What Are the CLE Requirements for Vermont Attorneys?
Vermont requires its active lawyers to complete at least 24 CLE hours every two-year reporting period.
The 24 hours include at least 2 hours of ethics programming, 1 hour of attorney wellness and 1 hour of diversity and inclusion, and at least 12 of the 24 must be moderated or interactive.
Licences renew every two years on or before June 30, CLE compliance is certified on the licensing statement, and a lawyer short on hours files a Makeup Plan with a $50 fee.
Verify before you rely on this
At a glance
The Vermont Judiciary: the MCLE requirement, the licence renewal and the newly admitted attorney rules this page cites are all published on vermontjudiciary.org.
At least 24 CLE hours per two-year reporting period for active Vermont lawyers.
Two years, with licences renewed every two years on or before June 30 and CLE compliance certified on the licensing statement.
At least 2 hours of ethics, 1 hour of attorney wellness and 1 hour of diversity and inclusion programming inside the 24.
At least 12 of the 24 hours must be moderated or interactive; no more than 6 may be non-moderated programming without interactivity.
15 CLE hours in the first year, at least 9 of them moderated or interactive.
A Makeup Plan with a $50 fee added to the licence renewal cost, with completion certified by November 15.
How many CLE hours does Vermont require?
Active Vermont lawyers must complete at least 24 CLE hours per two-year reporting period under Vermont's mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) requirement.
The 24 hours are not all unrestricted credit: within the total, the rule sets minimums of 2 hours of ethics programming, 1 hour of attorney wellness programming and 1 hour of diversity and inclusion programming.
Those specialty minimums are detailed in the next section.
“As part of the 24 hours, you must earn at least 2 hours in Ethics Programming, 1 hour in Attorney Wellness Programming, and 1 hour in Diversity and Inclusion Programming.”
What specialty credits are required (ethics, bias, wellness, tech)?
The specialty minimums our research confirmed are three, all inside the 24-hour total: 2 hours of ethics programming, 1 hour of attorney wellness programming and 1 hour of diversity and inclusion programming.
No separately designated technology or bias credit appears on the Vermont Judiciary MCLE page we read — the diversity and inclusion hour is the category that page names — so this page does not describe one.
Credit categories can change, so confirm the current list with the Vermont Judiciary before you plan a reporting period around a specific credit type.
When is the Vermont CLE deadline, and how do you report?
Vermont ties CLE reporting to licence renewal.
Licences must be renewed every two years on or before June 30, and CLE compliance is certified on the licensing statement — so compliance reaches the Vermont Judiciary through the renewal itself.
The MCLE and licensing pages we read do not set out a separate mid-cycle transcript filing, so this page does not describe one; the renewal and its licensing statement are the fixed points.
“must renew their license to practice law every two years on or before June 30”
What are the rules for newly admitted Vermont attorneys?
New Vermont admittees owe a 15-hour first-year CLE requirement.
At least 9 of those 15 hours must be earned by attendance at programs delivered either as Moderated Programming or Non-Moderated Programming with Interactivity as a Key Component.
The newly admitted attorneys page we read states that missing the deadline leads to administrative suspension — a consequence it states for this first-year requirement, in different terms from the Makeup Plan path the MCLE page sets for lawyers short on hours in the regular two-year cycle.
“A minimum of 9 of those 15 CLE hours must be earned by attendance at programs delivered either as Moderated Programming or Non-Moderated Programming with Interactivity as a Key Component”
Can you complete Vermont CLE online or on demand?
Vermont's rule regulates format rather than banning online study.
At least 12 of the 24 hours must be programs delivered either as Moderated Programming or Non-Moderated Programming with Interactivity as a Key Component — half the total.
At the other end, no more than 6 of the 24 hours may be non-moderated programming without interactivity.
Where a specific webinar, recorded or on-demand program lands between those bounds depends on how it is delivered, and the MCLE page we read does not classify commercial formats, so confirm a program's category before you rely on it.
“At least 12 of the 24 hours must be programs delivered either as Moderated Programming or Non-Moderated Programming with Interactivity as a Key Component.”
Do Vermont CLE hours carry over, and who is exempt?
On carryover, Vermont's rule is directional: excess hours earned during the second year of a reporting period may be used to fulfill the requirements of the reporting period immediately following.
