What Is Continuing Legal Education (CLE)? Requirements by State

Continuing legal education is the coursework, seminars and approved programs a lawyer completes after admission — not to get licensed, but to stay licensed.

Where a state makes it mandatory, its rules brand the program MCLE: Alabama attorneys complete "MCLE credit hours" each calendar year, and Arkansas's rules are formally the Arkansas Rules for Minimum Continuing Legal Education.

There is no national CLE program.

Each state runs its own system under its own authority, and the administrator's name changes at the border: the Minnesota Board of Continuing Legal Education, Georgia's Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency working with the State Bar of Georgia's CLE Department, the State Bar of Nevada's Board of Continuing Legal Education under Supreme Court Rules 205–215, and the Indiana Commission for Continuing Legal Education, appointed by the Indiana Supreme Court.

What counts as a course also varies.

Texas places no in-person requirement on its 15 hours — all of them may be completed online.

Delaware goes the other way: at least 12 of its 24 hours must be earned in person at live courses.

Indiana accepts no self-study at all, while Alaska sets no cap on recorded, technology-delivered courses and automatically approves anything another mandatory-CLE jurisdiction has approved.

Who has to comply is likewise state-specific.

Age and status exemptions are built into several of the rules we read: Alabama lawyers are exempt in the year they turn 65 or start receiving Social Security benefits (whichever comes first), Colorado lawyers in the compliance period in which they turn 72, Mississippi lawyers on and after their 70th birthday, and Vermont's judicial and inactive members are not subject to MCLE.

Florida automatically exempts inactive members, full-time federal judges and Florida state judges.

Approval and reporting differ too.

Arizona does not pre-approve CLE providers or programs — lawyers self-certify by affidavit — and New Hampshire stopped requiring course pre- or post-approval, with attorneys entering their own credits in the state's Attorney Reporting Tool.

For the career around the license — what attorneys do and where the work is — see our attorney career guide.

The short answer: because your state's rules say so.

Our research did not record a stated rationale for the mandates themselves, but one rule we read sets a related competence expectation.

In Massachusetts, Comment [8] to Rule of Professional Conduct 1.1 says lawyers should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including technology, and engage in continuing study and education — a competence expectation, not an hours requirement.

The sub-credit structure shows what regulators want that study to cover: ethics hours appear throughout the rules, and named diversity, wellness and technology credits are layered on top (the next section details those).

The mandates are also not frozen.

Florida's CLE rule was amended effective June 15, 2026, and state supreme courts keep re-examining the whole idea:

• Maryland. The Supreme Court of Maryland studied a mandatory-CLE program (workgroup report dated June 16, 2023), voted in December 2024 to continue considering the question, and on April 28, 2025 postponed consideration of both mandatory CLE and mandatory reporting of voluntary CLE until further notice.
• Michigan. Michigan has no mandatory CLE as of 2026; in 2025–26 the Michigan Judges Association urged the Supreme Court and State Bar to adopt one, and the State Bar Board took no action.
• Massachusetts. The SJC repealed the state's mandatory Practicing with Professionalism course for new admittees (Rule 3:16) effective August 14, 2024, concluding that a mandatory course is no longer the best way to help newly admitted attorneys transition into practice. The rule had been adopted in 2013 to help new attorneys address issues that can generate complaints to the Board of Bar Overseers.

So the obligation runs from the state that admitted you, and the policy itself is actively debated — including in states without a mandate.

There is no single number: each state sets its own hours, its own cycle and its own sub-credits.

Grouped by reporting rhythm, the requirements we verified look like this:

• Annual cycles. Hawaii requires 3 credit hours per annual reporting period. Nebraska requires 10 hours each calendar year, including 2 in ethics or professional responsibility. Mississippi requires 12 hours across an August 1–July 31 CLE year. Louisiana requires 12.5 hours a year for lawyers under 65. Texas requires at least 15 hours per compliance year, including 3 in ethics.
• Two-year cycles. Experienced New York attorneys need 24 credit hours per two-year cycle, and Ohio requires 24 hours every two years. Georgia moved to a biennial period on January 1, 2026: 18 hours per period, including 3 ethics and 2 professionalism hours.
• Three-year cycles. California requires 25 hours per three-year compliance period; Idaho 30 credits, at least 3 in legal ethics or professional responsibility; Indiana 36 hours per three-year educational period, with at least 6 hours every year; and Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington each require 45 hours per period.

Even the calendar is individual.

