Frequently Asked Questions about MLIS

There are four simple steps to obtaining and maintaining the MLIS certification:

Complete Part 1 the curriculum, consisting of 3 online courses, covering management and professional liability fundamentals, within 24 months of starting the program
Complete Part 2 of the curriculum, consisting of 4 online courses covering D&O, EPL, and fiduciary liability insurance, within 36 months of completing Part 1
Complete only 3 hours of approved management or professional liability CE credit within 24 months of obtaining the certification and every 12 months thereafter (through an online course or approved seminar, conference or webinar)
Comply with all other terms and conditions of the MLIS certification

The MLIS continuing education (CE) program curriculum is intended to be on a basic-to-intermediate level, but it does cover complex insurance topics and assumes you have basic knowledge of insurance terminology and fundamentals. Therefore, the curriculum will be more challenging to someone who has no insurance background than it will be for someone who does.

Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) is an excellent educational program for those who underwrite or sell professional or management liability insurance. The RPLU program is more rigorous in that it requires learning the material covered in 13 courses and passing 12 final exams. You must also travel to their testing centers to complete the exams in a secure environment whereas the MLIS open book exams (in most states) may be completed on your own computer. While RPLU focuses on the same subject matter as the MLIS program, it may be more targeted to the knowledge needs of underwriters, whereas MLIS is designed primarily for retail (e.g., independent) agents, brokers, and risk managers. If you hold the RPLU designation, you likely will gain little additional knowledge from the MLIS program, though you may find it useful for a quick refresher course or convenient online insurance CE credit.

If you are trying to decide between RPLU and MLIS, the RPLU has the advantages of established credibility, a more rigorous curriculum covering more topics, and, especially if you are an underwriter, a curriculum more targeted to your needs. The MLIS program has the advantages of lower cost, a somewhat less demanding curriculum, testing convenience (on your own computer), and, if you are an agent, broker or risk manager, a curriculum designed with you in mind.

Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) are excellent educational programs for risk and insurance professionals. The MLIS program is not intended to compete with or be a substitute for these or other insurance industry designations. The MLIS curriculum is less rigorous and less time consuming than the CPCU or CIC program. The CPCU program requires passing exams for 8 courses that cover the equivalent of a college semester's material in each (as opposed to the 100 or fewer page texts for the MLIS courses). The CIC program requires attending 5 2½-day seminars, each of which is followed by a 2-hour final exam. While the MLIS program is not as rigorous as these other programs, its specialized focus on professional and management liability insurance make it a worthwhile investment for people who hold these or other general insurance designations as well as for people who do not.

When you obtain the MLIS certification, you make a statement to your clients that you are committed to serving them and have the knowledge to do it well. Your enhanced credibility along with the confidence you'll gain as a result of your new knowledge will improve your ability to sell these more complex and lucrative lines of insurance – lines of insurance that intimidate your less knowledgeable competitors. Your new knowledge will enable you to earn the respect of the management and professional liability underwriters (or E&S brokers) with whom you work and your own E&O carrier will rest easier as well.

The last place you want to make a mistake is in the insurance policies that protect the personal assets of your officers, directors and managers. Unfortunately, however, professional, D&O, fiduciary, and employment practices liability insurance policies are so complex that mistakes are commonplace. The knowledge you gain from the MLIS program will give you the competence and confidence to evaluate and compare coverage provisions and make certain that your agent or broker provides you with the best coverage terms money can buy. Of course, holding the certification will also give your top management and board of directors a new level of comfort in your ability to make certain their life savings are adequately protected.

Continuous learning is important for all business professionals, particularly those who work in a field that changes rapidly. The MLIS curriculum will be a great refresher course on professional and management liability exposures and insurance. Completing the courses will help you maintain confidence that your knowledge is up-to-date. The ongoing continuing education program will then help you stay on top of the trends and developments affecting your important accounts. And if you are an agent or broker in need of state insurance CE credit, obtaining the MLIS certification allows you to leverage your CE effort into a meaningful risk and insurance certification as well.

We do not waive any of the MLIS courses for those who hold degrees or other certifications for two reasons. First, the MLIS program is uniquely focused on management liability insurance. The more general programs do not include this unique focus, and we feel that allowing them to offset the MLIS courses could detract from the credibility of the MLIS program. Second, we designed the MLIS program in a manner to allow easy and efficient administration of the program. By keeping our overhead costs quite low, we can offer the courses at very competitive prices. Implementing a system for cross crediting other educational programs and verifying that applicants indeed hold those certifications would increase our expenses and require us to charge more for the program.

