Transcription
INFORMATION FOR NEW CLE SPONSORSWe hope that the following information will answer your questions regarding the application,evaluation and attendance reporting procedures for CLE sponsors. If you have further questionsregarding MCLE accreditation or the MCLE program, please contact the MCLE Department at 1(800) 204-2222, ext 1806, or at mcle@texasbar.com.GENERAL INFORMATIONThe purpose of MCLE (Article XII, State Bar Rules) is to ensure that every active member ofthe State Bar of Texas pursues a plan of continuing legal education throughout his or hercareer in order to remain current on the law in our rapidly changing society. AccreditationStandards for CLE Activities have been adopted by the MCLE Committee to provide guidancein determining accreditation under Section 4(A) of Article XII, State Bar Rules. Programsthat meet the criteria outlined in the Accreditation Standards are approved for MCLE credit.Programs that target an audience of non-attorneys and/or cover non-legal topics or skillsmay not be approved for MCLE credit under these standards.The most current version of the Accreditation Standards for CLE Activities, along with theApplication for Accreditation of CLE Activity and The MCLE Rules and Regulations are postedon our website, www.texasbar.com/mcle.The MCLE Department receives and processes approximately 23,000 applications foraccreditation each year. Applications that are received with all required information and feesare processed in the order that they are received with evaluation and notification occurringwithin 2-4 days of receipt. Incomplete applications are pended and processed only uponreceipt of all required information and fees. Various circumstances will affect the processingof incomplete applications. Although most are evaluated within one week of receipt ofadditional information, under certain conditions more time may be required.If you have not received a response from MCLE regarding accreditation of your CLE activitywithin 10 days of filing, please contact our office so that we can confirm receipt and adviseyou of the status of your application.GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE APPLICATION FOR ACCREDITATION Complete all sections of the application fully. This speeds up data entry, evaluation andnotification time. (Instructions for completing the application can also be found on theback of the application form). Providing a fax number (Part A) and email address will allow us to fax or email thenotification to you immediately after review of your application. By submitting your application as early as possible, you will be taking advantage of freeadvertising for the seminar. A list of approved CLE activities is available at our onlinesearchable course database. A link to this site can be found at www.texasbar.com/mcle.
SPONSOR NUMBERS (Part A of the Application)If this is the first time you have applied for MCLE accreditation, your organization will nothave a sponsor number. Please leave this area on the application blank. You will beassigned a sponsor number upon receipt of your application.PROVIDING CLE ACTIVITY INFORMATION (Part B of the Application)Presentation Dates/LocationsRepeat presentations can be listed on the same application, or can be added later byletter, fax, or telephone request. (Please see Repeat Presentations section below).CLE Credit HoursCalculation of CLE credit hours is based on the actual instruction time and expressed interms of 60-minute hours, rounded to the nearest one-quarter hour. For example: 60 total minutes of instruction 1.00 hour72 total minutes of instruction 1.20 hours 1.25 hours (rounded tonearest quarter hour)100 total minutes of instruction 1.66 hours 1.75 hours (rounded tonearest quarter hour)95 total minutes of instruction 1.58 hours 1.50 hours (rounded tonearest quarter hour)Breaks and MealsTime devoted to breaks, meals, meetings, keynote speeches and introductions areexcluded from the calculation of credit hours.The following policies apply to allapplications: If an application does not include break time, breaks will automaticallybe deducted from the program. (A fifteen-minute (0.25-hour) break willbe deducted from each instructional period that lasts longer than 2.5hours).One-half hour (0.50) will be deducted from topics presented duringmeals unless sufficient time has already been deducted for meal serviceand/or a change in meeting rooms.Ethics AccreditationIf any portion of the activity is devoted to legal ethics or legal professional responsibility,then these parts or sessions must be clearly indicated and will need to meet thedefinition of legal ethics/professional responsibility outlined in the AccreditationStandards for CLE Activities.AttachmentsThe required attachments for each application are specified in Part B.Thisdocumentation needs to be submitted with the application so your activity can beproperly evaluated. If MCLE staff is unable to determine accreditation based upon theinformation received, or if we have specific questions about a topic or session, then
