This document poses and answers the most frequently asked questions. If your question is not answered here, please send an e-mail to questions@attorneyetal.com.
Questions:
1. How do the programs operate?
2. What is needed to play the lectures?
3. Can the lectures be played on a Macintosh?
4. How do I access the online lectures?
5. What does an error message "Browser not supported" mean?
6. What does the error message "Browser disabled" mean?
7. Problems inputting the online code to advance to the next segment.
8. How are the books for the courses accessed?
Answers:
We have 4,000 pages of materials on the web page including previews of our course books explaining how our program works.
Briefly, for each course the same lecture is presented in two formats self study and participatory study. The attorney selects which version of the lecture to play for the type of CLE credit desired. Self study is unverified. The state bar accepts the attorneys word that he completed the program.
Participatory study lectures require verification of attendance. Our program verifies attendance through a copyrighted computer program. The lecture is broken up into random segments. The attorney must be present at the end of each segment so as to get the code to start the next segment. Having these codes proves your attendance and the last one given at the end of the lecture is your entitlement to participatory credit.
To get a certificate of completion from us you must submit a statement of completion. The easiest and fastest way is online at our web site. Click the Quick Link entitled at the top of the page entitled SUBMIT STATEMENT OF COMPLETION NOW. Then open your directory using your last name and bar number. Then click the link for statement of completion and complete the form. When done submit and then print the certificate. All of this takes less than a minute.
The online program works the same way except the books have to be downloaded off the net whereas for the cdrom program they are on the cdrom.
We have been marketing our CLE course in California since 1997. We are an approved California CLE Provider. Our number is 9031.
Because the lectures are in a browser-based format, you need both Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher and Real Player Basic 8 to play them. These programs are on the cdrom version and can be downloaded for free off the Internet for the online versions if you do not already have them on your computer. These programs are the standards for playing online lectures and are also used by the state bar's online CLE program
You need Internet Explorer and Real Player installed on your computer to play the lectures. Together, they act as an old-fashioned record player to play the lectures.
There is no special configuration needed for these programs to play the lectures. They work exactly as installed from the company. Just as you would need Microsoft Word installed on your computer to open a Word document, you need Real Player installed to play a lecture recorded in the Real Player format. If you do not have Internet Explorer or Real Player installed on your computer they can be downloaded for free from links on our web site
To access the lectures, go to our web site and click the button at the top of the page entitled, PLAY THE ONLINE AUDIO LECTURES. Then just read the instructions to select and play the lectures
Each of our lectures is presented in two formats: self study which is unverified as the state accepts the attorneys statements that they were done and a participatory version which is verified by the computer. The attorney selects which version to play for the type of credit desired.
The online lectures can be played both on a PC as well as on a Macintosh. They were actually developed on a Macintosh and can use Apple's Safari web browser as well as Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The cdrom lectures, however, were designed on a PC and therefore can only play on a PC
Once you have the lecture codes, here are the steps.
1. Go to our web site at www.attorneyetal.com
2. At the top of our page is a button entitled, PLAY THE ONLINE AUDIO LECTURES. Click it
3. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. They have been set them forth below.
4. We give the same lecture in two formats self study and participatory study. The attorney decides which to play. The last sentence in the discussion for each type has the link for the page where the lecture directory
5. Clicking the last link in the last line for the participatory section opens the page where the directories of the participatory lectures are.
6. Select the lecture you want from the list. Then input the start code and that starts the Real Player.
In essence you have one click to select the play online audio lecture button, one click to select the directory site, one click to select the lecture, then input the code and then click total to start just four clicks.
PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. It has taken longer to explain what the instructions say that to read them
SELF STUDY
The self study lectures are unverified in the sense that no person or computer proctors the attorney's listening to the lecture. Self study lectures are fully controlled by the attorney who can pause, rewind, fast forward at will. When done listening to the lectures an attorney must submit a Statement of Completion to ATTORNEY ET AL, attesting to the completion and a Certificate of Completion is issued to the attorney. For Florida attorneys, a computer card must also be mailed to the Florida Bar when the program is completed. This Florida computer card is provided to the attorney by Attorney Et Al by mail when the program is purchased online and is included as part with the Florida CD-ROM program.
If your system has been checked and is compatible, please click here to begin a self-study lecture.
PARTICIPATORY STUDY
The participatory lectures are broken into segments. The first segment is around a minute in length, and subsequent segments are approximately fifteen to twenty minutes in duration.
Each lecture segment has a unique four-digit code. In order to start or continue to the next segment in a lecture, you must enter the correct code. The start code should have been provided to you when you purchased the lecture. Subsequent codes are embedded into the audio portion of the lecture. You will hear a computer tone, followed by four spoken digits. This will be repeated twice. You must type the number into the text field to go to the next segment.
