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Five Tips for Your First Reporting Period with the Transcript System

As the Illinois Supreme Court has announced, the Illinois MCLE program is now using a transcript system for MCLE compliance reporting. Here are five tips for using the transcript system.

  1. Get to know the transcript system--what’s changed and what’s the same

    The biggest change: attorneys don’t submit a check-the-box compliance report                                 

    Your online transcript on the Board’s website is now your compliance report. Your online credit list is no longer merely a resource to check your credits.

    With the transcript system, you will not complete a check-the-box report as the two-year reporting period ends. Instead, once your online transcript reflects the required credits, the Board records that compliance and emails a confirmation to your address on file with the ARDC. Check out this video tutorial for an online transcript overview.

    What’s the same

    • June 30 and July 31 deadlines for your compliance group

      For attorneys in the A-M compliance group: June 30, 2024 is the deadline to complete your credits or qualify for an exemption. July 31, 2024 is the deadline for your records (now your online transcript) to reflect that June 30, 2024 compliance or exemption. 

    • Out-of-state exemptions must be reported

      To rely on an out-of-state exemption under Rule 791(a)(6), you still must report that exemption online to the Board by July 31 of your reporting year. This video tutorial explains how to report that exemption online.

    • Avenues for earning Illinois MCLE credits (with attorneys entering nontraditional credits)

      You can still earn credits through Illinois-accredited MCLE courses, qualifying bar association meetings, and specific nontraditional activities listed in Rule 795(d).

      Course providers will still enter your credits from accredited courses and bar associations will add your credits for qualifying bar meetings. But attorneys need to enter certain nontraditional credits into their transcript--here’s a video on how to do that.

    Carryover credit and other transcript highlights

    • Your online transcript displays your total completed credits, along with credit approved as professional responsibility. It also lists how many credits you need and the credit type.

    • If you earned excess credits in your prior two-year reporting period, you may enter up to 10 hours of carryover credit to your current reporting period. For attorneys whose last reporting period was their newly-admitted reporting period with excess credits earned, you may enter up to 15 carryover credit hours to your first two-year reporting period.

    • Enter the total number of carryover credits and credit type—general, diversity/inclusion, mental health/substance abuse, or other professional responsibility. This video tutorial explains how to enter carryover credits from your prior two-year reporting period, while this video explains carryover entry if your newly-admitted reporting period is your prior reporting period. After your current reporting period, the transcript system will calculate your carryover credits automatically.

    • When you choose to enter a grace period extension no later than July 31 of your reporting year, you will pay the $100.00 late fee with that submission. With that entry and payment, you will have an extension to October 31 of your reporting year to complete your credits. November 30 of your reporting year will be the deadline for your transcript to reflect you completed your credits by the October 31 grace period deadline.

  2. Check credits on your online transcript promptly

    With the upcoming June 30, 2024 compliance deadline for A-M attorneys, please check your credits by going to www.mcleboard.org, signing in, and accessing the My MCLE page.

    For your current two-year reporting period, you need 30 hours of Illinois MCLE credit, including one hour of diversity/inclusion credit, one hour of mental health/substance abuse credit, and four other hours of professional responsibility credit. You are responsible to ensure your transcript’s accuracy.

    To comply with the two-year reporting period requirements, your online transcript with the Board must reflect you finished your credits no later than June 30 of the reporting year. The deadline for your transcript to reflect that June 30 compliance is 31 days later, on July 31.

  3. Missing a course on your transcript? Check the date then contact the provider

    • If you attended or taught a course this month or last, the course provider has until the 5th of the next month to enter credit in your online transcript. When you finish a course, consider setting a reminder to check your transcript on the 6th of the next month. Course providers who report credits after the 15th of the month following the month you completed a course will be required to pay a late fee when reporting your attendance to the Board.

    • If you attended or taught a course before your current reporting period started, it is not listed on your current reporting period’s transcript. To view courses attended or taught before the current reporting period, log into the Board's website, go to the dropdown “I want to” menu on your My MCLE page, and select “View All Reported Credits.”

    • For courses not timely entered in your transcript, contact the course provider directly to determine why your attendance has not been reported. To access the provider’s contact information, click Find a Provider and search for the provider’s name.

  4. For CLE courses, check the Illinois accreditation, confirm before you commit

    When you consider registering for or speaking at a CLE course, check whether it is Illinois MCLE accredited. Search the Board’s website for that accreditation here. If you do not find the course in that search, ask the course provider before you pay to attend whether it will apply for Illinois MCLE credit.

    If a provider states a course is “CLE eligible,” ask how it is eligible for Illinois CLE credit: will the provider apply for Illinois MCLE credit for the course, or is the provider expecting the attorney to secure that accreditation? Please note: attorneys do not have the option to apply for Illinois MCLE credit for in-person, live courses held in Illinois or recorded courses--the course provider must secure Illinois MCLE accreditation for them. If a provider tells you otherwise, inform the provider they are mistaken and contact the Board.

  5. Attending a course out of state or via live technology and it’s not Illinois MCLE accredited? Consider submitting the course online for Illinois MCLE credit

    Some courses held in person in another state or via live technology may be eligible for Illinois MCLE credit based on MCLE accreditation by an eligible state. If the course qualifies for such accreditation, the attorney needs to submit an online accreditation application to the Board with a $15.00 fee to add the course to your transcript. Learn more about applying to accredit qualifying out-of-state or live technology courses. 

The Illinois MCLE Board welcomes your questions at attorney@mcleboard.org or 312-924-2420.

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