additional information may be requested to supplement your application. Requests foradditional information may include more detailed topic descriptions, course materials,speaker information and/or information about the target audience for the activity.ACCREDITATION FEE (Part C of the Application)An accreditation fee is required for each CLE activity, unless exempt as set out in Section10.8.5 of the MCLE Regulations. A series of CLE activities that occurs on non-consecutivedates shall be considered separate activities and will need to be submitted separatelywith an accreditation fee required for each application.The accreditation fee per activity is either Option A ( 20 per credit hour) or Option B( 10 per Texas attorney in attendance). Regardless of which option you choose, there isa minimum non-refundable fee of 50 that must be submitted with each application. Ifyou have selected Option A, the entire fee is due upon submission of the application. Ifyou have selected Option B, 50 is due upon submission of the application and theremaining fee, if any, is due within thirty (30) days after the conclusion of the CLEactivity.FILING DEADLINESApplications should be filed at least 30 days prior to the starting date of the activity.MCLE will review applications received after the 30-day deadline, but if received lessthan 15 days prior to the starting date, an additional 100 late filing fee will be required.Section 10.8.9 of the MCLE Regulations provides information on determining the latefiling deadline.Because payment is required to be received with the application, faxed applications arenot accepted by MCLE unless a sponsoring organization is exempt from payment of theaccreditation fee (MCLE Regulations, Section 10.8.5). Faxed applications are returnedwithout processing.APPLYING FOR A SERIES OF SESSIONS HELD ON NON-CONSECUTIVE DATESMCLE accreditation policy requires that lengthy courses be applied for in segments. Forexample, if you are holding trial academy, which meets two days each week for threemonths, we may request that this activity be separated and assigned weekly or monthlycourse numbers. An effort will be made to keep application fees at a minimum, althoughit is possible that additional fees may be owed (MCLE Regulations, Section 10.8.1).REPEAT PRESENTATIONSA separate application is required for each activity unless the activity is being repeated inexactly the same format on different dates and/or in different locations. Repeatpresentations will be added to an existing application for a twelve month period. (MCLERegulations, Section 10.2.2)For example: If the date of the first presentation is May 25, repeat presentation datesthrough April 30 of the following year can be added to the existing application.
You will need to call our office or submit a written request to MCLE to add repeatpresentations to a previously made application. Your request should identify the originalcourse number assigned by MCLE, the name and date of the activity, and the dates andlocations of the scheduled repeat presentations. Faxed and emailed requests will also beaccepted.EXCLUSION: In-house CLE activities, repeated at different firms or organizations inwhich attendance is restricted to the attorneys and guests of each separate organization,shall be considered separate CLE activities and shall be submitted separately (MCLERegulations, Section 10.2.3).ADDITIONAL FORMS REQUESTComplete Part E of the application ONLY if you require additional forms. The reverseside of the application identifies each form and its use. Accreditation Applications can bedownloaded from the MCLE webpage: www.texasbar.com/mcle. If you are unable toprint the form from the website, you may request several copies of the form to bemailed or faxed to you. Photocopies of the application will be accepted and originalforms are not necessary.EVALUATION OF YOUR APPLICATIONThe MCLE staff will evaluate your application to determine if the activity submitted meetsthe accreditation criteria outlined in the Accreditation Standards for CLE Activities. Inmost cases, upon receipt of your application, evaluation and notification will occur withina 2-4 day time period. Our online site allows sponsors to review the status of anysubmitted application and if approved, you will be able to print your own accreditationnotice at this site. Our staff will also send a notification to you upon approval or denialof MCLE accreditation. If your application is lacking an accreditation fee, late fee, orinformation necessary for evaluation, you will receive a “pending” notice requesting thatthe additional information and/or fees be submitted prior to final evaluation.Under certain circumstances, your application may be forwarded to the MCLE Committeefor further review. If you receive a notice that the MCLE Committee will be reviewingyour application, you may want to contact the MCLE department for clarification and toarrange submission of any additional documentation that could be helpful to the MCLEstaff or Committee in determining accreditation. The MCLE Committee