North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 27 - STATE BAR › Chapter 01 - RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR › Subchapter G › Section .0200 - RULES GOVERNING CONTINUING PARALEGAL EDUCATION › Section 01G .0202 - ACCREDITATION STANDARDS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
The Board of Paralegal Certification shall approve
					 continuing education activities in compliance with the following standards and
					 provisions.
(a) An approved activity
				  shall have significant intellectual or practical content and the primary
				  objective of increasing the participant's professional competence and
				  proficiency as a paralegal.
(b) An
				  approved activity shall constitute an organized program of learning dealing
				  with matters directly related to the practice of law, professional
				  responsibility, professionalism, or ethical obligations of
				  paralegals.
(c) A certified
				  paralegal may receive credit for continuing education activities in which live
				  instruction or recorded material is used. Recorded material includes videotaped
				  or satellite transmitted programs, and programs on CD-ROM, DVD, or other
				  similar electronic or digital replay formats. A minimum of three certified
				  paralegals must register to attend the presentation of a replayed prerecorded
				  program. This requirement does not apply to participation from a remote
				  location in the presentation of a live broadcast by telephone, satellite, or
				  video conferencing equipment.
(d) A
				  certified paralegal may receive credit for participation in a course online. An
				  on-line course is an educational seminar available on a provider's website
				  reached via the internet. To be accredited, a computer-based CPE course must be
				  interactive, permitting the participant to communicate, via telephone,
				  electronic mail, or a website bulletin board, with the presenter and/or other
				  participants.
(e) Continuing
				  education materials are to be prepared, and activities conducted, by an
				  individual or group qualified by practical or academic experience in a setting
				  physically suitable to the educational activity of the program and, when
				  appropriate, equipped with suitable writing surfaces or sufficient space for
				  taking notes.
(f) Thorough, high
				  quality, and carefully prepared written materials should be distributed to all
				  attendees at or before the time the course is presented. These may include
				  written materials printed from a computer presentation, computer website, or
				  CD-ROM. A written agenda or outline for a presentation satisfies this
				  requirement when written materials are not suitable or readily available for a
				  particular subject. The absence of written materials for distribution should,
				  however, be the exception and not the rule.
(g) Any continuing legal education activity
				  approved for lawyers by the North Carolina State Bar's Board of Continuing
				  Legal Education meets these standards.
(h) In-house continuing legal education and
				  self-study shall not qualify for continuing paralegal education (CPE)
				  credit.
(i) A certified paralegal
				  may receive credit for completion of a course offered by an ABA accredited law
				  school with respect to which academic credit may be earned. No more than 6 CPE
				  hours in any year may be earned by attending such courses. Credit shall be
				  awarded as follows: 3.5 hours of CPE credit for every quarter hour of credit
				  assigned to the course by the educational institution, or 5.0 hours of CPE
				  credit for every semester hour of credit assigned to the course by the
				  educational institution.
Authority
					 G.S.
					 84-23;
Adopted Eff. August 18,
					 2005;
Amended Eff. March 8, 2013; March 11, 2010; March 2,
					 2006.