YOU SHOULD WRITE THE CODE DOWN FOR EACH SEGMENT SO THAT IN THE CASE OF A POWER OR COMPUTER FAILURE YOU CAN RESTART FROM THE BEGINNING OF THAT SEGMENT.
In order to verify the attorney's attendance throughout the lecture for California participatory credit, the lecture code must be entered while it is being given to proceed to the next segment. If that is not done, then it is assumed the attorney was not present for lecture segment just concluded and the segment just played must be repeated before preceding to the next segment. This is the procedure required by the California State Bar for participatory credit to be awarded.
When finished the attorney is given a course code, which can only be obtained by listening to all of the lecture segments. The California State Bar accepts this course code as proof that the attorney listened to the entire lecture and is entitled to receive participatory credit. This code is submitted to Attorney Et Al on the Statement of Completion in order to receive a Certificate of Completion for the course. Submission of the Statement of Completion is easily submitted online at the web site www.attorneyetal.com by clicking the QUICK LINK entitled SUBMIT STATEMENT OF COMPLETION, NOW, or emailing the Statement of Completion to answers@attorneyetal.com
If your system has been checked and is compatible, please click here to begin a computer proctored lecture.
It means that your computer does not have Real Player installed on it or that it is not properly installed so that the Internet Explorer cannot find it to play the lectures. If the Real Player was downloaded off the net, it still must be setup. Often attorneys forget this step once the program is downloaded. To setup the program, click the setup icon for the program in the directory in which the Real Player was downloaded.
The Microsoft media player will not play Real Player recorded lectures. It is like needing Microsoft Word on a computer to open a document written in Word. The lectures were recorded using Real Player and need Real Player to play them back.
You need both Internet Explorer and Real Player installed on your computer to play the lectures. Together, they act as a record player to play the lectures. If you do not have them already on your computer, you can download them for free off links on our web site.
If you had installed Real Player, were you asked to make it your default media player? Occasionally, the Windows media player interferes with the Real Player and prevents it from operating. We should be able to get this straightened out.
Uninstall Real Player, if you have it on your computer, and reinstall it using a download off the net or off the cdrom if purchased, that should set the program on the computer.
The message that the Real Player is disabled means one of two things: it is either not properly installed or the Windows Media Player is interfering with its operations. The cure is the same for both. Uninstall the Real Player and install it off the cdrom or off a free download if the online program was ordered. That should fix the problem.
The Microsoft media player will not play Real Player recorded lectures. It is like needing Microsoft Word on a computer to open a document written in Word. The lectures were recorded using Real Player and need Real Player to play them back.
You need both Internet Explorer and Real Player installed on your computer to play the lectures. Together, they act as a record player to play the lectures. If you do not have them already on your computer, you can download them for free off links on our web site.
If you had installed Real Player, were you asked to make it your default media player? Occasionally, the Windows media player interferes with the Real Player and prevents it from operating. We should be able to get this straightened out by reinstalling Real Player.
In rare instances, the Real Player will not accept the segment code for online lectures to start the next segment and will replay the segment which just ended rather than start the next segment. This is the result of a conflict between the Internet Explorer and the Real Player which is easily worked around. We have posted the solution to this problem right under the code input box which reads
"Click here to return to the lecture selection page. If you are having difficulties going to the next segment, you may click here and enter the next code for the lecture"
Clicking that link will take you to the previous page where you would select the course and input the code to fast forward to the next segment.
We have stated repeatedly that you need Internet Explorer and Real Player to play the lectures. In instances where you have the Internet Explorer as a stand alone program rather than bundled with an ISP you never have the problem described.
Only in rare cases where the IE is bundled with the ISP's program, will there be the infrequent problem described above: the inability to input codes to advance. In that case, just must back step and input the code in the previous box to advance the lecture
If you have a stand alone version of IE, you should be able to use that without problem
I experience the same problem. I have Earthlink as my Internet provider and it has IE6 as its bundled browser. I can play the lectures but I must back step to input the codes to advance. I also have IE as a stand along problem, when I use it as a stand alone problem it works just as intended without having to backstep to advance the lectures
If you do not have IE as a stand alone unit, just back step and input the code and it should work.
If the cdrom CLE program is purchased, the books are on the cdrom in a directory entitled Books. When the cdrom is started a table of Quick Links appears with the fourth link being entitled "BOOKS". Clicking the "BOOKS" link will open the book directory on the cdrom
For the online program, the books must be downloaded off Attorney Et Alšs server. On the Validation and Receipt page is a link to a page which has the both the start codes for the participatory study versions of the CLE lectures and the download sites for the books for the courses which an attorney has purchased. This page should be bookmarked so the attorney the can do back to it at his or her leisure and download the books. As a backup, the attorney is also emailed the start codes and download sites as well which usually arrive within 30 minutes of placing the order based upon the traffic over the Internet.