The rule as we read it addresses second-year excess hours, and the MCLE page we read does not describe carryover for hours earned in the first year of a period.
On exemptions, the same page states that attorneys on judicial and inactive status are not subject to MCLE requirements.
It does not lay out other exemptions — by age, hardship or practice setting — so an exemption question outside judicial or inactive status belongs with the Vermont Judiciary.
“any excess hours earned during the second year of the reporting period may be used to fulfill the requirements of the reporting period immediately following.”
What happens if you miss the Vermont CLE deadline?
Vermont gives a lawyer short on hours a defined cure path: a Makeup Plan.
A $50 fee for the Makeup Plan is added to the cost of the license renewal, and completion must be certified by November 15.
That is the path the MCLE page we read sets for the regular two-year cycle.
For newly admitted attorneys, the stakes of missing the first-year deadline are stated differently: administrative suspension.
The pages we read do not describe what happens if the Makeup Plan's own November 15 deadline is missed, so that question belongs with the Vermont Judiciary.
“A $50 fee for the Makeup Plan will be added to the cost of the license renewal.”
Have Vermont's CLE requirements changed recently?
The structure described on this page is what the Vermont Judiciary's MCLE page stated when we read it in October 2026: 24 hours per two-year reporting period, with the ethics, attorney wellness and diversity and inclusion minimums inside the total, at least 12 hours moderated or interactive and no more than 6 in non-moderated programming without interactivity.
Older summaries sometimes describe Vermont's requirement as 20 hours per two-year period; the page we read sets 24, so treat a 20-hour figure as out of date and confirm against the Judiciary's current MCLE page before you plan a reporting period around it.
What This Page Does, and Doesn’t, Cover
This page summarizes the Vermont court rules, board and bar pages and other sources listed below, as read for this state-by-state CLE requirements series, current as of October 2026.
It is not a substitute for the instructions the Vermont Judiciary publishes.
For the rest of the picture in Vermont, see bar admission rules in Vermont.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Vermont CLE 24 hours every year or every two years?
Every two years.
Vermont requires active lawyers to complete at least 24 CLE hours per two-year reporting period, including at least 2 hours of ethics, 1 hour of attorney wellness and 1 hour of diversity and inclusion programming.
Licences renew every two years on or before June 30, and CLE compliance is certified on the licensing statement.
A separate 15-hour first-year requirement applies to new admittees.
How many on-demand CLE hours can a Vermont lawyer count?
Vermont's rule caps categories of program, not commercial formats: at least 12 of the 24 hours must be Moderated Programming or Non-Moderated Programming with Interactivity as a Key Component, and no more than 6 may be non-moderated programming without interactivity.
Where a specific on-demand program lands depends on how it is delivered, and the MCLE page we read does not classify commercial formats, so confirm how a program is credited before you rely on it.
Do Vermont CLE credits carry over to the next period?
Second-year hours can.
The MCLE page we read states that excess hours earned during the second year of a reporting period may be used to fulfill the requirements of the reporting period immediately following.
The page does not describe carryover for first-year excess hours, so plan each period's hours around its own requirement and confirm any edge case with the Vermont Judiciary.
What is the Makeup Plan for Vermont CLE?
It is the cure path for a lawyer who is short on hours at renewal.
A $50 fee for the Makeup Plan is added to the cost of the license renewal, and the lawyer must certify completion by November 15.
For newly admitted attorneys the stakes are different: the newly admitted attorneys page we read states that missing the first-year deadline leads to administrative suspension.
Which Vermont lawyers are exempt from CLE?
Attorneys on judicial and inactive status are not subject to Vermont's MCLE requirements, per the Judiciary's MCLE page.
The page we read does not lay out other exemptions by age, hardship or practice setting, so a question about any other status belongs with the Vermont Judiciary.
Active lawyers are the group the 24-hour requirement addresses.
More Vermont Resources
Sources
- Vermont Judiciary: Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Vermont Judiciary: Attorney Licensing (retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Vermont Judiciary: Requirements and Resources for Newly Admitted Attorneys (retrieved 2026-10-02)
Sourced from the documents listed above.
Verified October 2026.
This is career information, not legal advice.
Confirm current rules with the Vermont Judiciary.