NO.  Any subsequent postings to the same attorney for the same course are seen as duplicate postings and are ignored.   To correct an erroneously reported attendance amount you MUST contact the CLE Commission and request to the incorrect posting deleted. Then you can submit the attendance for that attorney again.  Don’t forget to pay the posting fee for the new attendance being reported.

Providers are required to  report attorney attendance within 30 days of completion of the course/program. Late reported attendance is subject to a late fee.

The course reporting fee is $2.00 per credit hour per attorney. The fee will increase by 1.00 per credit hour per attorney ($3.00 total) for courses reported more than 45 days after completion of the course.  See Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 21 § 8.02(a).

No.   You can highlight the course and click on the copy icon.  Make the appropriate changes for the copied course and submit it for approval.

Never modify and resubmit a previously held course where attendance has been submitted.   Doing so will remove credit previously reported and posted to the attendees’ accounts and could cause noncompliance issues for the attendees of the previous program, including fees and possible suspension of their law license.

If providers are modifying the original course and attendance has never been submitted for the specific course number, providers may modify a previously submitted course.

Yes. A speaker whose presentation is accompanied by five or more pages of thorough, high quality, readable and carefully prepared written materials will qualify for CLE credit on the basis of four hours of credit for each hour of presentation. Presentations accompanied by less than five pages of outlines, or not accompanied by written materials, will qualify for CLE credit on the basis of two credits per hour of presentation. Repeat presentations qualify for one-half of the credits awarded for the initial presentation. CLE credit is earned as of the date the CLE presentation occurs.

Tennessee does not change a fee to accredit a course.  Providers pay fees for attorney attendance when attendance is submitted to the Commission.

“CLE Commission” is sufficient.  You must include your provider acronym on the check or in the correspondence accompanying the check so funds are properly applied.

Pull up the course.  Click on the MAIN tab and look in the notes section.   The reason(s) for the denial will be listed in this section.  

Check and see if you submitted the batches twice.  That is generally the problem.  If you did, you will need to contact the Commission to have the duplicate attendance batch deleted.

If you are a provider/sponsor, call us at (615) 741-3096, or send an e-mail to Tiffany.Drew@CLETN.COM to have us set you up as a sponsor in our system and to send you instructions for the online application process.  See Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 21 §5.

If the speaker had five or more pages of handouts, they get four times the number of hours they spoke. If they had four or fewer pages of handouts, they get two times the number of hours they spoke.  If they present the same CLE at a later date, they receive half as much credit as they did for the original presentation.

For example, if a presenter speaks for 2 hours and they have no handouts, they are eligible for four hours of CLE credit. If they had five pages of handouts, they would receive eight hours of CLE credit.

PLEASE NOTE: Courses should only be accredited for the actual number of hours the course runs. To appropriately credit a speaker, check the instructor box when submitting attendance AND put in the total number of hours the speaker should receive. The system will not calculate the extra hours for speaker credits.

No, there is no automatic calculation.  Marking someone as a speaker only allows you to give them more credit than the course was approved for.  The provider must calculate the number of hours they should receive based on the number of pages provided as handouts and enter those hours for the speaker.  

To calculate the posting fee, multiply the total number of attendance hours submitted by $2.00.  For example, 10 attendees who each attended for 1.5 hours, would cost $30.00.  If one of the attendees was the speaker and provided ten pages of handouts, the cost is $27.00 for the attendees (9 x 1.5 hours x $2.00) and $12.00 for the speaker (4 times 1.5 hours times $2.00) for a total amount due of $39.00 ($27.00  + $12.00)

Payments are not applied to specific courses or batches.  They are simply credits toward the balance you owe.   If the payment is not sufficient to pay the entire balance due for your unposted courses, the batch/course will not post.

A number of things can cause this.

1. The batch is still pending – it needs to be submitted.
2. The BPR number used to enter attendance for the attorney was not accurate, so the attorney didn’t get the credit.
3. Payment for the attendance batch did not go through.  Unpaid attendance will not post.
4. The attendance will post within one hour of online payment, no matter when it was paid.

No, Tennessee charges an attendance reporting fee for each hour of attendance reported to the Commission.  Providers are not currently charged a submittal or accreditation fee for each course submitted for approval.

If your attendance batch says pending, check for any errors and resubmit.