meets quarterly,and sponsors are notified of the Committee’s decision immediately following theirmeeting.ATTENDANCE REPORTING REQUIREMENTSCLE sponsors are required to timely submit Texas member attendance records to theMCLE Director for each accredited CLE activity. MCLE Regulations, Sections 6.1 - 6.3outline the attendance reporting requirements and options for CLE sponsors. Currently,three options are available for reporting attendance:1. Online Attendance Reporting – All CLE sponsors may access our online site to reportattendance free of charge. You will need to keep a list of attorneys the name ofeach attorney, bar number and hours attended. Our online reporting site will allow asponsor to submit attendance directly to MCLE. Contact MCLE via email at
mcle@texasbar.com to request a password and access to the Sponsor site. Includeyour name, organization name, sponsor number and address in your request.2. State Bar of Texas CLE Course Attendance Form – Effective June 1, 2009, there is a 2 per attendance form service charge due upon receipt of CLE Course AttendanceForms from the sponsor. CLE Course Attendance Forms are scan forms that can becompleted by the attorney and then returned by the sponsor after each CLE Activity.Each attorney should complete ONE attendance form for the total number of CLEhours attended. If the course lasts two or more days, only one attendance formshould be completed for the total number of hours completed during both days. It isimportant to make sure that attendees return the attendance forms to the sponsorrepresentative immediately following the CLE activity. The MCLE department will notaccept attendance forms submitted individually by attorneys.Sponsors should keep and submit attendance forms completed for one activityseparately from the attendance forms completed at other CLE activities. Otherwise,attorneys may end up receiving no credit, or credit for the wrong course.The course sponsor is to return all of the completed attendance forms to the MCLEDepartment with the following information: Course Name, Course Date, CourseNumber, Sponsor Contact Name, Additional Fees Owed (if payment Option B wasselected).Sponsors may estimate the number of attendance forms that will be needed for athree to six month period. We will send you a supply of forms (within reason) sothat you have these forms on hand for each of your scheduled CLE activities.3. Electronic Attendance File – Sponsors may submit attendance via submission of aspecially formatted text file. Please contact the MCLE department for information ontext-file submission.CLE sponsors are not responsible for meeting individual attorney reportingdeadlinesSponsors should report all attendance, but if an attorney is in danger of missing areporting deadline, then that attorney should immediately report on his or her own viathe State Bar of Texas MCLE Online reporting site found under the “my bar page”feature at www.texabar.com, or by completion and submission of a CLE Credit InputForm to be obtained from the MCLE Department.
Accreditation Standards for CLE ActivitiesPursuant to the authority granted to the Committee on Minimum Continuing Legal Education(hereinafter “the Committee”) by the Supreme Court of Texas, these accreditation criteria are herebyadopted by the Committee to be used as guidance for determining whether CLE activities submitted forMCLE accreditation satisfy the general standards for accreditation specified in Section 4(A) of Article XII,State Bar Rules.(Note: Endnote numbers correspond to the Definitions section, following)I.A CLE activity shall be accredited for MCLE in Texas if it meets any of the criteria in A-C below aswell as the criteria outlined in Section II.A.B.C.II.The activity is a live presentation and attended in person, including seminars, courses,conferences, lectures, panel discussions, question-and-answer periods, and in-houseeducation;The activity is a live or recorded presentation provided in a streaming or real timeformat (not downloadable) including teleconferences, webcasts, satellite broadcasts orattendance by such other means as may be approved by the Committee; orThe activity is recorded from a live accredited CLE activity, presented in any format, suchas CDs and video recordings, as well as any downloadable format such as podcasts.A CLE activity shall be accredited for MCLE in Texas if it meets the criteria of either A or B below,and also each of the other criteria of C, D and E below:A.The Activity consists of an organized program of legal education dealing with:(1.)(2.)(3.)(4.)substantive or procedural subjects of law;legal skills and techniques1;legal ethics2 and/or legal professional responsibility3; orlaw practice management4;B.The activity consists of an organized program dealing with alternative disputeresolution5.C.The activity may include coverage of technical, scientific or other bodies of knowledgethat are directly related to any of the subjects listed in II A above.D.The instructors or lecturers are either qualified attorneys or judges, or they are expertsin the subject area based on their education and background.E.The activity is designed for, and targeted to attorneys.THE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR THIS SET OF ACCREDITATION STANDARDS IS April 25, 2012Page 1 of 3
