VA regulations limit the qualifying Veterans Law CLE courses for accredited representatives in a way that impedes professional development. We should change that.
Continuing legal education (CLE) is a common requirement for renewing legal licenses in many state bars. VA imposes its own CLE requirement set forth in 38 C.F.R. 14.629. Under this regulation, agents and attorneys must complete a CLE within their first 12 months of accreditation and again every two years that meets the following requirements:
- The CLE credits must be provided in a single three-plus hour course; and
- The CLE course must cover all of the following: representation before VA, dependency and indemnity compensation, and pension.
The way this regulation is written, it forces practitioners (and CLE providers) to rely on a single, broad-scoped course to complete all Veterans Law CLE requirements. This means that any shorter, more focused and in-depth courses do not count toward VA accreditation and are therefore not incentivized.
VA should revise 38 C.F.R. 14.629 to allow for courses under 3 hours to count toward a total CLE hours requirement, and to allow CLE credit for courses that cover just one topic within the scope of Veterans Law. The regulation could still require a practitioner’s total CLE credits to cover an array of sub-topics. But in this way, practitioners and course providers would be more encouraged to engage in deeper analysis of the most common or most complex topics within Veterans Law outside the context of large (and expensive) conferences offered in the field.
These changes could make access to professional development and engagement more affordable and convenient for agents and attorneys–and thus improve the overall quality of representation for Veterans.
