CLE Attendance Recording

Active and Associate members must document the completion of six (6) hours of substantive continuing legal education, at least one (1) hour of which must be legal ethics, by May 31 of the membership year in order to renew as an Active or Associate member. Members must keep all certificates of attendance in their personal files and must ensure their CLE is documented through this website’s online CLE records repository. You access the repository via the My Account link. The repository is discussed in detail below.

Attendance at State Bar of Texas MCLE-Approved CLE Seminars

As a member of the Paralegal Division (PD) and as a member benefit, your attendance at CLE seminars that are sponsored by the State Bar of Texas and/or CLE seminar(s) that have been approved by the MCLE Department of the State Bar of Texas are automatically added to the CLE records repository on this site. Any time you attend a seminar that is approved by the MCLE Department of the State Bar, you, as a PD member, should complete the attendance form on-site or submit your name and membership number to the sponsor [on-site]. The form and/or list is turned in to the State Bar MCLE Department and scanned into your attendance record there. The Paralegal Division downloads (on a weekly basis) the MCLE attendance records of PD members through a website connection to add to each PD member’s CLE attendance records to the PD CLE records repository. You can view these records via the My Account link. These courses have gray background on your CLE record and cannot be changed via this website.

CLE Seminar attendance that has been approved by the MCLE Department of the State Bar of Texas must not be manually entered into the CLE records repository through this website. To reiterate: Any CLE seminar that is MCLE approved must be recorded by the State Bar (and NOT by you) in order for it to show up on your PD member record.

If you believe attendance credits for a State Bar MCLE approved seminar are missing or incorrect, please call the State Bar at 1-800-204-2222 ext. 1806. If credit is missing, request a Credit Input Form. This is the individual form that can be used to update the MCLE record.

It takes approximately 2 weeks for new attendance or other updates recorded with the MCLE Department to be synced with the PD database.

Attendance at Other CLE Seminars

You should use the online CLE records repository to manually input CLE seminar attendance that has not been approved by the MCLE Department of the State Bar (those include seminars sponsored by the Paralegal Division and any other paralegal organization). This is mandatory for those members who plan to renew as an Active or Associate member.

Important Reminders

The Paralegal Division does NOT maintain CLE records for its members. The CLE repository is a benefit provided to you as a member of the Paralegal Division and it provides a place for you to manage your CLE records. Please keep all certificates of attendance in your personal file in case your CLE attendance is audited by the Paralegal Division.

Continuing Legal Education Documentation

It is the member’s personal responsibility to save your certificate of attendance documentation of MCLE/CLE hours claimed if you intend to continue participation in the Paralegal Division as an Active or Associate member. Members who plan to renew their membership as an Active or Associate member also must ensure their MCLE/CLE information is current in the CLE repository. Again, there are two requirements: save your certificates for attendance and keep your CLE repository current.

MCLE/CLE hours claimed by Active and Associate members during the annual renewal process are subject to audit. If selected for audit, you must provide documentation of your claimed CLE activities.

CLE Repository

PD provides a repository for storing two types of continuing legal education history records for its members: MCLE and CLE.

MCLE stands for “Mandatory Continuing Legal Education” and is a compliance issue for attorneys who practice in the State of Texas. This is a term used by the State Bar of Texas (SBOT) for those courses that have been approved for MCLE credit for attorneys. Paralegals may attend these courses to obtain CLE.

“CLE” is a general term that means “continuing legal education”. For instance, a paralegal may obtain CLE hours by attending TAPS, local association CLE seminars or meetings, attorney seminars, in-house CLE, self-study hours, online CLE courses, courses sponsored by other local or bar associations, etc. CLE may be acquired in a number of different formats. CLE is also a requirement to maintain certification or registration credentials (i.e. Texas Board of Legal Specialization, National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc., National Federation of Paralegal Associations, or others), as well as a requirement for Active and Associate membership in the Paralegal Division. Local paralegal associations may also have a CLE requirement.

About the CLE Repository

The process for management of your continuing legal education history is different for MCLE and CLE hours. Log into the My Account page to access your CLE repository. Members who plan to renew their membership as an Active or Associate member must ensure their MCLE/CLE information is current in the repository.

MCLE — The Paralegal Division performs a weekly cycle where we download the latest records from the SBOT MCLE database and import them to our CLE database. These imported records cannot be edited via this website. Any MCLE record is “grayed out” in your CLE history, indicating it as a MCLE course record. See below for how to address discrepancies.

CLE — You should record your participation in any general, non-MCLE, CLE courses/seminars. That’s the only way your participation is recorded. The Paralegal Division does NOT record member participation in CLE activities. The repository is a benefit provided to you as a member of the Paralegal Division. It provides you a place to personally manage your CLE records. If you plan to renew your Active or Associate membership in the Division, you MUST ensure you have an adequate number of hours of CLE recorded in the repository prior to May 31 of the renewal year. Note, you should NOT record self-study activities in the repository.

Documentation Sources

State Bar of Texas MCLE-Approved CLE Programs Attendance:

Any time you attend a seminar that is approved by the MCLE Department of the State Bar, you, as a PD member, should complete the attendance form on-site or submit your name and membership number to the sponsor [on-site]. The form and/or list is submitted to the State Bar MCLE Department and scanned into your attendance record. The Paralegal Division downloads (on a weekly basis) the MCLE attendance records of PD members and imports them into this site’s CLE records repository discussed above.

If you find that an MCLE record is missing or incorrect, please call the State Bar at 1-800-204-2222 ext. 1383 and request a Credit Input Form. This is the individual form that can be used to update the MCLE record.

Texas Advanced Paralegal Seminar (TAPS) Attendance:

If you have attended a TAPS seminar you will be provided a Certificate of Attendance following the event. If you did not receive a Certificate of Attendance, contact the Paralegal Division Coordinator at pd@txpd.org.

District and Local Association Sponsored CLE Attendance:

If you have attended a PD District or local association CLE, please contact the PD District sponsor or local association to obtain a certificate of attendance form if one was not distributed at the CLE event.

National Association Sponsored CLE Attendance:

If you have attended a national association CLE, please contact the national association to obtain a certificate of attendance form if one was not distributed at the CLE event.

Online/Webinars/Audios

If you participated in a “virtual” classroom, contact the sponsor to obtain a certificate of attendance form if one was not distributed via the CLE event.

Self-Study

Self-study is a general term. See the FAQ entitled, What qualifies as “self-study CLE” for paralegals?, for more info. The Division also accepts teaching or speaking credit for those substantive law courses accredited or presented by one of the above-listed organizations. Documentation for self-study activities is not required.