal community's premier provider of hands on programs and practical reference materials. Conceived as a committee of the Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA), MCLE was incorporated in 1969 as a joint venture of the MBA and the Boston Bar Association (BBA). In 1976, MCLE merged with the New England Law Institute, gaining a history of CLE dating from 1953.

More than 15,000 lawyers, judges, and law-related professionals attend over 250 programs annually at MCLE's Boston conference center, at other locations across Massachusetts, and also throughout the nation via online outreach. Widely respected for providing access to a volunteer faculty of experts, MCLE programs are complemented by handbooks that are focused on the practical application of Massachusetts law. For those who cannot attend in-person programs, MCLE makes most of its award-winning programs available online.

MCLE programs address all practice areas at all skill levels. Its established core curriculum is comprised of entry-level, intermediate, and advanced offerings, designed to parallel the progression of a lawyer's career from new bar admittee to highly skilled professional. MCLE's basic skills programs and its participatory workshops are refined each year, with advanced-level conferences presented as new developments warrant.

MCLE Press, the organization's publishing program, features a diverse collection of more than 150 publications. Supplemented regularly, MCLE books are available both in print and online. Each year, Massachusetts practitioners purchase over 30,000 MCLE publications, with sales of “how-to” practice handbooks providing the core of sales. Insightful commentary, sample forms, and practice tips are featured hallmarks of MCLE publications, as are case highlights, resource listings, and at-a-glance checklists.

A not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) educational institution, MCLE relies upon sponsor membership dues to help subsidize its ongoing research and development of new CLE products and services; and upon charitable donations, to provide the broadest possible access to CLE among all members of Massachusetts bar. MCLE provides financial assistance, in the form of scholarships and training vouchers, to lawyers who serve pro bono, to lawyers who are employed in civil legal services organizations, and to those who demonstrate financial need.