Congratulations on planning and producing your CLE event! In representing a student organization or Law School department at Texas Law, you can have UT Law CLE help you with accreditation for your programs. There are few important things to note:
 

1. UT Law CLE is an accredited CLE sponsor in Texas, California, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, and as such, any attorney from these jurisdictions who attends any of our programs may request credit and UT Law CLE is responsible for the program information, including, but not limited to, the attendee list, attendance reporting, program materials, and submitting all needed items to each jurisdiction based on their CLE rules.
2. UT Law CLE is required to pay any fees designated for programs in each of these jurisdictions, and as such, your group/office will also be responsible for the fees associated with your program. These include:
   1. Texas MCLE Program Fees, which are calculated based on the length of the program: The fees are listed below and are subject to change by the State Bar of Texas.
   2. Attendance fees for Pennsylvania attorneys who request credit in PA: The fees are based on the amount of hours the attorney reports and are currently set as $1.50 per credit hour per attorney.
   3. University of Texas Administrative fees (5%) may also be added to any charges paid.
3. If you request CLE credit in Texas and UT Law CLE obtains this credit for you, your program will automatically be approved in all jurisdictions where UT Law CLE is an approved provider, as the jurisdictions do not distinguish our programs from any other programs at the Law School. If you would like to have your program approved only in Texas, you can apply directly with the State Bar of Texas yourself on the MCLE Department’s website and list the provider as your office or organization.

If after reading this, you would like UT Law CLE’s help in accrediting your program, it is important that you read and comply with the following requirements. Failure to do so may mean we can’t help you with the accreditation of your program. 

Program Must Constitute a CLE Activity Within the Texas Accreditation Standards

The State Bar of Texas publishes “Accreditation Standards for CLE Activities,” and “Texas MCLE Regulations” which can be found online at the embedded links. Please familiarize yourself with these Standards, including the definitions on page 3 of the Standards and MCLE Regs 10.0-10.11. In particular, please note under part II (paraphrased here):
 
A CLE activity shall be accredited for MCLE in Texas [only] if it meets the criteria of either A or B below, and also each of the other criteria of C, D and E below:
 

1. The Activity consists of an organized program of legal education dealing with:
   (1) substantive or procedural subjects of law;
   (2) legal skills and techniques;
   (3) legal ethics and/or legal professional responsibility; or
   (4) law practice management;
2. The activity consists of an organized program dealing with alternative dispute resolution.
3. The activity may include coverage of technical, scientific or other bodies of knowledge that are directly related to any of the subjects listed in A above.
4. The instructors or lecturers are either qualified attorneys or judges, or they are experts in the subject area based on their education and background.
5. The activity is designed for, and targeted to, attorneys.

Your program must fit within these standards and their accompanying definitions in order to be eligible for MCLE accreditation by the State Bar of Texas. As an “Accredited Sponsor” of CLE activities under the Texas MCLE Regulations and the Law School’s representative, UT Law CLE has a duty to submit for accreditation only those programs and individual sessions that fall within these standards. Failure to do so could result in the revocation of our Accredited Sponsor status.

Requests for Accreditation Must Be Timely and Complete 

Because all the information necessary to obtain MCLE accreditation must be filed with the State Bar of Texas at least 30 days before the start date of the program, we require that you begin the accreditation process by completing the online application at utcle.org/credit/request and upload all information no later than six weeks before your program begins. This six-week timeframe allows UT Law CLE to process your request for accreditation in the normal course of business and ensures your organization will have the opportunity to supplement or modify the request, as necessary, if the program is deficient in some fashion. Failure to observe this timeframe may result in late fees or even denial of accreditation by the State Bar of Texas. Accordingly, we may decline to process it for you.
 
