As first deadline nears, CLE providers step up
April 27, 2008
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Rahn said IICLE — which offers up to about 100 program titles per year, compared with about 45 titles before the state rules mandating coursework for lawyers — has increased its inventory of courses available in a variety of formats, such as DVDs and audio CDs, as well as online streaming.
Other states with MCLE requirements ‘’see a large rush of people who naturally procrastinate and wait until the end,” Rahn said. ”One state told me they had $50,000 worth of business on their web site of online programs in the last 24 hours of the reporting period.”
Since 2006, Johnson said, when officials started accepting provider applications, the state has accredited more than 260 MCLE providers, which include a mix of bar associations and commercial ventures, government offices and law schools, law firms, and individuals.
By early March, Johnson said, the state had accredited about 5,100 individual courses. However, she said, ”There are thousands more available through accredited providers who don’t go through the individual course accreditation process.”
At the CBA, dues-paying members can earn MCLE credit through its CLE Advantage program, which allows members to attend an unlimited number of classes and seminars at $125 per year, and to check out DVDs from the association’s bookstore at no extra charge.
”It’s almost like a tasting menu,” Gordon said. ”This enables the membership to get some of their credits in a less onerous fashion.”
The program has also been a boost for the CBA.
”We had a real bump in membership,” said Gordon, noting that attendance in the CBA’s CLE programs was at 13,000 by the end of 2007, a jump from 8,000 in 2006 and from 5,000 in 2005. The CBA has also seen an influx of lawyers at its committee meetings.
Under the MCLE rules, lawyers may earn credit by attending bar association or professional association meetings and conferences, as long as the session includes a discussion covering substantive law, or matters of practice and professionalism.
Where some committee meetings in the past saw sparse attendance, the CBA today frequently sees attendees spilling into overflow rooms equipped with video links, Gordon said.
”Before, you’d have the real bar association regulars who would attend the meetings. Now, we’re full to capacity on lots of days,” Gordon said. ”A lot of the people who come to the meetings now aren’t interested in the business of the committee, but they are interested in the CLE.”
At the ISBA, CLE offerings have doubled since the rules took effect, Heaton said, noting that the bar association has introduced many new formats for delivering those programs.
In July 2007, Heaton said, the ISBA started offering CLE electronically, via such formats as DVD, audio CD, video CD-ROM, online streaming, and podcasts.
”Before, if someone would want a program taped, we would have taped it, but we’re trying to offer almost all of our live programs in a taped format now,” she said.
She added that the market is demanding more variety in the mode of CLE delivery.
”There’s a bigger pool of attorneys interested in getting their CLE in convenient and affordable ways,” Heaton said. ”Some of the attorneys prefer to do it on their own time — at their desk, or at night on their computer at home.”
Well written article, but why no mention of outside and online CLE providers not located in Illinois that have recently been accredited there to accommodate Illinois attorneys.