III.A CLE activity shall NOT be accredited for MCLE in Texas if it is:A.A meeting of a bar association, committee, section or other entity composed ofattorneys, that is designed primarily to be a general business meeting or worksession as opposed to a CLE activity, orB.An activity that is designed or intended to market a product or service to lawyers, orC.An activity that is designed or intended primarily to attract clients, orD.An activity that teaches non-legal skills such as the general use of hardware,software, office equipment, or general communication skills such as public speaking,individual money management or investing, career building, rainmaking, marketingor social media networking skills, supervisory or general office management skills.E.An activity that consists of written materials only in printed or in electronic format,such as written materials for accredited and/or non accredited CLE activities, legalarticles, legal journals, case summaries, audio books and text only online courses.F.A legal article, newsletter, blog or other written product that is published by theauthoring attorney, his or her law firm or other employer or that is not subject topeer review.THE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR THIS SET OF ACCREDITATION STANDARDS IS April 25, 2012Page 2 of 3
DEFINITIONS------------------------------1“Legal Skills and Techniques” may include training in the use of legal-specific software such as time andbilling, legal research and e-filing systems, legal applications of non-legal software or hardware and legalcommunication skills including legal writing and trial presentation skills.2”Legal Ethics” shall include programs that deal with usages and customs among members of the legalprofession, involving their legal and professional duties toward one another, toward clients, and toward thecourts.3”Legal Professional Responsibility” shall include programs that deal with maintaining the integrity andcompetence of the Bar so that legal services are delivered with the highest degree of professional conduct.“Legal Ethics and Legal Professional Responsibility” shall include, but not be limited to the accreditation of thosetopics involving disciplinary rules of professional conduct, rules of disciplinary procedure, and the use andavailability of alternative dispute resolution and pro-bono services.“Legal Professional Responsibility” shall also include training in skills and concepts that promote and/or assistlawyers in the delivery of high quality legal services to clients such as managing risk and grievance/malpracticeavoidance, effective and ethical client and case management, and trust account management.“Legal Ethics and Legal Professional Responsibility” shall not include programs or topics that deal with governmentor business ethics, individual religious or moral responsibilities, training in personal organizational skills, generaloffice skills, time management, leadership skills or stress management.4“Law Practice Management” shall include non-substantive topics and courses of study that aredeveloped specifically for lawyers and that deal with means and methods for enhancing quality and efficiency ofservice to clients. Examples of such programs shall include delivering legal services, developing the legal team,building attorney/client relationships, information, document and financial management in your law practice.5“Alternative Dispute Resolution” or “ADR” shall include programs offering substantive training in theprocesses and ethical considerations attendant to the resolution of pending disputes by mediation, arbitration,moderated settlement conference, early neutral evaluation, mini-trial, summary jury trial or other related litigationdispute resolution procedures. ADR includes training in the skills of a mediator, arbitrator, or a neutral in themoderated settlement conference, early neutral evaluation, mini-trial, summary jury trial, or other relatedlitigation dispute resolution procedure. The following elements and guidelines shall be considered in determiningaccreditation for an ADR program: (1) training in substantive legal knowledge/concepts (e.g., statutes, courtprocess); (2) the activity consists of actual classroom participation; (3) procedural instruction; (4) instruction in themediator’s and/or parties’ role and maintenance of decorum; (5) discussion and instruction in ethicalconsiderations (e.g. confidentiality issues, conflicts, offers, etc.); and (6) instruction on client preparation.Observation of actual mediations outside the classroom will not be approved for credit. Other areas notspecifically designated above will be considered for credit in accordance with existing MCLE standards and withinthe context of the entire program presented for accreditation.Revised August 2009THE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR THIS SET OF ACCREDITATION STANDARDS IS April 25, 2012Page 3 of 3
