What Are the CLE Requirements for Illinois Attorneys?

Illinois attorneys must complete 30 hours of CLE during each two-year reporting period, and at least 6 of those hours must be in professional responsibility.

The MCLE Board of the Supreme Court of Illinois administers the requirement.

Illinois caps how many excess hours carry into the next reporting period — up to 10 hours, including up to 6 professional responsibility hours.

Of the 30 hours, at least 6 must be professional responsibility, and those 6 hours must include at least 1 hour in the area of diversity and inclusion and at least 1 hour in mental health and substance abuse.

Completion of the yearlong Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Program can stand in for those two 1-hour components instead.

Sexual harassment prevention is one of the topics that counts toward the professional responsibility hours, not a separate required hour.

The Illinois rules we read name no separate required technology hour, so confirm what currently counts with the MCLE Board.

Illinois reporting periods run two years, from July 1 to June 30.

Which period an attorney falls in depends on their last name: attorneys with last names beginning A through M report in even-numbered years, and those with last names N through Z report in odd-numbered years.

Credits are due by June 30, and the attorney's transcript must reflect compliance by July 31.

Newly admitted Illinois lawyers must, by the last day of the month one year after admission, complete a Basic Skills Course of at least 6 professional-responsibility hours plus 9 more CLE hours — 15 hours total.

Attorneys admitted on or after January 1, 2028 must also complete 0.5 hours on access-to-justice topics within that course, and the Basic Skills Course must come from approved providers; completion of Commission on Professionalism mentoring also qualifies.

Lawyers admitted to Illinois after practising at least one year of the prior three in another state skip the Basic Skills Course and instead complete 15 CLE hours, including 4 professional responsibility hours, in their first year.

Illinois does not cap how many CLE hours an attorney may complete online or through recorded courses.

Courses may be delivered in person or by live or recorded technology methods, and each delivery method must have interactivity as a key component — for example, the chance to ask questions.

Recorded formats count toward Illinois CLE when the provider builds that interactivity in.

Illinois attorneys may carry over a maximum of 10 excess CLE hours to the next two-year period, including up to 6 professional responsibility hours.

Newly admitted lawyers may carry up to 15 hours into their first reporting period.

On exemptions, our research did not establish which Illinois attorneys, if any, qualify for an exemption or waiver from the CLE requirement — confirm with the MCLE Board.

The MCLE Board's fee schedule, effective April 2023, sets a $100 fee for a timely grace-period extension request and a $250 fee when no report is filed by the reporting deadline.

The grace period runs from July 1 through October 31.

An attorney removed from the Master Roll of Attorneys for failure to comply with the MCLE requirements pays a $500 reinstatement fee.