1960s
Nine Illinois law schools, the ISBA, and the Chicago Bar Association (CBA) form a triparty agreement that all CLE would be provided through a newly created institute for CLE (IICLE.) IICLE was to be housed in the ISBA’s Springfield office.
1974
IICLE grows to occupy one quarter of the ISBA’s Illinois Bar Center between the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office in Springfield.
1974-75
IICLE builds a new office building with a 75-seat auditorium on the west side of Springfield.
1980s
IICLE becomes an independent organization.
1988
The ISBA begins to offer CLE under the name “ISBA Law Ed Series” at $25 per program, including lunch, for ISBA members. The ISBA produces about 10 programs a year initially.
1988-89
The ISBA and CBA petition the Illinois Supreme Court to establish minimum CLE (MCLE) requirements, which the Supreme Court declines to adopt.
2003-04
The ISBA’s CLE Task Force is created.
2004-present
The ISBA Board of Governors (BOG) charges the ISBA CLE Committee with oversight and coordination of ISBA Law Ed (in partnership with the ISBA director of CLE and ISBA staff). The BOG directs the CLE Committee to continue providing CLE as a member service with the directive to work toward covering direct costs and responding to member needs.
2005
The Illinois Supreme Court adopts MCLE requirements.
2006
ISBA becomes the preferred CLE provider of Illinois Lawyers.
2007
The ISBA begins offering its first online CLE through the FastCLE platform.
2013
The ISBA begins offering members 15 hours per bar year of free on-demand CLE. The offering begins with a choice of 30 hours of programming.
2014-present
The ISBA’s entire on-demand catalog opens to members for free CLE. Members can now choose from more than 720 hours of online CLE to view with their 15 hours per year of free on-demand CLE.