MINNESOTA COURT RULES

PROFESSIONAL RULES

Rules of the Minnesota State Boardof Continuing Legal Education

Rule 5.Standards for Course Approval

A.General Standards.

A course must meet the following standards before approval is granted.

(1) The course shall have current, significant intellectual or practical content, and shall be presented in a high-quality manner permitting participants to hear all of the audio and see all of the video portions of the program, including presentations, audience questions, responses to questions, embedded videos, and other program materials.

(2) The course shall deal primarily with matter directly related to the practice of law, the professional responsibility or ethical obligations of lawyers, the elimination of bias in the legal profession and in the practice of law, law office management, or the professional development of lawyers.

(3) The course shall be taught by faculty members qualified by practical or academic experience to teach the specified subject matter. Legal subjects shall be taught by lawyers.

(4) Any written materials should be thorough, high quality, readable, carefully prepared, and distributed to all participants at or before the time the course is offered.

(5) The course shall be presented and attended in a suitable classroom or laboratory setting. A course presented via video recording, simultaneous broadcast, teleconference, or audiotape, or available on-demand or by podcast, may be approved provided that it complies with Rule 6E and a faculty member or moderator is accessible to all participants, either in person or via electronic means, allowing all participants to have access to and participate in the question and answer session. No course will be approved which involves solely correspondence work or self-study.

(6) Credit will not normally be given for speeches at luncheons or banquets.

(7) A list of all participants shall be maintained by the course sponsor and transmitted to the Board upon request, following the presentation of the course.

(8) Credit shall be awarded on the basis of one credit hour for each 60 minutes of instruction at an approved course.

(9) A lawyer shall not receive credit for any course attended before being admitted to practice law in Minnesota, but one so admitted may receive credit of one hour for each 60 minutes actually spent in attendance, for attending for credit or as an auditor a regular course offered by a law school approved by the American Bar Association.

(10) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (9) above, a person who takes approved courses or teaches in an approved course after sitting for the Minnesota Bar Examination, but before admission to practice, may claim credit for the courses taken or the teaching done, if he or she passes that bar examination.

B.Standards for Course Approval for In-House Courses.

(1) An in-house course as defined in Rule 2M will be approved if:

(a) The requirements of Rule 5A and other applicable Rules are met;

(b) 25 percent of the hours of approved instruction are taught by instructors having no continuing relationship or employment with the sponsoring firm, department, financial institution or agency; and

(c) Notice of the course is given to enough outside lawyers so that the audience can potentially be composed of at least 25 percent participants who are not lawyers working in or for the sponsoring firm, department, institution or agency.

(2) An in-house course as defined in Rule 2M that is presented and controlled by an established continuing legal education course sponsor as defined in Rule 2K, may be approved for credit, notwithstanding the fact that the course does not comply with requirements of Rule 5B(1)(b) and (c) above.

(3) An in-house course as defined in Rule 2M shall not be approved for credit if it is presented primarily for clients or clients' counsel.

(Amended effective February 1, 2004; amended effective February 1, 2010; amended effective July 1, 2013; amended effective July 1, 2014.)