Texas ties its compliance year to the lawyer's birth month, running from the first day of the birth month to the last day of the month before it.

Arizona's educational year runs July 1 to June 30.

Illinois splits reporters by last name — A–M report in even-numbered years, N–Z in odd-numbered years — while California groups attorneys by last name across different period end dates.

Pennsylvania permanently assigns each lawyer to one of three compliance groups with annual deadlines of April 30, August 31 or December 31, and New Jersey certifies by birth-month group in even or odd years.

Newly admitted lawyers face a separate layer of rules in many of the states we read:

• New York requires 32 transitional CLE credits in the first two years — 16 a year, each year needing 3 ethics, 6 skills and 7 practice-management/professional-practice credits, and the two years together at least 1 cybersecurity credit. Self-study, recorded and online formats do not count toward transitional credit unless the regulations or the CLE Board permit it.
• Illinois requires 15 hours by the last day of the month one year after admission — a Basic Skills Course of at least 6 professional-responsibility hours plus 9 more CLE hours. Those admitted on or after January 1, 2028 also need 0.5 hours on access-to-justice topics in the course.
• New Jersey requires newly admitted lawyers to earn 16 of their first 24 credits in at least 6 of 12 New Jersey practice areas, such as estate administration, trial preparation, family law, real estate closings and trust accounting.
• Ohio exempts new admittees from regular CLE for their first biennial period but requires 12 hours of New Lawyers Training.
• Delaware starts new lawyers on CLE the January 1 after admission and requires seven Delaware State Bar Association "Fundamentals" courses — Lawyer-Client Relations, Family Law, Real Estate and Civil Litigation among them — by the end of the second compliance year.
• Arizona requires a one-time 4.25-hour Professionalism Course within the first year; all 4.25 hours count as professional responsibility CLE.
• Alaska simply exempts newly admitted lawyers for the calendar year they are first admitted.

The table at the bottom of this page lists the requirement we verified for every jurisdiction, so you can find your state's number directly.

Beyond the raw hour count, states carve out sub-credits — named topics you must cover inside the total.

The categories we found in the rules:

• Ethics and professionalism. Texas's 15 hours include 3 ethics hours; California requires at least 4 legal ethics hours of its 25; New York requires 4 hours of ethics and professionalism per two-year cycle; Washington requires 6 ethics credits, at least 1 of them an "equity" credit. Mississippi's 1 ethics/professionalism hour can also be satisfied with malpractice prevention, substance abuse or mental health content.
• Diversity, bias and equity. California requires 2 hours on elimination of bias, at least 1 on implicit bias and bias-reducing strategies. New Jersey requires 2 of its 5 ethics/professionalism credits in diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias. Minnesota requires 2 elimination-of-bias hours, Missouri at least 1 hour on explicit or implicit bias, diversity, inclusion or cultural competency inside its 3 ethics hours, Colorado at least 2 equity, diversity and inclusivity hours within its 7 professional-responsibility hours, New Mexico 1 hour on equity in justice, New York 1 hour on diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias, Illinois 1 diversity-and-inclusion hour within its professional-responsibility block, and Vermont 1 diversity-and-inclusion hour per period. Iowa lets lawyers meet a combined slot with either attorney wellness or diversity and inclusion.
• Wellness, mental health and substance use. Nevada's 13 hours split into 10 general, 2 ethics and 1 on substance abuse, addiction or mental health. Minnesota requires 1 hour on mental health or substance use; Illinois 1 hour on mental health and substance abuse (or completion of its yearlong Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Program); Vermont 1 hour of attorney wellness; North Carolina 1 hour of professional well-being; Oregon 1 hour on mental health or substance use; and South Carolina 1 hour on substance abuse, mental health or stress at least every two years. California folds the topic into 2 "competence" hours, at least 1 on preventing and detecting substance use or mental health issues. Montana's 2 Professional Fitness and Integrity credits can be ethics or programs on substance abuse, mental health or stress. Virginia asks lawyers to certify whether they took 1 hour of well-being CLE in the past three years — with no penalty for not doing so.
• Technology and cybersecurity. Florida requires at least 3 technology hours of its 30; North Carolina 1 technology hour; California 1 technology hour; and New York 1 hour on cybersecurity, privacy and data protection, a requirement effective July 1, 2023.
• Other named topics. California adds 1 civility hour. Oregon requires 1 hour on the duty to report child and elder abuse, and in alternate reporting periods 3 hours on access to justice.

