You may earn a maximum of nine CLE credit hours during each three-year compliance period for providing uncompensated pro bono legal representation to indigent or near-indigent persons, or supervising a law student providing such representation through a qualified entity under C.R.C.P. 250.9. Professional responsibility credit may not be earned under this rule. You may receive one CLE credit for every five billable-equivalent hours of representation provided to the indigent client; if you act as a supervisor to a law student for an assigned pro bono matter you may be awarded three CLE credit hours per completed matter.
To be eligible for CLE credit hours for providing uncompensated pro bono representation, the pro bono legal matter in which you have provided representation must have been assigned to you by: a court; a bar association or Access to Justice Committee-sponsored program; a law school; or an organized, non-profit entity, such as Legal Services Corporation, Metro Volunteer Lawyers, or Colorado Lawyers Committee, whose purpose is or includes the provision of pro bono representation to indigent or near-indigent persons.
To be eligible for CLE credit hours for providing supervision to a law student for an assigned pro bono matter, the matter must be assigned to the law student by a court, program, law school, or entity as described above, or an organized student law office program administered by their law school, after such court, program, entity, or student law office determines that the client is eligible for pro bono representation. You must be available to the law student for information and advice on all aspects of the matter and must directly and actively supervise the law student while allowing the law student to provide representation to the client. You must file or enter an appearance along with the law student in any legal matter pursued or defended for the client in any court. Lawyers may be acting as full-time or adjunct professors at the law student’s law school at the same time they serve as supervising lawyers so long as it is not a primary, paid responsibility of that professor to administer the student law office and supervise its law-student participants.
Prior to assigning the matter, the assigning court, program, law school, or entity must determine that the client is financially eligible for pro bono legal representation because (a) the client qualifies for participation in programs funded by the Legal Services Corporation, or (b) the client’s income and financial resources are slightly above the guidelines utilized by such programs, but the client nevertheless cannot afford counsel.
You may obtain credit for participating in qualified pro bono activities by submitting the information on Form 8; the form requires information and signatures from the submitting attorney as well as a representative from the assigning entity.
As to supervising a law student, you can submit the form when the matter is fully completed.
As to pro bono representation, if the representation will be concluded during a single three-year compliance period, then you will complete and submit the form when the representation is fully completed. If the representation will continue into another three-year compliance period, then you may submit an interim form seeking such credit as you may be eligible to receive during the three-year compliance period that is coming to an end. Upon receipt of an interim or final form, the assigning court, program, law school, or entity must in turn report to the CLJE Office the number of CLE credit hours that it recommends be awarded.