CBA Record September-October 2025

cate with the lawyer through the online system. User questions must involve civil matters, not criminal. Most often they involve family law, evictions, landlord/ tenant disputes, consumer rights, employ ment, and custody disputes. How Do Attorneys Earn Credit? Attorneys can earn 1 hour of CLE credit for every 2 hours of participation in Illi nois Free Legal Answers, up to a maximum of 5 hours of credit for each report ing period. (Remember, Illinois lawyers report CLE compliance every other year. CLE must include 30 total credit hours; this includes 6 hours of ethics credits, two of which must be 1 hour of diversity and inclusion education and 1 hour of mental health or substance abuse education). To report participation in the program, PILI must submit a monthly report to the MCLE Board that includes attorney names, ARDC numbers, and CLE hours earned by participating attorneys for the prior month. At this time, only pro bono legal services completed through Illinois Free Legal Answers and reported by PILI can be credited toward CLE requirements. How Can Lawyers Get Started? Attorneys can begin pro bono service by registering at il.freelegalanswers.org. Reg istering includes executing an Attorney Use Agreement, which specifies that while no attorney/client relationship exists between the user and the ABA, an attor ney/client relationship is formed between the user (client) and the attorney who selects and answers their question. That relationship, however, is limited in both scope and duration through the program’s terms and conditions. Conflicts of interest are an important point to consider. Luckily, Illinois has adopted Rule of Professional Conduct 6.5, which allows lawyers participat ing in programs like this one to accept

2-Year Pilot Program Lets Lawyers Earn CLE Credit for Pro Bono Work PRACTICAL ETHICS BY TRISHA RICH

A n innovative pilot program began on July 1 this year that allows Illinois attor neys to earn mandatory continuing legal education credits for pro bono work. To effectuate the program, the Supreme Court amended Supreme Court Rule 795(d), which sets out the way Illinois lawyers can earn CLE credit through “nontradi tional” courses or activities—ones that have historically included activities such as teach ing CLE classes, part-time teaching of law courses, and legal scholarship. New Rule 795(d)(14) now permits attorneys to earn CLE credit by participating in Illinois Free Legal Answers from July 1, 2025, until June 30, 2027. What is Illinois Free Legal Answers? Illinois Free Legal Answers is a virtual legal advice clinic in which qualifying users can post legal questions online related to civil matters. Illinois Free Legal Answers is part of the larger American Bar Association Free Legal Answers program, in which, as of this publication, 40 different jurisdictions participate. In Illinois, Illinois Free Legal Answers is administered by the Public Interest Law Initiative, better known as PILI. Once a user posts a question, a volunteer attorney will select and answer the question. If the user has follow up questions, the user (now client) can continue to communi

Trisha M. Rich is a commercial litigator and legal ethicist at Holland & Knight, CBA First Vice President, and a past president of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the national bar association for legal ethicists.

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