OPR FAQs

Annual reports are filed and associated fees are paid at the professional regulation website (Opens in new window).

The reporting and fee payment system is prepared to accept your annual reports and associated fee payments on December 26^th of each year. Your annual reports must be filed and the associated fees must be paid no later than March 10^th to avoid late filing fees.

You will receive your user name and password in a separate mailing from the Office of Professional Regulation after you file your initial client security report. If you forget or misplace your password, you should use the “Forgot Password” link on the front page of the site to select a new password. (See the detailed instructions below on resetting a password.) If you do not receive your user name and password, you may call the Office of Professional Regulation at (515) 348-4670 to request your password and access instructions. The staff at the Office of Professional Regulation does not have access to your password if you have changed it. If all else fails, the staff at the Office of Professional Regulation can reset your password for you, but the process sometimes is not immediate, so you should allow time for this process if it is necessary.

Once you have accessed your account on the website, the basic steps for the annual filing are:

1. Update your personal information [menu item – Maintain Personal Information]
2. Add your CLE classes for the year to your transcript [menu item – Maintain CLE Transcript]
3. File your annual CLE report and pay your fees [menu item – Submit Annual CLE Report].
4. File your annual client security report and pay your fees [menu item – Submit Annual Client Security Report].

View a tutorial on the filing process

How to Reset Your Password

1. Go to the web page: http//www.iacourtcommissions.org
2. Click “Forgot Password”
3. Click “Get Lost Password”
4. Use the pull-down to select “Supreme Court Commissions” and then click “Next”
5. Put your user name in the block entitled “Account ID” and click on “Forgot Password”
6. Enter your answers to the two baseline identity questions, and click on “Continue”
7. If you have not done so already, record your identity baseline questions and answers for future use
8. Follow the remaining screens to set your new password
9. Log out of the A&A Function, and close the browser window
10. Execute a fresh login to the professional regulation page

The professional regulation website uses the US Bank payment engine, which accepts payment by Mastercard, Visa, Discover card, or e*Check. You will need to have your credit card information available if you want to pay by credit card. You will need to have your bank routing number and bank account number available if you want to pay by e*Check. Your email address will be collected as part of the payment process, and a confirmation of payment will be emailed to you.

Cutting and pasting of material into any of the blocks will cause the application to display the internal error message. Using any decimal point in the blocks that call for whole minutes will cause an error message. Uploading a large attachment (greater than 10 MB) generally causes an error message. Uploading an attachment with a long file name may cause an error message - it's best to keep your file names down to ten characters or so when you upload them.

If these don't resolve the problem, please call us at 515-348-4670, and a member of the staff can walk through it with you and probably determine what the issue is.

If you are having trouble with the transcript maintenance utility itself:

1. Use the Search Form to locate the event you attended.
2. Once the search result has returned the correct CLE event in the first block, click the Add button to add that event to your transcript detail in the second bloc.
3. Annotate the blocks in the transcript detail to specify how many regular hours and ethics hours you personally attended at each event listed in your transcript detail.
4. Click the Save button to save the changes you have made to your CLE transcript.

If you need more assistance, call (515) 348-4670. We can talk you through it.

Iowa Court Rule 42.5 authorizes the Commission on Continuing Legal Education to grant waivers of minimum regular CLE requirements or extensions of time in which to fulfill the requirements and file required reports. You may request an extension of time by using the menu item “File for Regular CLE Extension” on your lawyer account page. The Commission does grant extensions of time when circumstances warrant, but generally does not grant outright waivers of the requirements. You must provide a statement of the hardship or extenuating circumstances upon which your application is based, and a statement of the relief you are seeking. The maximum possible extension the Commission may grant is six months beyond the end of the period during which the required CLE should have been completed. There is no extension fee if the request is submitted on or before January 15^th following the calendar year in which the CLE should have been completed. A $100 extension fee is payable with any regular CLE extension request submitted after January 15th following the year in which the CLE should have been completed.

The six hour cap on unmoderated CLE has been permanently removed. You may now obtained all of your CLE via on-demand (unmoderated) CLE events if you so desire.

Sponsors are not required to report attendance in Iowa. The lawyers maintain their own transcript and submit their own reports. All you need to do is give the Iowa lawyers the activity ID number we assigned the event, along with the number of CLE hours approved and the number of ethics hours approved.

(Two Versions)

Version 1

This event has not been submitted for approval in Iowa. It will need to be submitted using the lawyer's account page on the professional regulation website.

In the future, you can check the database yourself to determine if the events you are interested in already have been accredited. You can search the database of approved events at the Iowa Court Commissions Website (Opens in New Window).

We recommend using a very coarse search. For example, search just by the sponsor name, or just by a date range. You can narrow your search down from there after the first try.

If an event is not in the database of accredited events, the attending lawyer may submit it for accreditation. These submissions for accreditation are done now by accessing the lawyer's account page and selecting the menu item "Submit CLE Program." This method offers a much faster turnaround than using email or the old paper method. The attached tutorial explains the process in more detail. It's fairly painless and quick once you have tried it.

Once you have an activity ID number for the events you attended, whether you get them by searching the database or submitting your own request for accreditation, you can add them to your transcript.

Version 2

First, check the database to determine if the events you attended already have been accredited. You can search the database of approved events on the Iowa Court Commissions website (Opens in new window)

We recommend using a very coarse search. For example, search just by the sponsor name, or just by a date range. You can narrow your search down from there after the first try.

If an event is not in the database of accredited events, you may submit it for accreditation yourself. These submissions for accreditation are done now by accessing your lawyer account page and selecting the menu item "Submit CLE Program." You will get much faster turnaround using that method than the old paper method. The attached tutorial explains the process in more detail. It's fairly painless and quick once you have tried it.

Once you have an activity ID number for the events you attended, whether you get them by searching the database or submitting your own request for accreditation, you can add them to your transcript and submit your report.