27 N.C. Admin. Code 1D.1519

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 8, October 15, 2024
Section 01D .1519 - ACCREDITATION STANDARDS

The board shall approve continuing legal education programs that meet the following standards and provisions.

(a) They shall have significant intellectual or practical content and the primary objective shall be to increase the participant's professional competence and proficiency as a lawyer.
(b) They shall constitute an organized program of learning dealing with matters directly related to the practice of law, professional responsibility, professionalism, or ethical obligations of lawyers.
(c) Credit may be given for continuing legal education programs where live instruction is used or mechanically or electronically recorded or reproduced material is used, including videotape, satellite transmitted, and online programs.
(d) Continuing legal education materials are to be prepared, and programs conducted, by an individual or group qualified by practical or academic experience. Credit shall not be given for any continuing legal education program taught or presented by a disbarred lawyer except a program on professional responsibility (including a program on the effects of substance abuse and chemical dependency, or debilitating mental conditions on a lawyer's professional responsibilities) taught by a disbarred lawyer whose disbarment date is at least five years (60 months) prior to the date of the program. The advertising for the program shall disclose the lawyer's disbarment.
(e) Live continuing legal education programs shall be conducted in a setting physically suitable to the educational nature of the program and, when appropriate, equipped with suitable writing surfaces or sufficient space for taking notes.
(f) Thorough, high quality, and carefully prepared written materials should be distributed to all attendees at or before the time the program is presented. These may include written materials printed from a website or computer presentation. A written agenda or outline for a program satisfies this requirement when written materials are not suitable or readily available for a particular subject. The absence of written materials for distribution should, however, be the exception and not the rule.
(g) A sponsor of an approved program must timely remit fees as required in Rule .1606 and keep and maintain attendance records of each continuing legal education program sponsored by it, which shall be furnished to the board in accordance with regulations. Participation in an online program must be verified as provided in Rule .1601(d).
(h) Except as provided in Rules .1501 and.1602(h) of this subchapter, in-house continuing legal education and self-study shall not be approved or accredited for the purpose of complying with Rule .1518 of this subchapter.
(i) Programs that cross academic lines, such as accounting-tax seminars, may be considered for approval by the board. However, the board must be satisfied that the content of the program would enhance legal skills or the ability to practice law.

27 N.C. Admin. Code 01D .1519

Authority - Order of the North Carolina Supreme Court, October 7, 1987, 318 N.C. 711;
Readopted Eff. December 8, 1994;
Amendments Approved by the Supreme Court: March 1, 2001; October 1, 2003; February 5, 2009; March 11, 2010; April 5, 2018; September 25, 2019; December 14, 2021.
Authority - Order of the North Carolina Supreme Court, October 7, 1987, 318 N.C. 711;
Readopted Eff. December 8, 1994;
Amended Eff. March 11, 2010; February 5, 2009; October 1, 2003; March 1, 2001.