Please collect the following information, which is needed for MCLE accreditation and must be submitted with your request via the online system:
 

1. Program Basics:
   • Complete name of the symposium, conference, or CLE event
   • Date(s) and location of the program
   • Method of presentation, e.g., in-person conference, live webcast, telephone seminar
   • Total number of MCLE credit hours requested, including the number of ethics credit hours
   • Registration contact and the fee for an individual to attend (if the event is free, list “$0”)
2. Program Agenda: Upload an agenda that provides details of the program content by identifying each individual session, including the session title, a brief description of the topic, the name of the speaker or speakers, along with their firm name or professional affiliation, and the session start and end times. To see examples of correctly formatted agendas, visit the UT Law CLE website and click on any live conference, then jump to “Schedule.”
3. SB17 Review and Approval: All agendas must be reviewed and meet SB17 compliance. Student groups will need to have their agendas reviewed and approved by the Student Affairs office and have the SB17 guidelines agreement signed and uploaded with your application. All Law School offices requesting CLE must also sign off on the SB17 Review and Approval form when uploading their application.   
4. Account Number and Accounting Contact: An account number and accounting contact information for your organization must be provided to UT Law CLE. An invoice for the accreditation fees will be provided. IDT payment must be made to the UTCLE account provided on the invoice. Accreditation fees for the State Bar of Texas are based on the number of CLE hours requested. The fee structure is as follows:
   • $35 for 0.50 – 2.50 hours of credit
   • $60 for 2.75 – 5.00 hours of credit
   • $85 for 5.25 – 10.00 hours of credit
   • $120 for 10.25 or more hours of credit
   • In the event your submission is late, the State Bar also charges a $50 fee for expedited requests

Attendance fees for other jurisdictions will be provided once received and processed by the UT Law CLE staff and will vary based on each program.  

Promotions Must Accurately Reflect MCLE Status and Include Mandatory Language

The State Bar of Texas has strict rules about how accreditation must be referenced in promotional materials. Specifically, you must include the following language (either A or B below) in any promotion where MCLE credit is mentioned. Failure to do so may subject the Law School to sanctions. Accordingly, please do not advertise the number of MCLE credits you intend for your program to offer until you receive notice that the State Bar of Texas has approved the accreditation. It sometimes happens that the State Bar approves fewer credits than were requested in the original submission.
 

1. After Filing and Before Receiving Accreditation: “An application for accreditation of this activity has been submitted to the MCLE Committee of the State Bar of Texas and is pending.”
2. After Accreditation is Received: “This course has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of Texas Committee on MCLE in the amount of ____ credit hours, of which ____ credit hours will apply to legal ethics/professional responsibility credit.”
3. You may also list the following statement on your promotions materials to regarding the other approved jurisdictions:

The University of Texas School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider (#1944), an Oklahoma Bar Association MCLE presumptively approved provider (#169), and a Pennsylvania Accredited Provider. Approved hours may vary by jurisdiction.

Reporting and Record Keeping

A CLE provider’s obligations to the State Bar of Texas and other jurisdictions do not end at the point accreditation is granted. In submitting your request for accreditation, UT Law CLE has a continuing duty to ensure that each jurisdiction’s reporting and record keeping requirements are met. Within two weeks of your program’s completion, you must complete the following steps to ensure your conference attendees receive their credit.
 

1. Reporting Requirements: After receiving notice of accreditation from the State Bar, UT Law CLE will provide you access to an online form that your attendees can complete to claim their MCLE credit for any approved jurisdictions. It is your responsibility to provide the link and or QR code to your attendee and direct them to complete the form. UT Law CLE will use the information submitted and report all MCLE credit to the requested jurisdictions and will supply a certificate of attendance to all attendees who submitted credit. If this form is not completed credit will not be reported for the attendee.
2. Record Keeping: The following items need to be submitted to us to close out your program and ensure timely reporting of credit for your attendees.
3. Materials: Texas MCLE Regulations Section 10.1.5 states that “thorough, high quality written materials should be distributed to all participants at or before the time the activity is offered whenever practicable.” UT Law CLE is required to maintain a set of these written materials electronically for two years following the program. It is important for you to deliver a complete set of the materials to us. If we do not have these materials in hand, our reporting of the hours your attendees have claimed may be delayed.
4. Attendee Lists: You will need to provide a list of attendees, including contact information, who attended the program. If you have multiple methods of delivery, please indicate which method of delivery the attendee attended.

Please contact our MCLE coordinator April Rogers with any questions you may have and to begin the accreditation process for your program. She can be reached by email at accreditation@utcle.org. Credit Request Application