Eligibility for Mentors and Mentees
To register as a mentee, you must:
- Complete the program within the first 5 years of practice in Illinois.
- Be registered as active on the Illinois ARDC Master Roll, or
- Have sat for the Illinois bar exam, or
- Have submitted a Rule 704A or 705 admissions application.
To register as a mentor, you must:
- Have practiced law for 5 years or more,
- Be active and in good standing on the Illinois ARDC Master Roll, and
- Have never been suspended or disbarred in any jurisdiction.
I’m eligible. What’s next?
1 Select a sponsoring organization.
Mentors and mentees are matched through sponsoring organizations, which administer the program on a local level. These organizations are your primary point of contact during the mentoring term and will match you with a partner that has enrolled as part of their program.
To get started, browse the list of sponsoring organizations and identify an organization that you’re part of. This may be your employer, bar association, law school, or another relevant organization. You will list this sponsoring organization in the Registration Agreement (step 2).
Please note, in-house mentoring programs in law firms, corporate legal departments, and governmental entities are restricted to current employees.
2 Complete the Registration Form (open enrollment only).
Unless you’re participating through an in-house program, mentors and mentees must complete the Registration Form. This lets your sponsoring organization know you’re ready to start.
Those participating through in-house programs (i.e., law firms, corporate legal departments, governmental entities) don’t complete the Registration Form.
Mentor Registration Mentee Registration
3 Participate in an orientation.
The completion of an online or in-person orientation is required before beginning your mentoring term. Your sponsoring organization will provide instructions on how your orientation will be administered.
4 Complete the Mentoring Agreement.
All mentors and mentees (including those in in-house programs) must complete the Mentoring Agreement to start the program, report your start date, and define the parameters of the mentoring relationship. If you fail to submit your Mentoring Agreement (with a start date) as you begin the program, we may not be able to report your credits timely. If that happens, you may incur MCLE-related fees and encounter delays in or denial of CLE credit when you end the program. To avoid these issues, please submit your Mentoring Agreement promptly.
5 Complete the year-long mentoring program.
Your mentoring program will be guided by the Mentoring Plan, which is a flexible curriculum that you and your mentoring partner will follow. Mentors and mentees meet a minimum of eight times during the one-year term.*
Your sponsoring organization will match you with a mentoring partner that meets your training goals.
6 Apply for CLE Credit.*
At the end of the mentoring term (365 days), attorneys must complete the Mentoring Attestation and CLE Certification. This will ensure you receive 6 hours of professional responsibility CLE credit for completing the program, including 1 hour of diversity and inclusion CLE and 1 hour of mental health and substance abuse CLE.
Complete this form only after it has been at least 365 days since your mentoring term began with your Orientation. Failure to submit the form within 13 months of starting the program results in an “Incomplete” report to the MCLE Board with no CLE credit issued. See the form for instructions on requesting an extension of time.
Newly-Admitted Attorneys
The Rule 793(c) Requirement for Newly-Admitted Attorneys states completion must be one year after admission to practice in Illinois; however, if the Newly-Admitted Attorney is involved in a mentoring program that will not complete its term until after the one-year deadline, the mentoring credits still may be used to satisfy this requirement. (More information may be found on the MCLE website.)
There are two options for satisfying a portion of the 15-hour Requirement for Newly-Admitted Attorneys with credit for completion of the year-long mentoring program. These new attorneys may complete:
- Mentoring Program (6 PR CLE) + Basic Skills Course (6 CLE) + 3 hours CLE = 15 hours
- Mentoring Program in lieu of the Basic Skills Course (6 PR CLE) + 9 hours CLE = 15 hours
*Virtual Mentoring Meetings Allowed: Mentoring pairs may hold any or all of their required in-person meetings over the one-year term through video conference as an alternative to in-person meetings, which remain encouraged when physically possible and safe to do so. If you have questions, please reach out to Mark C. Palmer at mark.palmer@2civility.org.