N.M. R. MCLE 18-203

As amended through November 1, 2024

Rule 18-203 - Accreditation; course approval; provider reporting

A.Accreditation. The board shall do the following:

(1) accredit and periodically review institutions

(a) that have a history of providing quality CLE courses; and

(b) that meet current accredited provider standards established by the board; and

(2) approve individual programs of continuing legal education.

B.Accredited institutions and program provider requirements. Accredited institutions and program providers shall do the following:

(1) assure that each program addresses the ethical or professionalism implications where appropriate; provided, however, that only those portions of a program specifically approved or specified as granting ethics and professionalism credit shall be used to fulfill the attorney's ethics and professionalism requirement;

(2) assure that the course has significant intellectual or practical content and that its primary objective is to increase the participant's professional competence as an attorney;

(3) assure that the curriculum offered relates to legal subjects or subjects which relate to the individual attorney's practice of law, including legal ethics and professionalism;

(4) assure that presenters for all programs are qualified by practical or academic experience to teach the subject to be covered;

(5) assure that legal subjects are normally taught by attorneys;

(6) assure that, with the exception of wellness programs submitted by the New Mexico Lawyers and Judges Assistance Program, program faculty include at least one (1) lawyer, judge, or full-time law professor;

(7) assure that thorough, high quality, current, readable, carefully prepared written materials are distributed to all participants at or before the time the course is offered; and

(8) assure that a level of activity is noted on the promotional materials following the guidelines listed below:

(a)Advanced. An advanced CLE course should be designed for the practitioner who specializes in the subject matter of the course;

(b)Intermediate. An intermediate course is designed for the practitioner experienced in the subject matter, but not necessarily an expert. A survey course in which there have been recent, substantial changes will be deemed intermediate. In an intermediate course, some segments may be low intermediate or basic and others high or advanced. In those instances, the course taken as a whole will be considered intermediate;

(c)Basic. A basic course is designed for the practitioner with no experience or limited experience in the area of law with which the course deals. A survey course will be considered basic unless there are recent, significant changes in the law.

C.Announcement of approval. Providers shall announce, for a program that has been given approval, that: "This course has been approved by the Board of Bar Commissioners of the State Bar of New Mexico for _____ hours of credit."

D.Provider attendance lists. All CLE providers must, as a condition of accreditation or program approval, agree to provide the board a list of all New Mexico attorneys and judges who attended the CLE program and the number of hours claimed by each participant. The list and any required credit filing fees shall be provided within thirty (30) days of the program being held. CLE providers who fail to meet the thirty (30) day deadline may be subject to fines established by the board and loss of accredited status.

N.M. R. MCLE 18-203

As amended, effective 1/1/1990;11/1/1991;1/1/1994;1/16/1996;2/18/1998;1/1/2001;1/1/2001; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 05-8300-007, effective 1/1/2006; by Supreme Court Order No. 06-8300-033, effective 1/1/2007; by Supreme Court Order No. 08-8300-049, effective 12/31/2008; by Supreme Court Order No. 11-8300-020, effective 5/1/2011 for compliance year ending12/31/2011, and subsequent compliance years; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 17-8300-010, effective 9/11/2017; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 21-8300-030, effective 12/31/2021.

ANNOTATIONS The 2017 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 17-8300-010, effective September 11, 2017, provided an exception to the requirement that accredited institutions and program providers must assure that program faculty include at least one lawyer, judge, or full-time law professor; in Paragraph B, Subparagraph B(1), after "fulfill the", deleted "attorneys'" and added "attorney's", in Subparagraph B(6), after "assure that", added "with the exception of wellness programs submitted by the New Mexico Lawyers and Judges Assistance Program", and after "one", added "(1)", and in Subparagraph B(8)(b), after "some", deleted "segment" and added "segments"; and in Paragraph D, deleted "Pursuant to" and added "Under", and after "participant.", deleted "Such" and added "The". The 2011 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 11-8300-020, effective May 1, 2011, eliminated the requirements that providers address the code of professional responsibility and offer courses on professional conduct and law office management. The 2008 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 08-8300-49, effective December 31, 2008, in Paragraph A, added the designation of Subparagraph (a) and added a new Subparagraph (b). The 2006 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order 06-8300-33, effective January 1, 2007, added a new Subparagraph (5) of Paragraph B designation for the second sentence of former Subparagraph (4) relating to legal subjects being taught by attorneys, added a new Subparagraph (6) to provide that at least one faculty member of a program include a lawyer, judge or full-time professor; deleted Paragraph D relating to self-study credit, Paragraph E, relating to publications, Paragraph F, relating to live program credit, Paragraph G, relating to speakers and Paragraph H, relating to hours earned; and redesignated former Paragraph I as Paragraph D. See Rule 18-204, adopted effective January 1, 2007 for the contents of Former Paragraphs D through H. The 2005 amendment, approved March 24, 2005 by Supreme Court Order No. 05-8300-07, effective January 1, 2006, amended Paragraphs E and H to change the definition of a credit hour from "fifty (50)" minutes to "sixty (60)" minutes. The second 2000 amendment, effective January 1, 2001, substituted "self-study course is" for "video or audio tapes are" and inserted "and was produced within five (5) years from the date of viewing, listening or participating" in Subparagraphs D(1) and (2); and rewrote the undesignated paragraph following Subparagraph D(3). The first 2000 amendment, effective January 1, 2001, inserted "and professionalism" in Subparagraphs B(1) and B(3). The 1998 amendment, effective February 16, 1998, inserted "participation in education activities involving the use of computer-based resources" in Subparagraph A(2), inserted "or participating in educational activities involving the use of computer-based resources" in Paragraph D; and deleted "or" following "viewing" and inserted "or participating" in Subparagraph D(1). The 1996 amendment, effective January 16, 1996, added Subparagraph B(6) and made related changes, and inserted "and listening to audio tapes" in Paragraph F. The 1994 amendment, effective May 1, 1994, added Paragraph E, redesignated former Paragraphs E and F as Paragraphs F and G, and deleted former Paragraph G relating to publications, which read: "Credit may be earned of one hour for each fifty (50) minutes spent preparing an article which is actually published in a legal periodical or journal which is approved by the administrator or the board." The 1991 amendment, effective November 1, 1991, in Paragraph D, substituted "video or audio tapes" for "materials" in Subparagraphs (2) and (3) and "one compliance year" for "any reporting year" in the last sentence of that paragraph; in Paragraph E, substituted "this live program" for "the original course or program" and deleted the former last sentence, which read "These programs are not subject to the self-study limitations"; and, in the first sentence in Paragraph I, substituted "board" for "committee" and "attorneys" for "lawyers".