I Have an MCLE Question - Now What?

The MCLE Rules are varied and complex - and often confusing - especially when a provider has to deal with rules in more than one jurisdiction. As a provider you will have questions - there is no doubting that! But where do you go for answers?

Each state MCLE authority has a website, but the amount of information and the ease with which you will find answers on these sites varies as much as the rules themselves. To find the state sites, there are a couple of very good resources:

CLEReg- The Continuing Legal Education Regulators Association is an organization which provides administrators of MCLE programs an opportunity for discussion and exchange of information. Their site is also helpful for providers as there is much information - samples of Applications and Certificates of Attendance, rule summaries, requirements for applications, etc. One note: the site information is not updated frequently so be sure to check individual state websites for current data. The CLE Administrators Directory contains contact information for each state and includes a link to each state's own website.

Two more sources for finding the links to each state's own website are from my sites: West LegalEdcenter and Reqwired. Both sites have resource sections which include links. West LegalEdcenter's will be found under State Requirements, and Reqwired under Resources, then CLE Rule Summaries.

Reqwired's CLE Rule Summaries may also provide a source for answering your MCLE question - but the same note applies here: while we try to maintain the rule summaries for currency, please always check the state's own rules as well to verify.

Once on the state MCLE regulator's website, I usually look first to the home page. Often the state will highlight recent changes or provide clarifications here. I've gotten lucky more than once that the answer to my question was the first place I looked!

Next I search the FAQs. These pages really do provide answers to many of the most frequent questions. Many states actually provide a separate FAQ for attorneys and providers. Don't forget to check the attorney FAQs as this may answer your question as a provider as well.

If the FAQs don't provide enough assistance, I go next to the rules and the regulations themselves. While I consider myself very familiar with these documents, there is no way I'm going to remember the specific details of all of the rules and regs for every state. If I could, my boss would have to pay me a whole lot more!

If, after reviewing the state website, the FAQs, the rules, and the regulations, you still have questions - go directly to the source! The regulators themselves, as well as the staff at the MCLE authorities, are the best resources. And they are very responsive, generous with their time, and willing to find out if they can't immediately answer the question. While I go to other sources first in order to ensure that the answer wasn't easily available to me, I know that if I can't find the answer they will always help. 

Comments

[Tim Baran]

Great advice and compilation of resources, Gina!

May I suggest another that I often use? An up-to-date (very important!) summary and compilation of links to forms by Marilyn Bush LeLeiko at Law Writing http://www.lawwriting.com/mclerules.html

Thanks!