What Are the CLE Requirements for California Attorneys?

California's active State Bar licensees must complete 25 hours of Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in every three-year compliance period and file a report with the State Bar.

The 25 hours are the full requirement: the ethics, bias, competence, technology and civility credits described in the next section come out of those hours rather than adding to them.

How the hours divide between participatory formats and self-study is its own rule, covered under online and on-demand options below.

Inside the 25 hours, California requires at least 4 hours of legal ethics, 2 hours of elimination of bias, 2 hours of competence, 1 hour of technology and 1 hour of civility.

California covers the wellness-style subject through its competence requirement, which includes at least 1 hour on the prevention and detection of substance use and mental health issues.

At least 1 of the 2 elimination-of-bias hours must focus on implicit bias and bias-reducing strategies, a requirement under B&P 6070.5.

Confirm the current subject list on the State Bar's MCLE requirements page before you plan a cycle.

California assigns each attorney to a compliance group by last name, and the current deadlines differ by group.

Group 1 (A–G) has a compliance period running from March 30, 2025 to March 29, 2028, with the report due by March 30, 2028.

Group 2 (H–M) is on a single extended 38-month cycle ending March 29, 2027, with the report due by March 30, 2027.

Group 3 (N–Z) reported by March 30, 2026.

Reporting itself is the compliance report filed with the State Bar described in the first section above; our research captured the group calendar but not the step-by-step filing mechanics, which the State Bar's compliance-groups page covers.

New California attorneys must complete the State Bar's New Attorney Training by the last day of the month of their one-year anniversary as a State Bar licensee.

The training is a separate requirement from MCLE, although its hours count toward MCLE when they fall inside the same compliance period.

There are no exemptions, and accessing the courses carries a $55 fee effective May 26, 2025.

Missing the New Attorney Training deadline carries the same $106 late fee that applies to late MCLE compliance.

At least 12.5 of California's 25 MCLE hours must be participatory credit hours, and up to half of the total may be self-study.

Our research captured that split but not a format-by-format breakdown of which course types — including which online and on-demand formats — the State Bar counts as participatory or self-study, so confirm a course's credit type with the State Bar before you count it toward a cycle.

California allows no carryover: if an attorney earns more than 25 hours in a compliance period, the excess cannot be carried forward to the next one.

On the exemption side, months on inactive status are excluded from the calculation — when an attorney is inactive for a portion of the compliance period, the MCLE requirement is prorated for those months.

Our research did not surface other exemption categories; the State Bar's MCLE FAQ is the place to check what may apply to your situation.

California's MCLE fee schedule lists a $106 late fee and $318 reinstatement.

The New Attorney Training carries the same treatment: an attorney who misses its deadline owes the $106 late fee.

The amounts come from the State Bar's own MCLE pages, so confirm the current schedule and your group's deadline with the State Bar before relying on them.