While we do not waive the MLIS courses, we do plan to allow credit for certain other educational programs in meeting the ongoing continuing education requirement.

Depending on your current level of knowledge in the subject matter, an MLIS course will typically take 6 to 10 hours to complete. The average length of a MLIS course is 80-100 printed pages. The text includes a few practice questions following each chapter, which you may answer at your option. After reading the course, you take the final exam, which is comprised of multiple-choice questions. The number of questions presented is dependent on your state's CE requirements if you choose to receive insurance CE credit, and will be between 25 and 50 multiple choice questions. If you don't request CE credit, the exam will be 50 multiple choice questions. If you do not pass the final exam the first time, you may study the material again and retake the exam.

The final exam for each course contains questions randomly selected from a test bank. If you purchase optional state insurance CE credit, the number of questions varies according to state insurance CE requirements, but there will be no more than 50. If you do not purchase optional CE credit, there will be 50 questions. You must correctly answer 70 percent of the exam questions to pass a course. If you fail to do so, you may review the course again and take another test that is randomly generated from the question bank.

You must correctly answer 70 percent of the multiple-choice questions on the final exam to successfully complete an MLIS course. Keep in mind that you can retake the exam if you fail to pass it. If you have not requested CE credit, there is no limit to the number of times you may take the exam. If you request CE credit, the number of retakes may be limited by your state.

The courses have been filed for approval for insurance CE credit in all 50 states. Other courses will be filed as they are introduced. The amount of credit provided ranges between four and twelve hours, depending on the course and state. To learn if a course has been approved and how much credit is available in your state, please go to the MLIS Learning Center, go to the Course Catalog, choose the course(s) you wish to take, and indicate the state for which you need CE credit. You'll also need to select a license type for most states. The number of approved credit hours for that state will then be displayed on your screen.

Absolutely. You can receive credit under two other programs at this time and we are working towards having MLIS recognized by some others.

Completing an MLIS course counts towards the CPCU Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program, which allows the same number of points for CPD that have been awarded for CE credits in your state. Simply record the completed MLIS courses on the CPD qualifier application to receive credit in that program.

Completing the MLIS certification also counts as two days of RF workshop credits towards the RIMS Fellow (RF) designation.

The objectives of the MLIS program are to (1) assure that certification-holders understand the fundamental contractors coverage terms and issues applicable to all types of E&O, D&O, and professional lines insurance policies and a more detailed knowledge of important management liability insurance coverages, (2) demonstrate certification-holders' commitment maintaining specialized knowledge of these insurance lines, and (3) provide certification-holders with the means to stay abreast of management liability insurance developments and trends. The curriculum satisfies only the first of these three objectives, and the ongoing continuing education requirement is necessary for the program to achieve the other two.

We do not intend for this requirement to be onerous. You may satisfy it through just one additional online course or attending an approved seminar, webinar, or conference.

Yes. Sponsors of seminars and conferences must request approval from IRMI for a program to qualify for the MLIS continuing education requirement. To qualify, a program's content must be substantially directed to E&O, professional, or management liability insurance or issues (e.g., corporate governance, employment law).

When you pass the three fundamentals courses of Part 1 of the program, you will receive a certificate worthy of having on your wall and may state that you have passed the three fundamentals of professional and management liability insurance MLIS program courses in your biography or elsewhere, but you will not yet have earned a certification that you may display behind your name. Once you complete all seven courses to earn the MLIS certification, you are granted a license to display it in connection with your name.

The most common format is to place a comma after your name, followed by the certification abbreviation (e.g., John Doe, MLIS). Alternatively, you may spell out the certification name (Management Liability Insurance Specialist) in connection with your name; the most common approach for this is on Web sites, letterhead or brochures. You may display it following your name on your business cards, marketing literature, or letterhead.

We recommend that you send a press release to your local newspapers, business journals, and other publications that run announcements about people. You also may wish to give or mail your clients and prospects announcements of your achievement. The MLIS Toolbox page includes a model press release on which you may base yours as well as PDF files of some fliers you can print to provide to clients and prospects.

