CLE activities are reported in the annual compliance report for the year in which the CLE activity occurred. For instance, if a CLE activity was completed June 30, 2018, it would be reported in the attendee’s 2017-2018 annual report. If a CLE activity was completed Aug. 1, 2018, it would be reported in the attendee’s 2018-2019 annual report. The extended annual compliance and reporting year for 2019-20 has resulted in a three-month period from July 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2020, in which CLE activities completed would traditionally be reported in the 2020-21 annual compliance report. However, for the extended compliance year, CLE activities earned during this three-month period are part of the 15-month extended reporting year for 2019-2020, as designated in the Supreme Court of Missouri’s March 23, 2020, order addressing the COVID-19 global pandemic.
To accommodate the needs of all Missouri Bar members, courses completed during the three-month period of July 1 to Sept. 30, 2020, may now be reported in either the 2019-20 or 2020-21 reporting year, per authorization of the Supreme Court of Missouri. Designation of the year for which a qualifying CLE activity will be reported is largely at the discretion of each reporting lawyer. However, individual circumstances may render reporting in one year over the other more beneficial, as set forth below:
- Earned CLE activity hours must be reported in the 2019-2020 compliance year until Rule 15 compliance has been achieved for 2019-2020;
- Lawyers who achieve Rule 15 compliance may report any additional CLE activities earned between July 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2020, in either the 2019-20 or 2020-21 compliance year. Hours reported in the 2019-20 compliance year will result in carryover to 2020-21. Hours reported in 2020-21 will be credited to the Rule 15 requirements for the 2020-21 compliance period;
- The maximum amount of carryover hours allowed in one reporting year is 15 credit hours. Lawyers who have achieved compliance for the 2019-20 compliance year and who have earned the maximum 15 credit hours of carryover may wish to report any excess CLE activities earned between July 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2020, in the 2020-21 compliance year to receive credit. If excess CLE hours earned between July 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2020, are reported in the 2019-20 compliance year, no credit will carryover to 2020-21 because the maximum amount of carryover will have been exceeded;
- Online access to the 2020-21 annual report will not be available until Oct. 1, 2020, following the conclusion of the 2019-20 compliance period. Therefore, it is advisable to keep all records of CLE activities attended between July 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2020, if you plan to report those hours in the 2020-21 compliance year starting Oct. 1, 2020;
- While reporting online, please ensure that you have selected the correct pulldown compliance year on the Reporting Main Menu before entering your CLE activity;
- CLE courses may not be reported in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 annual report;
- On Oct. 31, 2020 - the reporting deadline specified in the Supreme Court of Missouri’s March 23, 2020, order - all members will be evaluated for compliance with Rule 15. Those lawyers with online reports indicating compliance with Rule 15 will be evaluated as compliant. Lawyers with online reports indicating they are not compliant with Rule 15 will be evaluated as non-compliant; and
- If you have previously reported a CLE activity in the 2019-20 compliance year and now wish to change reporting of that activity to the 2020-21 compliance year, you will have one month in which to effectuate this change (Oct. 1, 2020, the date that the 2021 compliance report becomes available online, through Oct. 31, 2020, the date that your 2020 compliance report will be evaluated for compliance.) Please utilize the following steps:
- Sign in to Report My MCLE
- On the Main Reporting Page, select the #1 link for “Report Program Attendance”
- Locate the program you wish to move to the 2020-21 compliance year in your table of activities and write down the Program ID number on a piece of paper
- Double check to ensure the program took place between July 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2020. If the program took place prior to July 1, 2020, it must be reported in the 2019-20 reporting year
- Select the “Edit” button to the side of the program in question
- Once in the program, select “Delete Hours”
- Return to the Reporting Main Menu
- In the pull down for compliance years, select the 2020-21 compliance year
- Select the #1 link for “Report Program Attendance”
- Select the “Report New Program” button
- Enter the Program ID number in the search box and hit “Search”
- Select your program from the search result
- Enter your attendance hours and click “Submit