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The Virginia Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Board solicits comment from members of the Bar regarding this proposed MCLE opinion. The opinion deals with the approval guidelines for law office management programs.
The proposed opinion will be considered for adoption at the board meeting scheduled for August 12, 2002. Please feel free to send input and comment to the board at this address:
MCLE Board
707 E. Main Street,
Suite 1500
Richmond, VA 23219
or
Regulation 103 provides that a course "must have significant intellectual or practical content," and "its primary objective must be to increase the attendee's professional competence and skills as an attorney, and to improve the quality of legal services rendered to the public." Further, "the course must pertain to a recognized legal subject or other subject matter which integrally relates to the practice of law or to the professional responsibility or ethical obligations of the participants."
The Board has encountered instances where it has received applications for approval of law office management programs which do not appear to be intended to increase the attendees' professional competence and skills as attorneys or improve the quality of legal services rendered to the public. Further, the Board has had concerns that some courses do not pertain to "subject matter which integrally relates to the practice of law or to professional responsibility or ethical obligations of the attendees." The following are guidelines which will be applied in determining whether a law office management program qualifies for CLE and/or ethics/professionalism credit:
1. The subject of the program must not be any individual law firm's internal policies, practices and procedures.
2. The management program must be specifically pertinent to, and focused on law firms, and not generally applicable to other business or professional enterprises.
3. If the focus of a law office management program is on the application of the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct to the operation of a law firm, then the program would be approved for ethics/professionalism credit subject to other requirements for such credit. Such program should present information on how to operate a law practice consistent with ethical fundamentals set forth in the Rules of Professional Conduct, and/or should provide information on how to deliver legal services and generally operate a law practice in a more professional manner than is required by the minimum standards set forth in the Rules of Professional Conduct.
4. An approvable program may include information about systems and procedures designed to avoid errors in the practice of law.
Examples of some of the topics and types of courses which DO NOT qualify for CLE credits are:
1. Training by a law firm provided to associates or newly associated attorneys informing them of purely internal practices which are unique to that law firm and do not apply to the practice of law in general, including courses on such topics as how to use a particular firm's accounting, timekeeping, or billing software.
2. Instruction about computer applications that are general in nature and that may apply equally to any other business or profession.
3. Treatment of law office employee compensation policies and evaluation for advancement.
4. Courses or a segment that teach client development methods and strategies.
[Paragraph 17.H of Section IV, Part Six, Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia and MCLE Regulations 103(b), 103(c)].
Approved 02/11/2002
Updated: July 27, 2006