What Are the CLE Requirements for West Virginia Attorneys?

Each active member of the West Virginia State Bar must complete a minimum of 24 hours of continuing legal education every two fiscal years, under State Bar Rule 6.

At least 3 of those hours must be in courses on legal ethics, office management, attorney well-being, or elimination of bias in the legal profession — the specialty requirement the next section covers.

The State Bar's MCLE Commission accredits courses under the rule.

The rule text our research read is the State Bar's 2020 governance revision of Rule 6, and later amendments are an open question in our research, so confirm the current rule with the Commission before you plan a reporting period.

Rule 6 sets a floor of 3 hours across four categories: legal ethics, office management, attorney well-being, and elimination of bias in the legal profession.

The rule text our research read states that 3-hour minimum across the four categories together; it does not require a set number of hours in any single category, and it does not name technology as its own required credit.

That is a statement about the text we read rather than a finding that no other credit requirement exists, so confirm how the MCLE Commission counts a specific course before you build a cycle around it.

West Virginia's CLE reporting period runs for two fiscal years, July 1 through June 30, and the report of MCLE activity is due on or before July 1 of every even year.

The rule text our research read sets that date and the delinquency fee that follows a late report, but it does not walk through the filing mechanics, so the MCLE Commission's pages are the place to confirm how to submit the report.

Newly admitted West Virginia lawyers must complete the State Bar's Bridge-the-Gap Program within 24 months after admission, and the program is free.

A lawyer who has completed a comparable program elsewhere may apply for an exemption from it.

Our research records the 24-month requirement and the exemption route, but not how the MCLE Commission evaluates a comparable program or whether a new admittee also owes the regular 24 hours in the year of admission, so those questions belong with the Commission.

Partly.

Pre-recorded presentations can count toward the requirement, but no more than half of the total required hours may be satisfied by pre-recorded presentations that do not offer an interactive component — at most twelve of the twenty-four hours.

The remaining hours must come from formats other than non-interactive pre-recorded presentations.

The rule text we read does not itemize which specific formats count as interactive, so confirm a course's classification with the MCLE Commission before counting it.

A lawyer who earns more than the 24 hours may carry a maximum of 6 credit-hours forward, and only to the next reporting period — excess hours cannot bank across multiple cycles.

Carried hours also cannot count toward the 3-hour minimum in legal ethics, office management, attorney well-being, or elimination of bias.

On exemptions, the one our research records is Bridge-the-Gap: a lawyer who completed a comparable program elsewhere may apply for an exemption.

The rule text we read names no other exemption categories, so confirm with the MCLE Commission whether another applies to your situation.

A lawyer who does not submit a report of MCLE activity by July 31, after the July 1 due date, incurs a $200 delinquency fee under Rule 6.

That is the consequence our research records.

The pages we read do not describe what follows a continued failure to report — whether a repeated or unpaid delinquency affects license status is not stated — so those questions belong with the MCLE Commission.