Overview of Iowa CLE Requirements
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) is an ongoing professional education requirement for legal professionals in Iowa. Through CLE, attorneys keep their skills current, adapt to changes in law and technology, and uphold ethical standards in their practice. The goal of CLE, as it pertains to the legal profession, is to support the core goal of all judicial administrators: justice through a more competent bar.
Continuing Legal Education in Iowa allows attorneys to hone hard skills, such as legal knowledge and competence, but also softer skills like character and ethical conduct . By pursuing professional development through continuing legal education, attorneys can minimize the risk of disciplinary actions while providing the best possible legal representation to their clients.
The Iowa Supreme Court Office of Professional Regulation oversees professional regulation for the business and practice of law in Iowa. This includes attorney and vendor regulation, ethics, and professionalism. Through ongoing CLE requirements, the Iowa Supreme Court Office of Professional Regulation works to ensure all licensees engage in professional development.
Attorneys that fail to satisfy the CLE requirements may be subject to sanctions, and in some cases, have their license to practice law revoked.
Required Iowa CLE Credits
Iowa attorneys must complete 36 credit hours of continuing education for each 3-year period, or most commonly broken down into 12 credit hours per calendar year. Courses qualifying for credit in Iowa include pre-recorded seminars, live seminars and webinars, attendance at educational programs, and self-study including reading and listening to legal reference materials or litigation materials which must originate from a qualified CLE vendor. They will also allow the attorney to claim credits for teaching, publishing and writing, and pro-bono services.
Additionally, after the first full calendar year after the attorney’s admission to the Iowa Bar, they must complete 3 hours of ethics and professionalism during each calendar year the attorney is an active member of the Iowa Bar. At least two of those hours must be related to another area of ethics or professionalism and at least one hour must relate to diversity.
The most notable recent change in the CLE requirements in Iowa is that the divorce and separation rule was dropped, effective July 1, 2018 which had required attorneys who devote less than 50% of their practice to family law to take 2 hours of divorce and separation MCLE.
Iowa lawyers can carry forward excess credits earned in one reporting period into the next reporting period to help meet the requirements.
IA Minimum CLE Activities
CLE credit is given for educational activities which are planned and give attention to the professional skills or legal ethics of an attorney. This does not include normal duties of an attorney. For example, time spent preparing and appearing at a Supreme Court argument, reading and digesting a decision of the Supreme Court or any time spent on administrative duties in a law office are not approved CLE activities.
The activity must be approved prior to the activity date. A lawyer may be eligible for an unforfeitable credit that can be used to make up prior deficiencies provided the lawyer files a CLE/MCLE Application for Basic Law requirements in advance of, but preferably at least 30 days before, the date of the activity.
CLE requirements may also be made up by attending courses or activities sponsored by the ABA or NALS (formerly known as National Association of Legal Secretaries).
Types of Approved Educational Activities Include:
- Seminars, institutes, advanced courses in law with legal and ethical content, bar association meetings and sections meetings where substantive law, procedures, or skills are taught or discussed.
- Where there is advance provision of study materials comparable to a formal lecture or organized program.
- Teaching or speaking to a program on ethics or a specialty area of law for which CLE credit is offered.
Types of Programs Which Do Not Qualify Include:
- Honoree speeches where the speaker is being honored for something other than providing CLE.
- Political rallies or functions.
- Routine or regularly scheduled staff meetings, chamber meetings, law firm, lawyer or legal assistant group meetings.
Reporting and Grace Periods
Lawyers in Iowa can report CLE credits to the Iowa Board of Continuing Legal Education electronically using the course credit reporting form of the Iowa Supreme Court. Each lawyer must be able to provide the course activity title, date of seminar, time spent and fees for each course reported. The course reporting screen will time stamp the entry and give the lawyer the opportunity to edit the reporting before submitting to the Board. The Iowa CLE Board conducts random audits of the CLE reports to ensure that credits reported were earned. Compliance with the credits earned during the previous compliance period will be reviewed by the Board to determine compliance.
The reporting deadline for completed courses is based on deadlines for each two-year reporting period, which for the current two-year COMPLIANCE PERIOD runs through December 31, 2020. Accordingly, all credits towards compliance for lawyers WEST of Des Moines must be completed and reported by December 31, 2020.