Pro bono work can also feed the total: Arizona lawyers claim 1 CLE hour per 5 pro bono hours through an approved legal services organization; from May 1, 2026 Virginia lawyers can earn 1 hour per 4 hours of qualifying pro bono service, up to 5 per period; Colorado allows a maximum of 9 credits per three-year period (none of them professional-responsibility credit); Connecticut allows up to 6 hours a year at 1 credit per 3 hours of service; Florida credits 1 hour per hour of pro bono up to 5 per cycle; Wyoming gives 1 credit per 2 hours up to 5 a year; and Alaska grants 1 general credit per 2 hours of free civil legal services supervised by a qualified legal services provider.

The jurisdictions in our research with no general mandatory CLE are Maryland, Michigan, South Dakota and DC.

"No mandate" is not the same as "no obligations" — and the rules can move:

• Maryland has no mandatory CLE. Instead of hours, its recurring license obligations include the annual Client Protection Fund assessment and the annual pro bono and IOLTA reports. The Supreme Court of Maryland studied a mandatory program, voted in December 2024 to keep considering one, then postponed consideration of both mandatory CLE and mandatory reporting of voluntary CLE on April 28, 2025 until further notice.
• Michigan has no mandatory CLE for attorneys as of 2026. Note that Michigan's Law Basics training is a pre-admission requirement, not ongoing CLE — do not confuse the two.
• South Dakota does not require CLE to keep a law license; the State Bar of South Dakota describes the state as a non-mandatory CLE state but still provides live and online CLE programming for members.
• DC has no general mandatory CLE requirement and no CLE accreditation body — there are no DC reporting deadlines, carryover rules or on-demand caps. But newly admitted DC lawyers must complete the Mandatory Course on the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct and Practice under DC Bar Rule II, Section 2: an online, on-demand course costing $229 that must be finished within 12 months of swearing in, or the lawyer faces administrative suspension. Special Legal Consultants are exempt.

Massachusetts is the open question.

We could not verify Massachusetts' overall status from a primary source, so it is marked "not verified" in the table below — please do not treat any list, including ours, as conclusive without checking with the SJC.

What we did verify: the SJC repealed the Practicing with Professionalism course for new admittees effective August 14, 2024, and Comment [8] to the state's Rule of Professional Conduct 1.1 keeps a competence expectation — continuing study and education — without an hours requirement.

In the states we verified, enforcement runs through late fees, cure periods and, for lawyers who stay non-compliant, suspension — but the stages and amounts are each state's own.

Examples:

• Kansas. Missing the June 30/July 31 deadlines triggers a $75 noncompliance fee and forfeits carryover; there are no extensions.
• Texas. Lawyers get their birth month as a penalty-free grace period; after that, noncompliance fees are $100 within one month, $200 within two months and $300 thereafter, before suspension.
• Arizona. Late fees climb from $33 (hours completed in July) to $200 (affidavit filed November 16 or later), and failing to file by December 15 can lead to summary suspension.
• Alaska. A member who misses the MCLE or reporting requirement gets a notice of noncompliance and 30 days to cure before the Bar petitions the Supreme Court for suspension; reinstatement requires a fee.
• Delaware. A missed December 31 deadline costs $150, another $150 if not cured by March 1, another $200 if not cured by April 1, and administrative suspension if still not cured by April 15.
• New Jersey. A missed deadline brings a $50 noncompliance fee and a grace period; missing the grace period adds another $50 (total $100) and risks administrative ineligibility.
• California. The late fee is $106; reinstatement costs $318.
• New Mexico. Non-compliance after the February 1 due date incurs a $275 late penalty with 90 more days to comply; members still non-compliant on May 1 are reported to the Supreme Court for possible suspension.
• Vermont. For new admittees on the first-year schedule, missing the deadline leads to administrative suspension.

Formal cure routes exist alongside the penalties.

Arkansas lawyers who miss the June 30 deadline can sign an Acknowledgement of Deficiency and pay a $75 fee, which extends the cure deadline to December 1.

Vermont lawyers short on hours file a Makeup Plan with a $50 fee and must certify completion by November 15.

Nevada offers an extension period to finish hours with a $100 fee.

The rules we read are written as the lawyer's own obligation — active members must complete the hours — so the license duty sits with the individual attorney.

Whether an employer reimburses the cost is a matter between the lawyer and the firm.

Our research for this page compiled state rules, not employer reimbursement practices, so we will not quote a share of firms that pay or a typical package: no such figure exists in our sources.

