Breaking Down the Mississippi CLE Requirements
In Mississippi, mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) requirements are overseen by the Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization, with the Commission appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court. According to its website, the Commission consists of seven members who are "disinterested and of good reputation, six of whom shall be attorneys" and "one of whom shall be from the general public who is knowledgeable about education."
For full compliance , attorneys must complete at least twelve hours of accredited continuing legal education during annual reporting periods. Four of those credits must be in the area of ethics and professionalism. The reporting period runs from June 1 through May 31 of each year. CLE compliance deadlines are based on the last digits of an attorney’s Mississippi bar number.
The Commission offers a new attorney exemption for those who have just been admitted to the Bar. (For the purposes of the Commission, a new attorney is defined as one who is admitted to the Bar and seated for the first time within a 12-month period). Under the exemption, the new attorney is not required to comply with MCLE requirements for the reporting period in which he or she was first admitted to practice law and also is not required to comply with MCLE requirements for the next full calendar year.
Function of the Mississippi CLE Commission
The Mississippi Commission on Continuing Legal Education is responsible for overseeing and regulating the ongoing education of licensed attorneys in the state. The Commission is charged with maintaining standards for legal trainings, determining which course will qualify as Continuing Legal Education (CLE), approving CLE courses for credit, and tracking course hours for individual attorneys.
In order to fulfill this responsibility, the Commission meets regularly to review CLE programs seeking approval. Attorneys can submit any course they would like to take for consideration of whether it will fit the criteria and qualify for CLE credit.
The Commission sets a standard of 12.5 CLE hours for attorneys each year (10.5 credit hours completed live with another 2 CLE credits that can be taken by remote). However, they also recognize that some attorneys may make the decision to move into teaching CLE classes — and will receive education credit hours for that.
However, the Commission does not recognize credit for live webcasts or simulcasted courses if the attorney does not actively attend (meaning that they do not spend the entire time period actively participating in the course).
Maintaining the standard of continual legal education provides a wealth of benefits. It allows attorneys to stay current on the law, it can spark new interest in important topics as requirements for CLE courses change from year to year, and it can help attorneys boost their business and client base by learning new and better techniques and systems while also being able to offer credentials that show active learning.
Mississippi CLE Approved Providers
Association Members and Other Approved CLE Providers
When determining your CLE requirements in Mississippi, you may be wondering what the rules are for CLE providers.
Here is a list of approved providers of accredited CLE programs in Mississippi:
Mississippi Bar Association
Mississippi Supreme Court CLE Committee
Mississippi Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE)
MCLE-Approved Providers
Approval of a CLE provider is based on three criteria:
More information on CLE requirements for Mississippi attorneys, including a list of accredited CLE providers, is available through the Mississippi Commission on Continuing Legal Education: CLE Regulations.
Attorneys in Mississippi can find CLE offerings from other accredited providers listed on the Mississippi Bar Association’s website, CLE Calendar.
We’ll keep you posted on additional CLE providers in Mississippi as they become available.
Filing your CLE Credits
To make your life just a little bit easier as you start tracking down your Continuing Legal Education, this is a brief overview of how to submit your CLE credit electronically through the Mississippi Commission on Continuing Legal Education.
The Commission will begin accepting electronically submitted credits again on December 2, 2013. According to the Commission, attorneys will have two options to electronically submit CLE credits: they will be able to upload the certification of attendance and then make a credit payment with a credit card or e-check, and the Commission expects to be set up to receive information from providers electronically. For those attorneys who have been crying out for the past few years for electronic filing to be made available , it appears that your cries are being heard.
Until that point in December, attorneys will need to continue faxing, emailing or snail-mailing their certificates of attendance to the Commission at the below information:
Mississippi Commission on Continuing Legal Education
Post Office Box 216
Jackson, MS 39205-0216
Telephone: (601) 366-2822
Fax: (601) 960-2152
Email: [email protected]
The Commission will immediately process any certificate of attendance that is submitted (so get your certificates sent in sooner rather than later), but will not report the credits until the end of the supervised period. According to the Commission, the late fee for attorneys submitting their certificates of attendance after the end of a supervised period is 50% of the annual fee.
Impact of CLE Non-Compliance
Failing to meet the Mississippi Bar’s CLE requirements may cost lawyers more than money. Those who neglect to comply or truthfully certify compliance can face civil court and administrative penalties for false filing, which means a possible suspension of their ability to practice law.