If you fail to meet the continuing education requirement, you lose the MLIS certification and the right to use it in connection with your name. Once you lose the certification in this manner, you must complete the entire curriculum again to regain it.

We will e-mail you at the e-mail address on record in the Learning Center in the event you lose your certification because you failed to meet the experience requirement. However, it is your responsibility to keep up with your CE status, and failure to receive the e-mail does not make it permissible to use the certification after it expires. In other words, your license to use the MLIS trademark expires 24 months after you earn the right to use the certification unless you renew it by meeting the CE requirement during that time. Thereafter, you must complete the continuing education requirement every 12 months.

IRMI also reserves the right to revoke the certification for anyone who:

Is convicted of a felony
Is convicted of any state or federal crime related to insurance
Has an insurance license revoked due to violation of a state insurance code
Displays a pattern of unethical, illegal, or immoral behavior that reflects negatively on the MLIS certification

In the event IRMI revokes your certification, IRMI will e-mail notification and send a registered letter to the e-mail address and postal address on record in the Learning Center. Your license to use the certification expires three business days after the registered letter is mailed whether or not you receive the letter. (It is your responsibility to maintain current contact information in the MLIS Learning Center.)

The MLIS certification is a trademark of IRMI and is protected under the law. Anyone who uses this trademark without permission may be subject to severe financial penalty. Please contact IRMI to report any suspected violations in the use of this trademark.

Any CE Credit earned by taking MLIS courses or attending a seminar, webinar or conference, may be used to meet the renewal requirement for the 12-month period in which the credit is earned. We are sorry, but we cannot roll CE credit into a future period.

We will e-mail you several months before your certification expires to remind you of the need to renew your certification by taking additional MLIS Courses or attending approved conferences or seminars. It is your responsibility to keep your e-mail address updated in the MLIS Learning Center to assure you receive these e-mails.

Yes. The MLIS program focuses on the application of coverage as written in the United States. However, it could be quite helpful to a non-U.S. resident if your firm or your clients have exposures in the United States. Unfortunately, our system cannot process non-U.S. addresses from the MLIS Learning Center online, so please call WebCE at 800.488.9308 or 214.575.5000 between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM Mon-Fri Central Time or e-mail WebCE at info@webce.com to place your order. Courses and exams will be available to you online.

IRMI is proud to bring MLIS to you using WebCE's state-of-the-art Internet delivery system. WebCE is the premier provider of Internet-based continuing education courses for insurance agents, brokers, and others. More than 150,000 insurance CE courses are completed on WebCE's system each year. The courses are self-paced, allowing you to take breaks and go back to the point where you left off in the course when you are ready to continue.

IRMI has affiliated with WebCE.com, LLC, a nationwide supplier of state-of-the-art, self-paced continuing education courses to host the MLIS Learning Center and provide you with customer support. We chose WebCE because the firm has a long history of success in the CE business, has developed a premier on-line delivery system, and upholds the same standards of quality as IRMI.

WebCE is the official insurance CE provider for your courses, and this will be reflected on your certificate of completion. WebCE ships all course materials, validates completed tests, issues certificates, does the billing, and provides customer support.

Should you have specific questions about or problems with your service, contact WebCE directly:

E-mail: support@webce.com
Phone: 800.488.9308
Fax: 214.570.0213
Address: P.O. Box 850058, Richardson, TX 75085-0058

For more details regarding WebCE and how your MLIS account will be serviced see the MLIS Learning Center FAQs.

All course materials are copyrighted by IRMI, WebCE, or other WebCE business affiliates (the copyright holder is printed or displayed with each course). Purchase of a course includes a license for one person to use the course materials. This person may view the course online, save it on a single computer for his or her personal viewing, or print a copy for his or her personal use.

Absent specific written permission from the applicable copyright holder, it is not permissible to distribute files containing course materials or printed versions of course materials to individuals who have not purchased the courses. For example, you should never e-mail a PDF file of a course to someone else. It is also not permissible to make the course materials available to others over a computer network, Intranet, Internet, or any other storage, transmittal, or retrieval system.

Please follow these guidelines and contact IRMI if your business needs require some other form of use. Violation of this license could subject you or your employer to substantial statutory remedies under Federal law (e.g., $10,000 per violation) and possible liability for actual damages and punitive damages.