What we can quantify is the direct cost side.

State-level CLE charges we verified include North Carolina's $25 annual CLE attendance fee at membership renewal, Montana's annual MCLE fee of up to $45, North Dakota's fee of up to $50 to the SBAND Commission for CLE, and Kansas's annual CLE fee paid with the attorney registration.

DC's mandatory course for new admittees costs $229, and California's New Attorney Training — a one-time requirement with no exemptions — carries a $55 fee; its hours count toward MCLE when completed within the compliance period.

Course prices themselves are set by providers, and the late fees in the previous section are the expensive way to learn the deadlines.

Because practices vary firm to firm, treat CLE support as an offer-negotiation question.

When you compare attorney jobs, ask whether the firm covers course costs and state fees, whether attendance time is protected against billable expectations, and how multi-day programs are handled.

If you run a firm, spelling this out in the offer avoids an awkward conversation at compliance season.

The table lists every jurisdiction in our research — each state plus the District of Columbia — with the general requirement we verified for active lawyers.

Where a state carves out named sub-credits, they appear in the last column.

Massachusetts is marked "not verified" for the reason given above.

Jurisdiction	Hours	Cycle	Notable requirements
Alabama	12	Annual (calendar year)	Incl. 1 hr ethics/professionalism; on-demand capped at 6 of the 12; exempt at 65 or on Social Security
Alaska	12	Annual (calendar year)	Incl. 3 hrs ethics; no cap on recorded/technology-delivered CLE
Arizona	15	Annual (July 1–June 30)	Incl. 3 hrs professional responsibility; self-study capped at 5 hrs
Arkansas	12	Annual (July 1–June 30)	Incl. 1 hr ethics
California	25	3 years	Incl. 4 ethics, 2 elimination of bias (at least 1 implicit bias), 2 competence (at least 1 substance use/mental health), 1 technology, 1 civility; at least 12.5 hrs participatory
Colorado	45	3 years	Incl. 7 professional-responsibility hrs (at least 2 equity/diversity/inclusivity, at least 5 ethics or professionalism); applies under age 72
Connecticut	12	Annual (calendar year)	Incl. 2 hrs ethics/professionalism, certified on the annual registration
Delaware	24	2 years	Incl. 4 ethics; at least 12 hrs in person at live courses; senior attorneys: 12 hrs incl. 2 ethics, 6 in person
District of Columbia	None	—	No general mandatory CLE; new admittees must complete the Mandatory Course ($229, within 12 months of swearing in)
Florida	30	3 years	Incl. at least 3 technology hrs and at least 5 ethics/professionalism/substance use/mental health hrs; the 2-credit Florida Legal Professionalism course every cycle
Georgia	18	2 years (from Jan 1, 2026)	Incl. 3 ethics and 2 professionalism hrs; first period Jan 1, 2026–Dec 31, 2027
Hawaii	3	Annual	1 ethics/professional-responsibility hr once every 3 years, within the annual total
Idaho	30	3 years	Incl. 3 ethics/professional responsibility; no more than 15 self-study credits
Illinois	30	2 years (ending June 30)	Incl. 6 professional-responsibility hrs (at least 1 diversity and inclusion, 1 mental health/substance abuse); reporters split by last name
Indiana	36	3 years	At least 6 hrs every year; incl. 3 professional responsibility; no self-study accepted
Iowa	15	Annual (calendar year)	Incl. 1 hr legal ethics and 1 hr attorney wellness or diversity and inclusion (since Jan 1, 2021)
Kansas	12	Annual (ends June 30)	Incl. 2 hrs ethics/professionalism; attendance filed by July 31
Kentucky	12	Annual (ends June 30)	Incl. 2 hrs ethics, professional responsibility and professionalism
Louisiana	12.5	Annual (calendar year)	Under 65: incl. 1 hr ethics and a separate 1 hr professionalism; max 4 computer-based hrs/yr; reduced/exempt rules from 65 and 75
Maine	12	Annual (calendar year)	Incl. 1 live ethics-and-professionalism hr and 1 in-person hr on harassment and discrimination; self-study capped at 5
Maryland	None	—	No mandatory CLE; annual Client Protection Fund assessment plus pro bono and IOLTA reports