TEXAS MCLE REGULATIONS1.0MCLE COMPLIANCE YEAR1.1The definitions set forth in Article XII, State Bar Rules, Section 2, shall apply to these TexasMCLE Regulations.1.2Each member's initial MCLE compliance year shall begin on the first day of the member’s birthmonth that occurs after the licensing date and shall end twenty-four (24) months later on the lastday of the month immediately preceding the member’s birth month.1.3The minimum CLE credits needed for a regular one-year MCLE compliance year are required tobe completed during the initial 24-month MCLE compliance year. Only CLE credits completedwithin this 24-month period and during the 12-month period immediately preceding the initialcompliance year may be used toward meeting the compliance requirements of the initialcompliance year. The sole exception shall be for “The Guide to the Basics of Law Practice”sponsored by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, which may be completedearlier for Accredited CLE Activity credit.1.4A member's minimum CLE requirements should be completed by the last day of the MCLEcompliance year for any given year. However, if a member has not completed the minimum CLErequirements by the last day of any given MCLE compliance year, then that member shall begiven an automatic grace period up to the last day of their birth month, or reporting month if anextension has been granted in accordance with these regulations and Article XII, to complete theminimum requirements without penalty. If the minimum credits are not completed or reporteduntil after the end of the member's birth month for that year, then a penalty will be required asspecified below in Section 7.3.2.0CATEGORIES OF CREDIT2.1Accredited CLE (Minimum of 12 hours allowable).2.1.1Sponsor Submitted Accredited CLE Activities shall include activities that have beensubmitted for review and accreditation to the MCLE Director and that comply withArticle XII, Section 4A, State Bar Rules, with Section 10 of the MCLE Regulations andwith the Accreditation Standards for CLE Activities established by the MCLECommittee. To qualify as an Accredited CLE Activity, the CLE sponsor must keep trackof attendance at the activity, whether it is live or prerecorded, or delivered individually,electronically, or in a group setting, and shall report attendance to the MCLE Departmentin accordance with MCLE Regulations, Section 6.0-6.3.a.MCLE RegulationsEffective Date: June 1, 2014Attendance at an Accredited CLE Activity may be in person or by electronicmeans and may include viewing or listening to prerecorded media or attendanceby such means as may be developed through advanced technology.Approved January 24, 2014State Bar Board of DirectorsPage 1 of 20
2.1.2b.A Mentor Program is an Accredited CLE Activity that is either sponsored orcosponsored by the State Bar of Texas or otherwise approved by the MCLECommittee, is open to all members of the State Bar, and is completed inconjunction with MCLE approved training. The purpose of the approvedtraining/mentoring relationship shall be the preparation of participants forproviding pro-bono services or for managing professional responsibilitychallenges and shall consist of substantive legal training as opposed to coachingor personal encouragement. A maximum of five (5) hours, including one (1)ethics hour, per compliance year may be claimed for the actual amount of timespent in the mentoring relationship. Mentor programs shall be submitted to theMCLE department in accordance with Section 10.2 and 10.8.c.While high quality written materials should be included with Accredited CLEActivities, written materials alone shall not qualify as an Accredited CLEActivity.d.Accredited CLE Activities shall be delivered or presented in one or more of theapproved format(s) outlined in the Accreditation Standards for CLE Activities.The Committee may approve other methodologies for delivery of AccreditedCLE as developed through advanced technology.Attorney Submitted Accredited CLE Activities shall include:a.speaking at Accredited CLE Activities, including preparation time andpresentation time with additional preparation credit for repeated presentations(Article XII, Section 4C);b.writing, as an author or co-author, materials published in the form of an article,chapter or book which contributed substantially to the continuing legal educationof the author or co-author and other attorneys and which was not done in theordinary course of the practice of law, the performance of regular employment oras a service to clients (Article XII, Section 4D);c.teaching, lecturing or speaking in the position of a part-time faculty in any lawschool which is approved by the American Bar Association, except as to theminimum requirements for CLE in legal ethics and professional responsibility(Article XII, Section 4F);d.attending in person (through non-electronic means) instruction at an ABAaccredited law school after admission to practice. Credit shall be for the actualhours of in-class instruction and shall not exceed thirty (30) hours per complianceyear. (Article XII, Section 4J); A transcript verifying completion of the course(s)and a non-refundable 25 accreditation fee (per semester) is required for eachapplication for law school credit.MCLE RegulationsEffective Date: June 1, 2014Approved January 24, 2014State Bar Board of DirectorsPage 2 of 20
