Are written materials required for all courses?

Supreme Court Rule(s) cited in this FAQ: Rule 795.

Yes. Each course must have qualifying written materials distributed to participants before or during the class. Such written materials are a requirement for accreditation.

Providers should not plan a course to be presented without thorough, carefully prepared written materials because they fill a valuable role in the overall learning experience. There are essentially three reasons to require the provider to distribute written materials during or before the course:

Written materials make it much more likely that the speaker is organized and prepared to teach;
Written materials alleviate the need for attorneys to take extensive notes, allowing them to concentrate on the oral presentation; and
Written materials are a valuable reference for attorneys after they leave the course.

Requests to offer a course without written materials should be the rare exception and submitted to the Board before the course start date. When a provider submits such a request for the Board’s approval, it must establish that the course meets all other Rule 795(a) accreditation standards and that the absence of written materials is reasonable. MCLE Rule 795(a)(5). On the timing of such a request:

Individual course providers should submit the application and application fee in PCAM no less than 45 days before the course start date for advance accreditation.
Accredited Providers should contact the MCLE Board no less than 30 days before the course start date for advance accreditation.

As an example of the type of application that the Board would consider as qualifying for CLE credit without written materials:

Congress just passed a new law. The provider establishes that the law will take effect soon, and those affected by the new law must undertake advanced planning. Given the short time between the law’s passage and its effective date, the provider can provide only a copy of the new law and a brief bullet point outline of the new law’s major elements and issues as written materials. The provider establishes a need to offer a course soon after the new law is passed. But the provider also establishes that, due to the limited information available about the subject, it is not possible to prepare thorough, carefully prepared written materials before the course is held.

If a speaker fails to independently produce written materials for a course, that does not excuse the provider from securing qualifying written materials. The course provider still needs to work with the speaker to create or otherwise secure written course materials from other sources, such as other speakers at the course, authorities in the field, or the internet. Please note that any required copyright clearance for use of written materials in a course is solely the provider's responsibility. If the provider waits until after the Board denies the application to assert the reasonableness of not distributing qualifying written materials or establish its efforts to secure written materials, it has waived those arguments in any request for reconsideration or appeal.

If, due to the lack of qualifying written materials, the Board denies the application before the course begins, the provider may still elect to secure qualifying written materials for the course. When that happens, the provider may submit a new application to accredit the course before the application deadline with the required application fee and any late fees. Rule 795(c)(2).

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