Wisconsin
Lawyer
Vol. 81, No. 8, August
2008
Inside the Bar
Comity Makes CLE Reporting Easier
Usually
State Bar members who practice
primarily in other states will have an easier time meeting Wisconsin CLE
requirements, now that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has
adopted the comity provision. Reporting CLE compliance will be easier
too, at least for most members in most jurisdictions.
by
George C. Brown,
State Bar executive director
In
December 2007, the Wisconsin Supreme Court adopted revisions to the
Board of Bar
Examiners (BBE) rules that created a so-called "pure comity"
provision. Essentially, this means
that State Bar of Wisconsin members whose practice is principally in
another state that has
mandatory continuing legal education will be exempted by the BBE from
the attendance requirements
in Wisconsin. This change first applies to lawyers who must report to
the BBE this year. The
rule change still requires you to report to the BBE.
The effort to create this comity provision has been a
decade-long quest for the State
Bar's Nonresident Lawyers Division and the BBE Review Committee. In the
last several years, these
two groups have worked closely with the BBE to get these provisions
enacted.
This new rule is a drastic change. Previously, the BBE
considered such details about
the other states' legal education requirements as whether the number of
classroom minutes per
credit hour were similar to those required in Wisconsin. Under the new
rule, a member need
only show compliance with the other state's CLE requirements.
Of course, comity is only necessary for those lawyers working
outside Wisconsin who
also have clients in Wisconsin. If nonresident lawyers (that is, lawyers
whose principal places
of practice are outside Wisconsin) do not practice in Wisconsin during
their two-year
reporting period, they simply have to check the box on their BBE form
indicating they did not practice
in the state during those two years.
Some members have asked why the State Bar does not regularly
apply for Illinois
credit. Doing so would allow dual-licensed members to run all their
credits through one system
and claim comity to the other state. The issue is one of cost. The
Illinois CLE approval
board requires that a provider pay either an annual $6,000 filing fee
plus $1 per person per
credit hour for each person applying for Illinois CLE credit or a $50
filing fee per course plus
$1 per person per credit hour for each person applying for Illinois CLE
credit. By contrast,
Minnesota charges $35 for credit application per course per day. That
would be $35 for the
live program and then $35 for each video replay that occurs on a
different day. On the other
hand, the Wisconsin BBE does not charge any CLE provider anything to
apply for Wisconsin credit.
State Bar of Wisconsin members also licensed in Illinois might
not need Illinois
credits. Illinois is the latest state to institute mandatory CLE
requirements, and it has its own
comity provision. A Wisconsin lawyer actively licensed in Illinois does
not need to get Illinois
credits if the lawyer meets all four of the following criteria: 1) The
lawyer is a State Bar
of Wisconsin member; 2) Wisconsin has a minimum CLE requirement (it
does); 3) The lawyer has
proof of compliance with the Wisconsin CLE requirements; 4) The lawyer
is regularly engaged in
the practice of law in Wisconsin.1 That
lawyer is eligible for comity in Illinois and thus does
not need Illinois credits.
But Illinois comity is unavailable for Wisconsin-licensed
lawyers who live in Illinois
and whose principal offices are in Illinois but who get most of their
credits from Wisconsin.
For Wisconsin reporting purposes, they can just fill out the BBE form
with their Wisconsin
courses to fulfill the Wisconsin requirements. However, since their
practices are in Illinois,
they will have to apply to Illinois themselves for approval of their
Wisconsin courses.
So, as long as you know the exceptions for those Wisconsin
lawyers whose primary offices
are outside the state, CLE reporting in Wisconsin just got easier,
usually. (To make reporting
even easier, don't forget to access My CLE Tracker when you logon to
WisBar.org.)
Wisconsin Lawyer