CLE Exemptions and Extensions
An exemption from the CLE program is available to an attorney who is on active military duty. In addition, an attorney who is a person with a disability is exempt from meeting requirements for CLE during any compliance year in which the attorney is determined by the Iowa Division of Labor Services to be disabled as the result of injury or disease. An attorney may also be issued an exemption for a particular compliance year by the Board of Continuing Legal Education upon submission of a request for exemption . The Board may consider request for exemption based on physical or mental incapacity, caregiving responsibilities for a disabled family member, temporary financial hardship, or for other good cause shown.
An attorney may apply for an extension of time to complete continuing legal education requirements. However, if such extension is granted and the attorney alienates the compliance deadline by more than six months, the board will impose a noncompliance fee and may require the individual to show cause why their authority to practice law should not be suspended.
Failure to Comply with CLE Requirements
The consequences of failing to comply with these requirements are severe. An attorney who is determined to be in non-compliance with the Iowa Supreme Court Rules, Rule 41.24D may be suspended from the practice of law or, if the circumstances so warrant, even disbarment. An Iowa Court has stated: "When faced with a lawyer’s noncompliance (or failure to respond), the discretionary authority of the courts cannot be confined merely by the limits of suspension in Iowa Disciplinary Board v. Deen (2017). In Iowa Disciplinary Board of Professional Responsibility v. Burke, we held that where a rules violation is repeated or continuing, cumulative suspensions may be placed on an attorney’s law license… In this case, Jonak’s continuing violations have been serious. Jonak has neglected to obtain or report CLE credit for over two years, in multiple reporting periods, and for a considerable amount of CLE credit. The district court was therefore justified in ordering conditional suspension of Jonak’s law license for one year, based on his failure to comply with the rules." Iowa Disciplinary Bd. v. Jonak, 2018).
Iowa Bar Resources
In order to best meet their CLE needs, lawyers must be aware of the available resources. Numerous organizations provide CLEs and informational websites that direct lawyers to their relevant CLE activities. The Iowa Supreme Court and the Supreme Court Attorneys & Judges’ Conference also provide many opportunities throughout the year. Iowa course providers generally design live courses. Course providers submit programs for accreditation as self-study courses if the course is approved not more than six months after the course is completed. The six-month requirement helps the Commission on Continuing Legal Education monitor compliance. The Commission may grant an exception to the requirement based on a showing of good cause for the failure to timely submit the program. A list of organizations that have been approved to offer continuing legal education seminars or programs in Iowa is available online. Course providers must seek approval to offer a continuing legal education seminar. Once the provider is approved to offer a program, the provider must submit each program for approval. The Iowa State Bar Association (ISBA) offers several CLE seminars during the course of the year and is an approved continuing legal education course provider. The ISBA also hosts several platforms for members to interact with one another and gather information on CLE programs. Developed by The Iowa State Bar Association, the YLD is a collection of ISBA members who focus on networking and learning opportunities for attorneys five years and younger. These attorneys have unique needs, and their programming addresses recent changes – both legislative and judicial – to Iowa law . Their events provide valuable information and allow lawyers to meet colleagues they will see across the courtrooms of Iowa for many years to come. The Supreme Court Attorneys & Judges’ Conference received its first grant from the Iowa Bar Foundation in 1963, only a few years after the conference was first held. Today’s conference features high-profile speakers on a variety of topics, including judicial ethics, technology, and new laws and policies impacting the practice of law. Those attending are judicial officers (judges, magistrates, court reporters and referees) from Iowa, the Eighth Circuit and elsewhere. The Iowa State Bar Association sponsors the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) to provide a forum for the interaction of members with a special interest in representing plaintiffs or individuals in litigation. ITLA, founded in 1952, provides a regular series of intensive seminars on a variety of topics, as well as special programs such as its Damages Orientation Seminar. The Coalition of Bar Associations is a component of The Iowa State Bar Association charged with coordinating and facilitating the continuing legal education programs offered by the various Iowa bar associations. Member organizations include the Blackstone Inn of Court, Iowa Association for Justice, Iowa Defense Counsel Association, Iowa Judges Association, Iowa Public Defenders Association and North Iowa Trial Lawyers. The Coalition offers one of the largest continuing legal education programs in Iowa, with speakers on a variety of current topics. In addition, affiliated organizations offer a variety of other continuing legal education programs for their members. Members find great value in the material presented at these seminars and the opportunity to exchange information and ideas with others in their field.