You MUST contact the Commission and have the hours previously reported for the speaker deleted from their account. After the hours have been deleted, you can resubmit the proper credit for the speaker.  If you submit new attendance prior to deleting the first submission, it is seen as a duplicate posting and ignored.  You will not be given a credit for the attendance that was removed so will need to pay the posting fee for the new submittal for the speaker.

No.   Attendance submitted more than one year after the date of completion of the course will not be posted.  See Rule 21 section 8.02(a)

No.  You can only receive credit for one or the other in any compliance year.  See Rule 21 §4.06

Yes.  Dual credit will be awarded for teaching Ethics and Professionalism courses in a law school.

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Any legal instruction may involve an ethics component but the Commission will not attempt to parse out what percentage of a course could qualify for Ethics credit and what percentage of a course should receive General credit. 

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Generally ethics credit is only awarded to instructors teaching a law school course on ethics or professionalism.   See Regulations 5H §§ 1, 2, and §5.

No. You cannot receive credit for CLE earned prior to your becoming an attorney.  

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You will receive one year of CLE credit though for passing your Bar Exam.

No.  As a teacher at a college, university or law school you can only receive credit if you were the primary instructor for the entire semester/quarter/term.

No. You cannot receive CLE credit for giving a law related presentation to a general audience.   

Yes, an attorney can receive up to one year’s CLE credit for completing a bar exam preparation course, but their attendance must be verified by the provider of the course to receive credit.

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Also, the course must qualify as CLE. A self study course preparing you for the bar exam in another state WILL NOT qualify for CLE credit. 

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Keep in mind an attorney cannot receive bar prep course credit and bar passage credit in the same year.  See Rule 21 Section 4.08(f).

No. You cannot receive CLE credit for participation in a high school or college moot court or mock court competition.    

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You can receive up to three (3) hours of CLE credit for judging or coaching moot courrt or a mock trial at an approved law school. 

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Credit is earned at the rate of one hours of E/P (dual) credit for five (5) hours of coaching or judging. See Rule 21 §4.03(c)

No,. Your 15 hours of bar exam credit is linked to the year your passed the bar exam.  

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If years have gone by since passing the bar exam, you will probably need to complete your 15 hours of CLE during the year you were actually sworn in because your CLE credit is given when you passed the bar exam, not when you were sworn in.

If the program or presentation was approved for CLE credit, then yes, but it is unlikely that a presentation to someone other than attorneys will be approved for CLE.

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The Commission does not generally award CLE credit for presentations to anyone other than attorneys.  

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If you are not giving an approved and accredited continuing legal education program, you are not going to receive credit.

Yes, but you can only receive bar exam credit once in any compliance year.   If you received credit for passing the Tennessee bar exam this year,  you will not be able to receive credit for the bar exam you passed in another state.

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We award 12 general live CLE credits for passing the bar exam and 3 dual live credits for passing the MPRE.

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This would also apply to bar exam and bar review courses.   You can only receive credit for one or the other in any compliance year. See Rule 21 §4.06 & 4.08(f)

No. You can only receive ethics or dual credit for teaching attorneys or law school students. Generally ethics credit is only awarded to instructors teaching a law school course on ethics or professionalism.

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You cannot earn ethics or dual credit teaching legal ethics courses to a general audience.  See Regulation 5H(3) 

A course accreditted in another state may qualify for credit in Tennessee.  First, request the provider seek accreditation in Tennessee – most will do so.

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If the provider will not apply for course approval and accreditation, e-mail Attorney Services Specialist Angela Perry requesting instructions on how to submit a course or activity for approval and accreditation.

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See Rule 21 section 8.02 – revised 10.8.2021.

The attorneys will only be able to receive CLE credit if the hours are earned while working for an “Approved Legal Assistance Program” as defined in Supreme Court Rule 21§4.07(c).  If the church or agency is interested in applying to the Tennessee Supreme Court to become an Approved Legal Assistance Program they can obtain the application form on the CLE Commission website.

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A list of Approved Legal Assistance Programs can be found at the bottom of the drop down menu after clicking on For Attorney’s tab.

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You can use a maximum of three (3) pro bono/indigent defense CLE credits in any compliance year.  Those hours count as live ethics (E/P) credits. You can carry over a maximum of three (3) credits to the next compliance year.

