What Are the CLE Requirements for Georgia Attorneys?

Georgia moved to a biennial CLE cycle on January 1, 2026.

In each two-year compliance period, active, non-exempt lawyers must complete 18 CLE hours, including 3 ethics hours and 2 professionalism hours.

The first biennial period runs January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027.

The Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency (CCLC) and the State Bar of Georgia CLE Department oversee Georgia CLE.

The State Bar's new-CLE-rules page is the controlling source if you see older summaries, including the bar's own CLE landing page, which still showed the replaced rule when we read it.

Two credit types are named in the requirement: 3 of the 18 hours must be ethics and 2 must be professionalism.

That is the full list our research verified — we found no separate bias, wellness or technology credit in it.

Georgia also eliminated its separate trial-hours requirement for trial lawyers effective 2026, so trial attorneys no longer owe a distinct block of trial-practice hours.

Because the biennial rules are new, check the current credit list with the CCLC before you plan hours around a specialty credit that is not ethics or professionalism.

The 2026-27 CLE deadline is December 31, 2027, and a $200 late fee applies if the requirement is not complete by that date.

Georgia also added a certification step: when you complete your hours for the compliance period, you attest that they relate to your practice area or benefit your practice and clients.

Our research did not establish the rest of the reporting mechanics — how hours post to your transcript, or which form closes out a period — so confirm those steps with the State Bar of Georgia CLE Department.

Our research did not verify the CLE rules for newly admitted Georgia lawyers.

A Transition Into Law Practice Program appears in State Bar of Georgia navigation, but the pages we read in October 2026 did not confirm its details or how it interacts with the CLE requirement for new admittees.

Because Georgia's rules changed on January 1, 2026, get first-cycle obligations directly from the State Bar of Georgia CLE Department or the CCLC rather than from an older summary.

Yes.

All Georgia CLE hours may be completed through approved online programs, so no part of the 18 hours must be earned in person under the requirement our research verified.

What our research did not establish is how specific formats, such as recorded on-demand courses, are accredited or categorized, so confirm an individual course's approval with its provider or the State Bar of Georgia CLE Department.

Our research did not establish whether Georgia lets lawyers carry extra hours from one biennial period into the next, so ask the State Bar of Georgia CLE Department before counting on carryover.

One exemption is documented: a lawyer who reaches 40 years as an active member of the State Bar of Georgia, without suspension or disbarment, becomes exempt from CLE starting the next period.

The documented consequence of a missed deadline is a late fee: a $200 late fee applies if the 2026-27 CLE requirement is not complete by December 31, 2027.

Our research did not establish what follows a continued failure to complete — whether suspension or another sanction — or any grace-period schedule under the new biennial rules.

Direct questions about a delinquent compliance period to the State Bar of Georgia or the CCLC.

Georgia's CLE rules changed on January 1, 2026.

The state moved from an annual requirement to a two-year cycle: 18 hours per biennial period replaced the 12-hour annual requirement that applied through 2025, which included 1 ethics hour and 1 professionalism hour and carried a $100 late fee if not complete by the March 31, 2026 grace deadline.

The separate trial-hours requirement for trial lawyers was eliminated effective 2026.

One caution: the State Bar's own CLE landing page still displayed the replaced 12-hour rule when we read it in October 2026, so treat the bar's new-rules page as the controlling source.