Rights and Responsibilities of CLE Sponsors
Sponsor ID: All program sponsors, including those with accredited status, must create a Sponsor ID prior to applying for online program accreditation. Once a Sponsor ID and password has been generated, sponsors will use it to sign in each time that the sponsor accesses the system and applies online for program accreditation. Programs will be tied to a Sponsor ID to allow for search functionality.
Application for Accreditation-Timeliness: Regulation 15.04.3(b) provides that a sponsor desiring approval of an individual program must apply for accreditation no later than 60 days prior to the date on which the program is scheduled. Attaching brochures, agendas and other materials helps ensure that programs can be reviewed for approval in a timely fashion.
Application for Accreditation-Calculating Hours: The number of credit hours earned by Missouri lawyers attending a particular program is determined by dividing the total minutes of instruction by 50 and rounding up or down to the nearest (.1) of an hour. Minutes of instruction do not include introductory remarks, coffee or meal breaks or business meetings.
Application for Accreditation- Content Guidelines:
A. On-Demand Programming: On-demand programming qualifies only for self-study credit under Missouri’s MCLE Rules and Regulations. In order to qualify for regular attendance credit under Rule 15, there must be contemporaneous interactive communication with a qualified instructor of the program.
B. All MCLE Programming: In order to be accredited, all programming must directly contribute to the professional competency of lawyers or judges and have significant intellectual or practical content related to the development or practice of law, professional responsibility, or law office management.
C. Ethics Programming:
1. Professionalism: Includes programs concerning legal or judicial ethics; an attorney’s duties to the judicial system, courts, public, clients and other attorneys; the concept or history of profession; rules of professional conduct; comparison of the legal profession in different nations; and jurisprudence of law.
2. Substance Abuse and Mental Health: Programs concerning substance abuse and mental health in the legal profession, including, prevention, detection and response to substance abuse and mental health issues, such as lawyers’ assistance programs.
3. Legal or Judicial Ethics: Programs devoted to legal or judicial ethics, including Missouri Supreme Court Rules 2 and 4, the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct and Code of Judicial Conduct. Does not include topics such as attorneys fees, client development, law firm administration, marketing or advertising, or law office economics and practice systems.
4. Malpractice Prevention: Instruction concerning law office systems and procedures which reduce the possibility of professional errors and omissions and instruction concerning the malpractice potential in substantive areas of law.
5. Elimination of Bias: Includes areas of explicit or implicit bias, diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency, focusing on issues in the legal profession and in the practice of law. Such programs shall not include the substantive law of illegal discrimination.
Certificates of Attendance: Attendees may appreciate a certificate of attendance for record-keeping purposes. A fillable Certificate of Attendance template is available on the MCLE Program Sponsors page for sponsors to use and distribute. However, it is not necessary for the attendee or a sponsor to send documentation of attendance to The Missouri Bar.
Maintaining List of Attendees: Regulation 15.04.4(b) requires sponsors to retain records of attendance for at least three years after the date of completion of the program or activity.
Evaluation Questionnaires: Regulation 15.04.1(f) requires program sponsors to provide participating lawyers the opportunity to complete an evaluation questionnaire addressing the quality, effectiveness, and usefulness of the particular program. Summary results of the questionnaires applicable to each speaker must be provided to that speaker in a timely fashion. Sponsors must maintain the questionnaires for one year following a program pending a request for submission to The Missouri Bar.