– Education Requirements for MCLE Compliance

A. Active Member Minimum MCLE Requirements: Active Members must earn a minimum of fifteen credit hours of approved CLE each reporting year. Of those fifteen credit hours, the member must earn at least ten credit hours by attending interactive seminars as defined in Rule 9. The member may not earn more than five credit hours through “other methods” as defined in Rule 9. B. Professional Fitness and Integrity Requirements: Of the fifteen credit hours of CLE required each reporting year, at least two credit hours must be in Professional Fitness and Integrity activities. These activities must meet the standards set out in Rule 8B and may be in any or all of the following three content areas: STATE LAW LIBRARY OF MONTANA Joseph P. Mazurek Justice Building 215 North Sanders Street PO Box 203004 Helena, MT 59620-3004 Website: courts.mt.gov/library Email: [email protected] Phone: 406-444-3660 Fax: 406-444-3603 1. Professional Responsibilities/Ethics: Activities on understanding and complying with accepted principles of professional conduct and responsibility as established by the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct or established by other state or national rules of professional conduct for lawyers. 2. Fitness to Practice: Subject to the limitations in subsection (d) below: a. Activities on preventing, recognizing, and responding effectively to personal substance abuse, addictive disorders, stress, and/or mental health issues, including information on available lawyer assistance programs. b. Activities on recognizing, reporting, assisting, and supporting attorneys affected by substance abuse, addictive disorders, stress, and/or mental health issues. c. Stress management activities as they relate to the practice of law if they focus on developing awareness of stress-related problems in the practice of law, including activities that focus on personality traits susceptible to stress, work/life balance, recognizing signs of stress in oneself or one’s colleagues, instituting preventative measures individually, and the development of policies within the law firm or legal department for dealing with stress-impaired attorneys. d. A member shall not receive credit under this Rule for activities focusing in significant part on techniques or exercises related to these issues—e.g. breathing exercises, meditation, yoga. 3. Activities on acknowledging and advancing the elimination of bias and encouraging diversity and inclusion of all persons in the legal system regardless of race, STATE LAW LIBRARY OF MONTANA Joseph P. Mazurek Justice Building 215 North Sanders Street PO Box 203004 Helena, MT 59620-3004 Website: courts.mt.gov/library Email: [email protected] Phone: 406-444-3660 Fax: 406-444-3603 ethnicity, religion, culture, national origin, social origin or condition, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disabilities. C. Carry-over Credits 1. If a member earns more interactive credits than required in any year, the member may carry forward the excess interactive credits and apply them to satisfy the requirements of these Rules in one or both of the next two reporting years. A member may carry forward a maximum of 30 interactive credit hours. 2. A member may not carry forward credits, including Professional Fitness and Integrity credits, earned in any reporting year by “other methods” as defined in Rule 9, or apply those credits to satisfy any requirement of these Rules for any subsequent reporting year. D. “Comity-Plus” Compliance for Members in Other States and Jurisdictions A member who has an active license to practice law in another state or jurisdiction where the member resides (“Resident Jurisdiction”) may transfer the number of credits required to meet MCLE requirements of that state or jurisdiction. In order to meet its obligations to the public and the legal profession, the Commission requires the member to complete additional activities, if needed, to satisfy Montana’s standards for the total number of credits, and/or the total number of Professional Fitness and Integrity credits, required for CLE compliance. 1. To seek comity-plus compliance, the member must meet all of these criteria: STATE LAW LIBRARY OF MONTANA Joseph P. Mazurek Justice Building 215 North Sanders Street PO Box 203004 Helena, MT 59620-3004 Website: courts.mt.gov/library Email: [email protected] Phone: 406-444-3660 Fax: 406-444-3603 Resident Jurisdiction that has mandatory CLE requirements; a. the member has an active license issued by the member’s b. the member’s address on file with the State Bar of Montana is in that Resident Jurisdiction and has been for a minimum of 45 days prior to the end of the member’s compliance period in Montana; c. the member’s Resident Jurisdiction requires the completion of CLE credits to be in compliance with the CLE requirements established by court rule or legislation in the Resident Jurisdiction; d. the member provides a certificate of good standing verifying CLE compliance in the Resident Jurisdiction and a copy of the member’s CLE transcript of activities undertaken to complete the CLE requirements of the Resident Jurisdiction; types of activities, if any, required to meet Montana’s standards for CLE compliance; and e. the member documents completion of the additional number and compliance processing fee by December 31 of the reporting year. f. the member submits all proper documentation and the comity-plus 2. The Commission will not consider any comity-plus requests submitted after December 31 of the reporting year. If a member does not submit a comity-plus request by December 31 of the reporting year, the member must comply with Montana’s CLE requirements as set forth in Rule 9. 3. Only complete compliance with a Resident Jurisdiction’s CLE requirements will be eligible for comity-plus compliance in Montana. Individual credits STATE LAW LIBRARY OF MONTANA Joseph P. Mazurek Justice Building 215 North Sanders Street PO Box 203004 Helena, MT 59620-3004 Website: courts.mt.gov/library Email: [email protected] Phone: 406-444-3660 Fax: 406-444-3603 or activities will require individual review under the guidelines established by these Rules. 4. Only the number of credits required for compliance in the member’s Resident Jurisdiction will be credited towards comity-plus compliance in Montana. Carry-over credits will not be recognized or carried over in Montana. 5. If additional activities are required for the member to reach Montana’s standards for total number of credits, and/or total number of Professional Fitness and Integrity credits, such activities must meet all other Montana CLE Rules for eligible activities and must be interactive in format, as defined in Rule 9.