Free CLE exists — the sources that advertise it are just not all equal, and whether a free hour counts is decided state by state.
The reliable places to look are your state bar's own programs, pro bono service in the states that convert it into credit, and provider catalogs worth screening for no-cost courses.
This page maps those sources and the acceptance rules that decide whether the free hour lands.
Bar association freebies
Start with bar associations.
The clearest bar-run programming in our research: the State Bar of South Dakota provides live and online CLE programming for its members even though South Dakota does not require CLE to keep a law license.
The administrator's name changes at the border — Georgia's CLE is overseen by the Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency working with the State Bar of Georgia's CLE Department, and Minnesota's by the Minnesota Board of Continuing Legal Education.
Whichever body runs it where you are licensed, its course catalog is the first price list to check.
For new lawyers, the verified freebie is concrete: newly admitted West Virginia lawyers must complete the State Bar's free Bridge-the-Gap Program within 24 months of admission, and lawyers who completed a comparable program elsewhere may apply for exemption.
Do not assume a required bar course is free, though — California's State Bar New Attorney Training carries a $55 fee (since May 26, 2025) with no exemptions, and DC's Mandatory Course for new admittees is online and on demand but costs $229.
Any bar memberships you hold are worth a price check too.
A local or specialty bar association may publish its own CLE calendar, and your state bar's new-lawyer section is a natural first stop for transitional programs.
Check each listing's price and accreditation rather than assuming membership covers it.
Pro bono credit
The best-documented free route is service.
In the states whose CLE rules provide for it, pro bono work converts into credit at a fixed ratio — the credit costs no money, and the price is the hours you serve.
The conversions our research verified:
| State | The conversion | Limit and conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 1 general credit per 2 hours of free civil legal services | Supervised by a qualified legal services provider |
| Arizona | 1 CLE hour per 5 pro bono hours | Through an approved legal services organization; counted as self-study |
| Colorado | Up to 9 credits per three-year period | Qualifying uncompensated pro bono work; no professional-responsibility credit |
| Connecticut | 1 credit per 3 hours of service | Up to 6 CLE hours a year |
| Florida | 1 general credit per hour of pro bono service | Up to 5 credits per 3-year cycle |
| Virginia | 1 CLE hour per 4 hours of qualifying pro bono service | From May 1, 2026; up to 5 hours per period |
| Wyoming | 1 credit per 2 hours of pro bono work | Up to 5 hours a year |
Read the qualifiers before you plan hours around a conversion, because each rule defines the service narrowly.
Arizona requires the work to run through an approved legal services organization and books the credit as self-study.
Colorado pays no professional-responsibility credit for pro bono work.
Alaska requires supervision by a qualified legal services provider.
And a generous rate like Florida's one-to-one only applies inside its cap of 5 credits per 3-year cycle.
Separately from CLE credit, ethics rules can address pro bono too.
Washington's RPC 6.1, for example, says a lawyer should aspire to render at least 30 hours of pro bono publico service per year, and lawyers reporting at least 50 hours receive a WSBA commendation.
Those figures are aspirational: nothing in the pro bono rules we read makes an hours number mandatory.
Confirm the conversion before you serve the hours
Provider free trials
Commercial course providers are the other marketplace.
In Tennessee, for example, the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization administers CLE, and providers pay it $2 per credit hour for each Tennessee attendee.
Free access is something to confirm in a provider's catalog, not something to assume.
Three searches cost nothing.
Filter a provider's catalog by price instead of scrolling.
Check the promotions or trial page before you buy — if a provider offers free course access, its catalog or offer page says so.
And search for free ethics CLE separately from general courses, because topic placement matters: Missouri, for example, lets a recorded course bank self-study hours but bars self-study from satisfying the ethics or bias hours, and the next section maps where else format and topic rules bite.
One screen before you rely on any free CLE course: accreditation.
States verify courses differently — the State Bar of Arizona does not pre-approve CLE providers or programs, and Arizona lawyers self-certify by affidavit, which puts the accreditation check on you.
Whatever the state, confirm the course is accredited there and that its format counts before you spend the hour.
State acceptance
A free hour has to clear two gates in your state: accreditation (does the regulator recognize the course?) and format (does the delivery method count?).
Format is where free online CLE lives or dies, and the rules run the full range.
On the permissive side, Texas has no in-person CLE requirement, so all 15 of its hours may be completed online; Oklahoma counts approved online, on-demand, webcast and podcast CLE with no annual limit; and since January 1, 2024 every one of New Mexico's 12 credits may be self-study.
On the strict side, Indiana does not accept self-study or downloaded CLE — distance courses count only if they are interactive with verified attendance.
Alabama gives no MCLE credit for self-study and counts on-demand programs for no more than 6 of its 12 annual credits, Pennsylvania caps distance learning at 6 hours per compliance period, and Virginia allows only 8 of its 12 hours from pre-recorded programs.
Topic placement is a third gate.
Missouri allows up to 6 self-study hours a year, but self-study there cannot satisfy the ethics or bias hours — a free recorded ethics course can bank a Missouri self-study hour while leaving the state's ethics requirement unfilled.
Career stage matters too.
Newly admitted New York attorneys cannot count self-study, recorded or online formats toward transitional credit unless the regulations or the CLE Board permit it, so free online courses may not help a new admittee during the transitional period.
A second license changes the math in both directions: Kansas does not accept other states' CLE compliance as reciprocal, while Alaska sets no cap on technology-delivered CLE and automatically approves courses approved by any other mandatory-CLE jurisdiction.
If you are licensed where CLE is not mandatory, free courses are professional development rather than compliance: Maryland has no mandatory CLE (its supreme court postponed consideration of adopting one on April 28, 2025), Michigan has none as of 2026, South Dakota does not require CLE to keep a law license, and DC has no general mandate.
The hour totals, deadlines and format caps behind every rule on this page are compared on our CLE requirements by state page.
Career information, not legal advice. Free-credit, format and accreditation rules change — confirm them with the CLE regulator or state bar that administers CLE where you are licensed.