What Are the CLE Requirements for Wisconsin Attorneys?
Wisconsin attorneys must complete 30 approved CLE hours in each two-year reporting period, including at least 3 hours of legal ethics and professional responsibility (SCR 31.02).
Senior active members need 15 hours.
The Board of Bar Examiners, appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, enforces CLE compliance and also runs bar admission.
Your reporting period ends December 31 of an even or odd year depending on the year you were admitted, and the CLE Form 1 report is due February 1, with a $100 late fee for late reports.
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At a glance
The Board of Bar Examiners (BBE), an 11-member board appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, enforces CLE compliance; the hour requirement is SCR 31.02.
30 approved CLE hours per two-year reporting period, including at least 3 hours of legal ethics and professional responsibility; senior active members need 15.
Two years, ending December 31 of even years for lawyers admitted in even years and odd years for odd-year admittees; the CLE Form 1 report is due February 1 after the period.
At least 3 of the 30 hours in legal ethics and professional responsibility.
Wellness topics and law practice management are each capped at 6 hours; no bias or technology credit is named in the rule text we verified.
Pre-approved repeated on-demand programs count toward the requirement; our research found no overall cap on on-demand hours in the pages we read.
Exempt from CLE attendance and reporting in the year of admission to the practice of law in Wisconsin.
A $100 late fee on a late CLE Form 1 report; our research did not establish what happens beyond the fee — ask the Board of Bar Examiners.
How many CLE hours does Wisconsin require?
Wisconsin lawyers must attend a minimum of 30 hours of approved CLE during each two-year reporting period, including at least 3 hours of legal ethics and professional responsibility (SCR 31.02).
The Board of Bar Examiners — an 11-member board appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that also writes and grades the bar exam — enforces CLE compliance.
Senior active members have a reduced requirement: 15 hours per reporting period rather than 30.
“A lawyer shall attend a minimum of 30 hours of approved CLE during each reporting period.”
What specialty credits are required (ethics, bias, wellness, tech)?
Within the 30 hours, the rule text our research verified names one required minimum: at least 3 hours of legal ethics and professional responsibility in every reporting period.
Wisconsin caps two other subject areas rather than requiring them.
A maximum of 6 hours on wellness topics — substance abuse, mental illness, stress and work/life balance — counts toward the requirement, and law practice management is likewise capped at 6 hours per period.
The rule text our research verified names no bias or technology credit; confirm current credit types with the Board of Bar Examiners before you plan a period around one.
“A lawyer may attend a maximum of six (6) hours of the hours required under sub. (1) on subjects designed to enhance a lawyer’s awareness”
When is the Wisconsin CLE deadline, and how do you report?
Wisconsin's two-year reporting period ends December 31 of even years for lawyers admitted in even years, and December 31 of odd years for lawyers admitted in odd years.
The CLE Form 1 report is due February 1 after the period closes, and filing late carries a $100 late fee.
In practice: a lawyer admitted in an even year closes a period each even-year December 31 and reports by the following February 1, while a lawyer admitted in an odd year works to the odd-year calendar.
What are the rules for newly admitted Wisconsin attorneys?
Newly admitted lawyers sit out their admission year: a lawyer is exempt from the attendance and reporting requirements in the year of admission to the practice of law in Wisconsin.
The exemption covers both the hours and the report for that year.
It is an admission-year exemption only — the 30-hour requirement and the reporting schedule apply in other years, and that schedule is keyed to admission, with even-year and odd-year periods running from the calendar year a lawyer was admitted.
“A lawyer is exempt from the attendance and reporting requirements of this chapter in the year of his or her admission to the practice of law in Wisconsin.”
Can you complete Wisconsin CLE online or on demand?
Approved on-demand learning counts: pre-approved repeated on-demand programs count toward Wisconsin's requirement.
Our research did not find an overall cap on on-demand hours in the pages we read — that question was left open — so if you plan to earn most of a period's hours on demand, confirm with the Board of Bar Examiners that nothing has changed.
The caps our research did verify are on subject areas: wellness topics and law practice management are each capped at 6 hours per reporting period.
Do Wisconsin CLE hours carry over, and who is exempt?
Carryover is capped, not banned: up to 15 hours of CLE reported on CLE Form 1 may be carried forward to the next reporting period.
On exemptions, the clearest is the admission year — attendance and reporting are both waived in the year a lawyer is admitted to the practice of law in Wisconsin.
The same research also records that lawyers practising principally in another mandatory-CLE state must still report.
Other exemption categories, such as age- or status-based waivers, were not established in our research — ask the Board of Bar Examiners before assuming one applies.
“Up to 15 hours of CLE reported on CLE Form 1 may be carried forward to the next reporting period”
What happens if you miss the Wisconsin CLE deadline?
The consequence our research verified is the late fee: a lawyer who files the CLE Form 1 report late is assessed a late fee of $100.
What happens beyond that fee, including for hours that stay incomplete, was not established in our research, so treat that as an open question and ask the Board of Bar Examiners.
The fixed points around it are the ones above: each two-year period ends December 31, and the CLE Form 1 report is due February 1 after it.
What This Page Does, and Doesn’t, Cover
This page summarizes the Wisconsin 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 Board of Bar Examiners publishes.
For the rest of the picture in Wisconsin, see bar admission rules in Wisconsin.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who enforces Wisconsin CLE requirements — the State Bar or the Supreme Court?
Neither body directly: it is the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE), an 11-member board appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The BBE enforces CLE compliance and also handles bar admission, writing and grading the exam.
The hour requirement itself sits in the supreme court's rules (SCR 31.02), so the rule is the court's and enforcement is the board's.
How many CLE hours do senior active members need in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin's CLE rule gives senior active members a reduced requirement of 15 hours per two-year reporting period, against 30 for other lawyers.
Our research verified the reduced total but did not capture the rule's definition of who counts as a senior active member, so check the Board of Bar Examiners' guidance for the eligibility line before you plan around the lower total.
Do recorded and on-demand Wisconsin CLE programs count?
Yes, when they are pre-approved: the rule our research verified counts pre-approved repeated on-demand programs toward the requirement.
Our research did not find an overall cap on how many on-demand hours a Wisconsin lawyer may report, so confirm with the Board of Bar Examiners before building a period entirely on demand.
The 6-hour wellness cap and the 6-hour law practice management cap apply per reporting period.
What is CLE Form 1 in Wisconsin?
It is the report that records your CLE compliance for a two-year reporting period, due February 1 after the period ends.
Up to 15 carryover hours are reported on CLE Form 1 as well, and filing it late carries a $100 late fee.
Lawyers are exempt from the reporting requirement in their admission year, so the first Form 1 follows the even-year or odd-year schedule keyed to your admission year.
Is there a bias, diversity or technology CLE requirement in Wisconsin?
Not in the rule text our research verified.
Wisconsin's specialty credits work the other way around: at least 3 hours of legal ethics and professional responsibility are required, while wellness topics and law practice management are capped at 6 hours each.
No bias, diversity or technology credit appears in the text we read.
Rules change, so confirm the current credit types with the Board of Bar Examiners before you plan your hours.
More Wisconsin Resources
Sources
- Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules, chapter 31 (CLE) (PDF) (retrieved 2026-10-02)
- Wisconsin Courts: Board of Bar Examiners (BBE) (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 Board of Bar Examiners.