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No.   Listening to a podcast or a downloaded audio file, even from a state bar association,  is considered self study in Tennessee and not eligible for CLE credit.  Tennessee requires tracking of the time spent listening to or watching an electronically delivered CLE presentation.  If the provider is not tracking when you started and stopped listening, then the course is not eligible for CLE credit in Tennessee.

Yes. If you were appointed to represent someone as an attorney or a GAL you need to add some additional language to the Order at the conclusion of your appointment.  

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We suggest you ask the Court to state in its Order that you represented the client pro bono and did not seek compensation for the ____ billable hours your spent on your representation (specify the number of hours ).

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If the Order has already been entered, you can have the judge/chancellor write a short letter to the CLE Commission on their court letterhead saying that you were appointed to represent ________________(enter your client’s name) in the case on a pro bono basis and served without financial compensation for the ________(enter the number of hours you worked) worked.  

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Your CLE credit is based on the number of hours you served so make sure the letter identifies your time.   It has been my experience that the judiciary appreciates your stepping up to do this pro bono and will be glad to do a short letter to the CLE Commission so you can get CLE credit. 

Providers have 30 days to report attendance.  Compliance is not based upon when the providers submit attendance, but when a course is completed. If a course has not been reported within 30 days of completion, attorneys should contact the provider and request the hours are reported.

January 1st is the default date for most credits from the Commission on Continuing Legal Education (CCLE) as the provider.

An attorney can carry forward or backward up to 15.0 online hours from one compliance year to the succeeding or preceding year.

Twelve (12) activities are eligible for Live CLE credit. See Section 3.01 for requirement. The twelve (12) activities are:

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     1. Traditional in-classroom courses. A maximum of twelve (12) General credits and three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See Section 3.01(c) of this Rule;

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     2. Teaching at an approved CLE activity. A maximum of twelve (12) General credits and three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See section 4.03(a) of this Rule (includes video re-play with a qualified commentator); see Regulation 3A for commentator requirements;

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     3. Teaching at an approved educational institution. A maximum of twelve (12) General credits and three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See section 4.03(b) of this Rule;

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     4. Pro Bono representation. A maximum of three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See section 4.08(c) of this Rule;

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     5. Indigent Defense representation (uncompensated portion only). A maximum of three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See section 4.08(d) of this Rule;

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     6. Published Writing. A maximum of six (6) General and one and one-half (1.5) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See section 4.08(b) of this Rule;

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     7. Formal enrollment and education of a postgraduate nature for credit or audit at an approved educational institution. Credit is earned hour for hour. See section 4.04 of this Rule. For Live courses, a maximum of twelve (12) General credits and three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. For online courses, via an approved Distance Learning format, there is a maximum of eight (8) hours of credit each compliance year. See section 3.01(c) of this Rule;

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     8. Service as a Bar Examiner. A maximum of twelve (12) General credits and three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See section 4.05 of this Rule;

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     9. Service on the Board of Professional Responsibility or one of its hearing committees. Credit is limited to three (3) EP credits in any compliance year. See section 4.07 of this Rule;

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     10. Participation as a member of governmental commissions, committees, or other governmental bodies. A maximum of six (6) General and one and one-half (1.5) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See section 4.08(a) of this Rule;

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     11. Completion of Bar Review course. For Live courses, a maximum of twelve (12) General credits and three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. See section 4.06 of this Rule. For online courses, via an approved Distance Learning format, there is a maximum of eight (8) hours of credit each compliance year. See section 3.01(c) of this Rule; and

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     12. Successful completion of a bar examination, specialist certification program, and/or examination for admission to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A maximum of twelve (12) General credits and three (3) EP credits may be applied to any compliance year. Bar review course credit and bar exam credit cannot both be claimed in the same compliance year. See section 4.08(f).See Rule 21 §5.01(g)

Seminars dealing with Law Practice Management topics solely will receive EP credit only. Seminars also dealing with the ethics of law practice management topics will receive dual credit. See Regulation 5G.

Yes. All digital courses offered in a format the Commission approves may earn credit. The Commission requires all distance learning have a tracking mechanism and attendance certification by the provider.

The Commission will give distance learning CLE credit for such seminars if the seminar is approved and there is an on-site commentator/presenter. At this time, you cannot receive “live” credit for an online program you are viewing while in your office or at home.  See Regulation 5B.

