CLE's

Remember to look around your area for free or low-cost CLE's. Sources may vary and I learn about many by word of mouth; many of the free ones are repeated annually so are good to remember. I have found many by just googling around for "free cle" and the name of my city and have learned of others from colleagues on document review projects or from project staff.

I have attended a free CLE at each of two law schools and have learned of others taking place at the two other law schools. My alma mater hosts a CLE in April that's an evening class for one credit, sponsored by a local big law foundation. My friends alma mater is hosting a CLE sponsored by a non-profit; it's half a day and free.

While there are those who prefer all-day CLE's and pay because they want to choose the topic, I firmly believe that free is good. I'm not in a position to have my CLE's paid by my employer, though if I found one that was relevant, it's likely they would do so. One of my friends is licensed in TX, so has to send in course handouts and pay a fee to obtain credits. Unlike my state, she has to come up with 15 credits annually; of course she prefers all-day or at least half-day CLE's to minimize her out-of-pocket expense. One credit wouldn't be cost-effective for her.

In my case, I have attended several morning CLE's at my alma mater and while they all say it's going to be one credit, it was more frequently 1.5 credits. That doesn't sound like much, but if you start when your reporting period begins, rather than a month or two before, it can lead to huge savings. Right now, I have two more sessions of my stats class and at that point, so long as I attend both, I'll need about 8 more credits.

My sources are:

Non-profits
Law firms
Law firms hosting CLE's put on by non-profits
Law Schools, especially my alma mater
Law Schools hosting CLE's put on by non-profits
Law Schools hosting CLE's put on by Big Law
Bar Association which has a free one-hour webcast once in awhile
Bar Committees and Sections which sometimes have a free one-hour CLE, either in the morning or at lunchtime
Government agencies; our Attorney General's office and Revisor of Statutes Office hold free CLE's each year

Talk to people who have been licensed longer than you have. My first reporting period I was unaware of free CLE's so ended up paying a lot of money. A lot of people who know about free CLE's procrastinate and end up paying a lot of money. Would you rather take a day without pay and attend a free CLE or would you rather pay a bunch of money and take the day off? Surprisingly, many choose paying and taking the day off without pay because they wait until the end of their reporting period. Don't make that mistake!

Reporting CLE's Electronically

The first time I reported, I did so on paper. Not only did I have to look up each CLE online to ensure it had actually received credit, but I waited until the bitter end to do so. Since I had misunderstood the start of my reporting period, it really wasn't the bitter end; I had counted three years starting from graduation, rather than three years starting from the July 1 following bar admission and had an extra year.

In the meantime, the reporting system changed and while paper is still acceptable, rather than keeping track for three years and sending a master list of CLE's attended, it's now possible to report as you take CLE's. We were each sent a letter with authorization to use the webpage and it took me awhile to get around to trying. So long that I had to ask for a new copy of the letter. There's no telling what I did with the original copy.

Once you sign in, you either enter the event code, which is a multi-digit number, and click the radial button for attendance. After that, an affidavit message pops up and you certify attendance of the CLE. Event codes are only available at the time of attendance if the course has been previously approved. Not all CLE's will be approved prior to your attendance; some will not be approved until much later.

You can search by date or sponsoring organization. Sponsors may not be who you would guess; I had attended a Roy Adams seminar, sponsored by two major corporations. I think it was under Roy Adams and the only reason I figured it out was because I knew the date on which I had attended. A human rights organization has a couple of different programs, but CLE's under one program are listed as being sponsored by the law firm at which the lunch takes place; under the other, they appear as sponsored by the organization itself.

One of my colleagues had initially planned to continue reporting on paper, but eventually decided to use the electronic format. He assumes that all CLE's he attends will receive credit. Because I saw a message on a website indicating that one of their programs had not received credit, I believe it when I see it.