Three more months till the end of the 2009 compliance year (June 30, 2009)! Complete your CLE credits by this date and you won’t have to file paperwork!

The annual audit of lawyers’ records of their CLE completion begins this month through a random selection of Certificates of Compliance from 2008. The lawyers who are chosen are asked to provide copies of their course attendance records for the courses listed on their Certificates from 2008 and from 2007, if they claimed carry forward credits.

The audit serves several purposes. The NHMCLE Board, a creation of the NH Supreme Court to administer SC Rule 53, conducts the audit to remind lawyers that they are accountable for the courses listed in their CLE records. SC Rule 53 requires that attendance records be kept for all CLE courses completed for two years following compliance. In some cases, the audit has found that lawyers have not set up proper record keeping procedures in their offices to account for their CLE completion.

The process also reminds lawyers that they need to take the proper action to be sure that the courses they complete appear correctly in their online records within 30 days of completion. For courses from Annual Sponsors, that means requesting that their attendance be reported to NHMCLE. For courses from other sponsors, lawyers have to submit an Attorney Credit Application Form with attachments within 30 days of course completion.