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  • WisBar News
    December 04, 2008

    Board of Bar Examiners extends CLE reporting deadline to March 2

    Dec. 4, 2008 – The Board of Bar Examiners has announced that Wisconsin lawyers who must report their CLE credits this year have an additional month to do so. CLE credits still must be earned by Dec. 31. The BBE has extended the filing date to March 2 due to time considerations in the course approval process. The inclusion of ondemand courses has significantly increased the administrative burden on the BBE.

    Board of Bar Examiners extends CLE reporting deadline to March 2

    Dec. 4, 2008 – The Board of Bar Examiners (BBE) announced in early December that Wisconsin lawyers who must report their CLE credits this year have an additional month to do so. Lawyers admitted to practice in even-numbered years must file this reporting period.*

    While CLE credits still must be earned by Dec. 31, the BBE has extended the filing date to March 2 due to time considerations in the course approval process. BBE Chair Jim Morrison said that a hiring freeze has left his agency shorthanded in the wave of CLE reports arriving this time of year. The extended deadline will ease the crunch, he said.

    Morrison encourages members to try the BBE’s new electronic filing system and give feedback to assist with development of a user-friendly system. Currently, the system is not 100 percent electronic as it requires lawyers to submit a paper copy to the BBE. Reporting can still be done by traditional paper forms available from the BBE website. Morrison said that any questions concerning CLE reporting can be directed to the BBE at (608) 266-9760.

    In the upcoming year, Morrison said that the BBE “will do a top-down review of the CLE reporting and approval process.” Morrison said that improving the approval process of CLE courses will be among the issues for review. Currently, lawyers may take a course only to find out later that it has not been approved for all or part of the anticipated credits. “It’s frustrating for lawyers and we want to look at that problem,” he said.

    Morrison said lawyers benefit from these reviews of CLE processes. For example, the supreme court approved CLE credit for online courses in 2007. Of course, Morrison said, the inclusion of ondemand courses has significantly increased the administrative burden on the BBE.

    *Lawyers admitted in 2008 do not have to report until 2010.

    Read a letter from Jim Morrison.

    By Alex De Grand, Legal Writer, State Bar of Wisconsin



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