Massachusetts	Not verified	—	No primary source we read establishes a current mandate; the new-admittee course was repealed effective Aug 14, 2024; competence expectation under Rule 1.1, Comment [8]
Michigan	None	—	No mandatory CLE as of 2026; the pre-admission Law Basics training is not CLE
Minnesota	45	3 years	Incl. 3 ethics/professional responsibility, 2 elimination-of-bias, 1 mental health/substance use; no carryover
Mississippi	12	Annual (Aug 1–July 31)	Incl. 1 hr ethics/professionalism (may be malpractice prevention, substance abuse or mental health); exempt at 70
Missouri	15	Annual (July 1–June 30)	Incl. 3 ethics hrs, at least 1 on bias/diversity/inclusion/cultural competency; report by July 31
Montana	15	Annual (April 1–March 31)	At least 10 hrs interactive, max 5 by other methods; incl. 2 Professional Fitness and Integrity credits
Nebraska	10	Annual (calendar year)	Incl. 2 hrs ethics/professional responsibility; computer-based capped at 5
Nevada	13	Annual (calendar year)	10 general, 2 ethics, 1 substance abuse/addiction/mental health, by December 31
New Hampshire	12 (720 min)	Annual (June 1–May 31)	Incl. 120 minutes on ethics, professionalism or preventing malpractice, substance abuse or attorney-client disputes
New Jersey	24	2 years	Incl. 5 ethics/professionalism credits, at least 2 on diversity/inclusion/elimination of bias; at least half earned live
New Mexico	12	Annual (calendar year)	2 ethics, 1 equity-in-justice, 9 general; all 12 may be self-study since Jan 1, 2024
New York	24	2 years (with registration)	Experienced attorneys: 4 ethics/professionalism, 1 diversity/inclusion/elimination of bias, 1 cybersecurity/privacy/data protection (since July 1, 2023); new admittees: 32 transitional credits over 2 years
North Carolina	24	2 years (Mar 1–end of Feb)	Incl. 4 ethics, 1 technology and 1 professional well-being (the last two in 1-hr increments)
North Dakota	36	3 years (ending June 30)	Incl. 3 ethics/professional responsibility (may cover racial/ethnic diversity, gender equity, disability access, bias)
Ohio	24	2 years	Incl. 2.5 hrs professional conduct; new admittees do 12 hrs of New Lawyers Training instead
Oklahoma	12	Annual (calendar year)	Incl. 2 hrs Legal Ethics and Professionalism (since Jan 1, 2021)
Oregon	45	3 years (ending April 30)	Incl. 5 ethics, 1 hr on the duty to report child and elder abuse, 1 hr mental health/substance use; alternate periods add 3 hrs access to justice
Pennsylvania	12	Annual	Incl. 2 hrs ethics; three compliance groups with April 30, August 31 or December 31 deadlines
Rhode Island	10	Annual (July 1–June 30)	Incl. 2 hrs legal ethics; age 70+ exempt
South Carolina	14	Annual (Mar 1–end of Feb)	Incl. 2 hrs legal ethics/professional responsibility plus 1 hr substance abuse/mental health/stress at least every 2 years
South Dakota	None	—	CLE not required to keep a law license; the State Bar still runs live and online programming
Tennessee	15	Annual (calendar year)	3 hrs ethics/professionalism (Dual credit) plus 12 general, by December 31; "duty age" 71 exempt
Texas	15	Annual (birth month to birth month)	Incl. 3 ethics; at least 12 accredited, up to 3 self-study; all 15 hrs may be online
Utah	12	Annual (July 1–June 30)	Incl. 1 hr ethics and 1 hr professionalism and civility; at least 6 hrs verified (live)
Vermont	24	2 years	Incl. 2 ethics, 1 attorney wellness, 1 diversity and inclusion; at least 12 hrs moderated or interactive
Virginia	12	Annual	Incl. 2 ethics/professionalism and 4 live-interactive hrs; max 8 prerecorded; complete by October 31
Washington	45	3 years	Incl. 6 ethics credits, at least 1 an "equity" credit
West Virginia	24	2 fiscal years	Incl. 3 hrs legal ethics, office management, attorney well-being or elimination of bias; max half pre-recorded without interactivity
Wisconsin	30	2 years	Incl. 3 hrs legal ethics/professional responsibility; senior active members need 15
Wyoming	15	Annual (calendar year)	Incl. 2 hrs ethics; self-study capped at 8 hrs a year

Career information, not legal advice. CLE rules, fees and deadlines change — confirm your current requirement with the CLE regulator or state bar that administers it in your state before you rely on anything here.