2.1.3Non-qualifying Activities.An activity that is done in the ordinary course of the practice of law, the performance ofregular employment, or as a volunteer service to clients, government entities, barorganizations or the general public shall not receive Accredited CLE Activity credit. Anactivity associated with membership or attendance at committee meetings, businessmeetings or work sessions shall not receive Accredited CLE Activity credit.2.2Self-Study Credit.Self-Study Credit is CLE credit that is obtained from any type of CLE activity that is performedby an individual attorney acting alone or while attending non-accredited professional educationalactivities. A maximum of three (3) Self-Study credit hours can be applied toward each MCLEcompliance year. Self-Study Credits may be claimed for any of the following types of CLEactivities:a.reading materials specifically prepared for an accredited activity;b.reading substantive legal articles in recognized legal publications;c.reading digests, advance sheets, cases, treatises, statutes, and regulations;d.viewing non-accredited videotapes or digital media produced for legal educationpurposes;e.listening to non-accredited audiotapes or digital media produced for legal educationpurposes;f.attending professional educational activities that train participants in the use of non-legalsoftware or teach non-legal skills such as stress management, time management, personalrelational management, career management, rainmaking, marketing, accounting, generaloffice management, and communication skills.g.attending professional educational activities that present business, technical or scientificknowledge including programs dealing with business management concerns, medical orengineering knowledge and concepts, or other educational activities dealing with topicsrelevant to specific areas of law practice;h.serving as a judge or evaluator in any type of mock trial, moot court or client counselingcompetition, class or program; andi.speaking or writing, including presentation, preparation and composition time for any ofthe self-study activities enumerated above (a-h).MCLE RegulationsEffective Date: June 1, 2014Approved January 24, 2014State Bar Board of DirectorsPage 3 of 20
3.0MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS3.1Fifteen total hours of continuing legal education credit are required to be completed during eachMCLE compliance year (including the initial 24-month compliance year) in order to meet theminimum educational requirements set out in Article XII, Section 6A, State Bar Rules. Aminimum of twelve (12) credit hours must be completed in the form of Accredited CLEActivities, defined by Section 2.1.1-2.1.2.3.2A minimum of three (3) of the required fifteen (15) hours of CLE must be completed in thesubject areas of legal ethics and/or professional responsibility. Two (2) hours of this minimum 3hour requirement must be completed in the form of an Accredited CLE Activity. One (1) of thisminimum 3-hour requirement may be completed in the form of self-study credit. (Article XII,Section 6B)3.3Carry-forward CLE Credit Hours. A member may carry forward CLE credit hours earned inexcess of the minimum 15-hour requirement to the following year's requirement up to amaximum limit of fifteen (15) credit hours. Members may only carry forward excess creditearned to the next MCLE compliance year. Legal ethics or professional responsibility credit willcarry forward similarly. (Article XII, Section 6E)3.4CLE credit hours are computed based on actual time spent in an activity (actual instruction time,reading time, running time of tapes, audio, video or digital media) reported in hours to the nearestone-quarter hour and reported in decimals (Article XII, Section 7A and 7B). Sponsors shallcompute CLE credit hours for accredited activities based on this formula and shall identify thenumber of hours on the application form prescribed by the MCLE Committee. (Article XII,Section 7A)The individual attorney will need to compute CLE credit hours in instances of self-studyprograms, preparation and presentation time for speakers, composition time for authors as well asinstances where the attorney attends part of a session of a planned activity. (Article XII, Section7B and 7C)4.0CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION
regarding MCLE accreditation or the MCLE program, please contact the MCLE Department at 1 (800) 204-2222, ext 1806, or at . mcle@texasbar.com. GENERAL INFORMATION . The purpose of MCLE (Article XII, State Bar Rules) is to ensure that every active member of the State Bar of Texas pursues a plan of continuing legal education throughout his or her