Possibly, if they are open to outside attorneys on a broad basis (e.g., state-wide). Courses strictly limited to in-house counsel and/or clients and not primarily for the benefit of attorneys is not eligible for CLE credit. See Regulation 5A & 5I.

Seminars dealing with the disciplinary rules or ethical considerations applicable to attorneys receive dual credit (counts toward either the E/P or the General requirement, as needed by the attorney). Law practice management topics, stress management, time management, staff training and supervision, substance abuse awareness and action, general skills (e.g., speed reading), budgeting, and similar topics receive E/P credit only.

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Training in courtroom presentation, including style, vocal skills, etc., will receive general credit only.

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All programs must be primarily intended for attorneys, not a general audience. See Regulation 5H.

“Dual” credits are hours of CLE that can be used either toward the General or toward the Ethics & Professionalism requirement. However, “dual” credits DO NOT COUNT TWICE! (e.g., you cannot receive two (2) hours of credit for one (1) hour of attendance).

Yes, up to one full year’s worth of both General (12 hours) and Ethics & Professionalism (three hours). See Rule 21, Section 4.02.

Yes, up to the one-half of the annual requirement (6 hours general and 1 1/2 ethics) for articles printed in books or magazines whose primary intended readers are attorneys.  See Rule 21, Secition 4.07(b).

Providers have 30 days to report course completion. If the course still has not posted after 45 days contact the provider. See Rule 21, Section 8.02.

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Not for private firms or corporations. Governmental departments may offer in-house programs if they are open to all department attorneys in the state and at least fifty percent (50%) of the approved hours are taught by speakers not otherwise associated with the department. See Regulation 5A.

No.  The provider/ course sponsor must be able to verify the time spent by you taking the course and provide a method of receiving and answering questions.   See Rule 21 § 5.01(i).

Credits earned in a year in which you were exempt will only carry forward to the extent that they would have if you were not exempt. e.g. If you submitted sixteen (16) General credits and six (6) Ethics credits in a year you were exempt, then four (4) of the General credits and three (3) of the Ethics credits would carry forward to the next non-exempt year. If you earned sixteen (16) online credits in a year you were exempt, eight (8) would carry forward to the next year.   See Regulation 4A.

Yes. To earn one hour of CLE credit, the attorney must complete sixty (60) minutes of instruction not counting breaks, etc.   See Regulation 3A.

Yes, You earn credits equal to four times the amount of time you teach if you distribute five or more pages of hand-out materials to the participants.

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If you distribute less than five pages, you receive two times the number of hours you teach. For second and subsequent presentations of the same materials, you get half the credit of the first presentation.  

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It is your responsibility to make sure the course provider submits your hours accurately.  

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See Rule 21 §4.03(a).

Yes, up to one half the annual CLE requirement of both General and Ethics/Professionalism credits (6 hours general and 1.5 hours E/P) for articles printed in approved books or journals whose primary intended readers are attorneys.  

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These hours go toward your live hour requirement.  You will only receive E/P credit if the ethics section is presented in a section separate from the primary topic and not interspersed with the primary topic.  See Rule 21, Section 4.08(b).

Yes. You will receive one hour of Ethics/Professionalism credit for each five billable hours of approved pro bono legal representation provided through court appointment, an organized bar association program or legal services organization.  (Rule 21, Section 4.08c.)

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You can receive CLE credit for published writing (4.08b), service as a bar examiner (4.05), service on the Board of Professional Responsibility (4.06), or by passing a bar examination or specialty certification examination (4.06), service on a state or national governmental committee involved in formal sessions for review of proposed legislation, rules or regulations can earn up to one-half of the annual requirementSee Rule 21 §4.07a).  

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Yes, you can receive a maximum of three hours of Ethics credit for indigent defense work in a compliance year.  If you report six hours, you can carry forward up to three credits to the next compliance year.

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Complete the Request for Indigent Represenation Credits form. Attach the sheets you submitted to the ACAP system showing the number of in-court and out of court hours worked and send everything to the Commission.  Please send the documents only once.   See Rule 21 §4.08(d) 

Yes. Please have your dean or other appropriate person send us a signed letter on the school’s letterhead confirming the course(s) you taught, the quarter/semester/period you taught and the number of credit hours the students earned for successfully completing the course. 

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You will receive credit for four (4) times the number of credit hours of the course.

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You will need to pay the two dollar ($2) per CLE hour reporting fee for those hours.  See Rule 21 §4.03(b).