The Bar investigates allegations of non-compliance, which may be brought before the Mississippi Commission on Continuing Legal Education, consisting of six members who are all attorneys, two in private practice, two from institutions of higher learning in Mississippi, one District Attorney and one Circuit Judge. When the Commission receives a notice of non-compliance, it notifies the party involved and requests a response within 30 days. After considering the response, the Commission submits a recommendation to the Board of Bar Admissions, which then considers the recommendation at its next regularly scheduled meeting. The Board then notifies the affected attorney if it agrees with the Commission. If the Board agrees with the Commission’s recommendation of fees and costs, it is entered as a Consent Judgment, and a fine plus court costs are levied accordingly. If the accused attorney does not agree to pay the fine, or if the Board finds that non-compliance was unintentional or due to extenuating circumstances, a hearing is scheduled. The Commission then files a Recommendation for a Sanction with the Board of Bar Admissions. The Board then decides on an appropriate sanction for the attorney, which may include: fees and costs, payment of the yearly fee, suspension of the attorney’s ability to practice law in Mississippi until the deficient CLE hours are made up, suspension from practicing law for one year, or disbarment for failure to comply with the order. Following imposition of sanctions, the aggrieved lawyer has a right to appeal to the Supreme Court of Mississippi within 10 days. The only way the Board of Bar Admissions will hear a request to change or waive the penalty is if it is accompanied with a letter from the attorney setting forth the facts and circumstances. An attorney must file this request with supporting documentation within 10 days of the delivery of the Order. However, neither the Commission nor the Board of Bar Admissions can waive the fee, court costs, or condition the payment on any particular legal analysis.
Future Changes to the Mississippi CLE Guidelines
It is no secret that the Mississippi Commission on Continuing Legal Education, or the CLE Commission as we call it, has been undergoing some administrative and reporting changes as of late. Ordinarily, we shun bureaucratic changes of any sort, but this time, most of these changes have been beneficial for us lawyers.
For example, the CLE Commission has made it easier for you to report your CLE credits. In the past, each lawyer could only report his or her own CLE credits online. Now, the CLE Commission lets lawyers choose whether to delegate to Palmer or their office staff the reporting of credits, so you do not have to do it yourself. The CLE Commission also allows for the reporting of honorary attendance, which is a fancy way of saying that if you attend a CLE on behalf of a judge, then the course hours can now be reported by us or your office staff just as if it were a regular CLE.
Another change that many lawyers in our neck of the woods will be appreciative of is that the CLE Commission is now allowing you to roll over up to 15 hours of credits into the next year. Just remember, though, that you cannot have more than 15 hours of excess credits on hand.
My understanding is that the Commission is making a more concerted effort to inform lawyers of their CLE requirements. For example, attorneys who do not comply with the rules will be notified earlier and charged with a lesser penalty fee as a result of the new changes in the reporting process. Before, you only found out about your non-compliance on the last day of the year and were subjected to hefty fees. We hope. One would think that a government body would want to help you comply with its rules rather than milk you dry from your delinquency.
The Commission is now posting on its website forms, FAQs and instructions for attorneys who have NO CLE credits for the year. Be diligent. If you have not taken the required CLE for this year , you should go ahead and take enough CLEs to cover the entire 12 hour requirement, rather than the 12 hours to cover what you have missed so far. From a practical standpoint, this may even make sense because you would not lose the credits you obtain after the date on which you become in compliance, which would likely occur before the end of the current calendar year.
The Commission is requiring almost all attorneys to complete their 12 hours of required CLEs by December the 31st of each year. In years past, not all attorneys had to complete their 12 hours by the end of the year. Law school graduates and lawyers who had been out on inactive status were not subject to this requirement and were, therefore, given more time to get their CLEs in order. Now, however, the Commission has updated its regulations, expanding the December 31st deadline for those categories of attorneys. But the Commission still requires newly admitted lawyers to complete their 12 hours by the end of 12 months following their admission.
Additionally, the Commission is now requiring attorneys to complete an IOLTA Pro Bono CLE course on handling IOLTA accounts and related obligations every three years. Lawyers will be able to select from a variety of CLEs that the CLE Commission will approve. We understand that the CLE Commission is currently reviewing courses offered by the Bar Foundation in order to keep with its mandate to educate the members of the Bench and Bar.
Finally, if you are a lawyer in Mississippi who is seeking to come back from inactive status and reenter the practice of law, you must now complete an IOLTA Pro Bono CLE course each time you seek to get back into the practice of law.
Take note, lawyers—there will be an increase in the fines assessed by the Commission for violations of the CLE rules, and a significant decrease in the opportunities to waive or reduce those fines. It is always better to just make sure you get your CLEs in order and remain in compliance.