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    CLE Programs Guide for Presenters

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    Thank you for volunteering! 

    We couldn't do what we do without dedicated members who volunteer their time and expertise to ensure the success of ABA programs.

    Here are your key responsibilities for presenting a CLE program: 

    1. Include at least one licensed attorney panelist.
    2. Tailor your program content - Prepare your program content for a legal audience. If the program qualifies for specialty credit (e.g. Ethics), prepare appropriate learning objectives.
    3. Create substantive course materials - Thorough, high-quality, and substantive documents that reference the actual content presented during the live program (e.g. presentation slides/detailed outline).
    4. Answer questions during the program (real-time programs only) - The program must have an opportunity for question-and-answer to meet interactivity requirements.

    Include One Licensed Attorney Panelist

    Your panel must have at least one attorney currently licensed to practice who actively participates (not just professionals from other disciplines—e.g., CPA, PhD, etc.).

    Tailor Your Program Content

    ‎‎Being mindful of MCLE accreditation standards will help tailor your program content.

    Your program content should target attorneys with a focus on practicing law, discussing law, or on topics that impact the legal profession. Programs that discuss marketing, business development, rainmaking, or career development do NOT qualify for CLE credit. The primary objective must be to increase each attendee’s professional competence as an attorney.

    If the program qualifies for specialty credit (e.g. Ethics, Elimination of Bias/Diversity, Mental Illness, Substance Abuse, Professionalism, or Wellness), you must also create learning objectives.

    ABA Programs that Qualify for MCLE Credit

    ABA Best Practices 

    • It is good practice to increase audience interaction by breaking up the discussion with questions and comments. A change in voice every 10 minutes keeps the audience focused and enhances retention.
    • Use the ABA PowerPoint template provided to be consistent with our branding.  We also encourage adding visual elements and keeping information on slides to a minimum. For presentation slides, a good rule of thumb is 10 slides for every 20 minutes of content.
    • The substantive portion of the program must run to the scheduled end time including the opportunity for Q&A. If there are no live questions you should plan to fill in this time with any content-related discussion (e.g. additional content, pre-planned pocket questions, takeaways, etc.)

    Create Substantive Course Materials

    All MCLE state regulators require thorough, high-quality, and carefully prepared substantive written materials for each CLE program or session. Although each presenter does not have to submit written materials, it is the collective responsibility of the panel to prepare written materials that meet these requirements. Failure to submit written materials by the deadline may result in no CLE credit or cancellation of the program.

    Why are substantive written materials required?

    There are three reasons that MCLE regulators require written materials be provided to attendees for all CLE programs:

    1. It ensures thorough course preparation by the provider and presenters.
    2. It ensures that the attendees will be provided with materials that are useful after the course is completed.
    3. It allows MCLE Boards to evaluate the quality and nature of the course and ensure that the actual subject matter is being covered and is appropriate for accreditation purposes.

    What happens if my course materials do NOT meet the requirements?

    MCLE regulators will deny CLE credit for a program that does not have thorough, high-quality, carefully prepared substantive written materials. So, the more robust the course materials are, the better chance we have of appealing those decisions. Also, some jurisdictions require the ABA to ensure the quality of written materials even when they don’t review them directly. This means that the ABA’s reputation as a CLE provider can be jeopardized if course materials do not meet the requirements. Thus, we will review the course materials for sufficiency and provide feedback to ensure that they will meet MCLE requirements.

    Here's a Good Example of Course Materials

    Download the CLE Course Materials Guide

    ABA Best Practices

    There are generally two ways to satisfy/exceed MCLE requirements:

    1. Minimalist slides along with a good paper
    2. Robust slides that eliminate the need for a paper

    If you don’t plan to use presentation slides, you must include substantive content with some sort of item specific to the presentation (e.g. a detailed outline with citations and quotes)

    You can also include additional course materials such as these:

    • Articles, White Papers, and Book Chapters
    • Court decisions, Statutes, and Regulations
    • Templates, Forms, and Checklists
    • Links to online articles and other resources

    ABA Copyright Guidance

    ‎‎Use royalty-free and creative common licensed images to avoid copyright infringement.

    Copyright protects works of creative authorship that are fixed into a tangible medium of expression (e.g. text, photographs, artwork, movies, and music). Copyright infringement occurs when copyrighted works are used without permission from the copyright holder.  Presenters should seek copyright permission for the use of all copyrighted works in their presentation and course materials unless they are public domain/record, royalty-free or self-created.

    Areas of risk for the ABA:

    • Photographs, videos, articles, or other materials from the Internet: While work published on the Internet may be publicly accessible, it does not mean it is in the “public domain”. A work falls into the public domain once copyright expires; in the U.S. this will be 70 years after the author’s death. It is safer to assume the work is NOT in the public domain and needs permission to use.
    • “Fair Use” Defense: The understanding that because we are a non-profit, most of the copyrighted material we use is considered “fair use”. Fair use factors (purpose of use, nature of work, amount used, economic impact on work) are part of a subjective analysis decided on by a judge or jury. Fair use is a complicated and difficult defense to assert. The bottom line is to err on the side of obtaining permission.

    How to Avoid Copyright Infringement:

    • Royalty-free Images: Use websites that offer royalty-free images (no compensation due to owner -- e.g. Pixabay, Pexels, Pikwizard, Freerange, Unsplash, Microsoft Office Stock Images)
    • Creative Common License: Pay attention to the specific restrictions of the license – many times attribution is required. That means that you must credit the author/creator of the image (e.g., Photo Credit: First Name, Last Name). On Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, check the “Creative Commons” box when searching for images.

    Answer Questions During the Program (real-time programs only)

    The program must have an opportunity for question-and-answer to meet interactivity requirements. The presenter designated as “Moderator” should field the questions for the panel. Decide how you would like to address questions (in real-time, at the end, intermittently, or a combination of these). If no questions are asked, presenters should prepare “pocket questions” to ask each other or additional content to continue the discussion until the scheduled end time. Ending early may jeopardize CLE credit.

    Thank you again for your work to ensure your program qualifies for CLE credit! If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Buckley at [email protected].