Coronavirus Resources: MCLE Changes and Updates
Below are changes to Mandatory Continuing Legal Education.
03/19/2020: For lawyers who failed to complete CLE for the compliance year ending December 31, 2019, waives the requirement that at least 12 of the required 24 hours be earned by attending in person and sets dates for verifying the transcript, completing a deficiency plan, and reporting completion of the plan.
03/20/2020: The deadlines for members scheduled to report their three-year cycle CLE in February, March, April, and May, have been extended to August 31, 2020.
03/10/2020: Continuing through March 31, 2020, allows lawyers to earn all or any portion of the required 12 hours through self-study, in-house, or distance-learning continuing legal education activities under Regulations 8(e) and (15), so long as those activities otherwise satisfy the requirements of those Regulations. The State Bar of Georgia advises that the March 31 deadline for 2019 hours has been extended to April 30, 2020.
03/31/2020: Waives the credit-hour limitations on distance education for lawyers, judges, and State Level Judicial Officers whose three-year educational period ends on December 31, 2020. All other lawyers and judges whose educational periods expire on or before December 31, 2022, may obtain no more than 24 hours of distance education; all other State Level Judicial Officers whose educational period expires on or before December 31, 2022, may obtain no more than 36 hours by distance education.
03/16/2020: Removes the six-hour cap on unmoderated CLE set forth in Rule 41.3(3).
03/31/2020: Moves the 2019-2020 CLE deadline to June 30, 2021, at which time lawyers must complete and certify 24 CLE credits, 4 of which must be ethics. Sets August 10, 2021 as the reporting deadline for the combined 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 educational years.
03/18/2020: Suspends the in-person participation requirements for CLE. Participation may be by an electronic medium. The Board of Overseers of the Bar extended the CLE reporting deadline to May 1, 2020.
03/18/2020: Suspends the 15-credit limit on on-demand CLE courses for lawyers in category 3 due to report on August 31, 2020.
03/23/2020: Modifies the 2019-2020 reporting year to be for 15 months between July 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020. Extends the 2019-2020 reporting deadline to October 31, 2020.
Due to a backlog of CLE attendance information, no late fees will be assessed as long as credits are earned and reported on or before May 15, 2020.
For 2020, all 10 required credits may be obtained without attending live education. Annual reports that have no live education will be accepted when they contain at least 10 total credits including 2 that qualify as professional responsibility/ethics.
03/10/2020: Until further order, all 24 credit hours for the compliance period may be fulfilled through approved courses offered in alternative verifiable learning formats.
03/27/2020: Extends the date for imposing the $250.00 sanction for MCLE noncompliance to May 1, 2020, and the date for paying sanctions under Rule 18-301(H)(2) NMRA to May 31, 2020. Sets June 1, 2020 as the due date for the MCLE delinquency certification for the 2019 compliance year to be submitted under 8 Rule 18-301(F). Expands to 30 days the show cause period for orders to show cause issued under Rule 18-10 301(G) NMRA.
03/11/2020: Through June 30, 2020, allows newly admitted attorneys to participate in Skills CLE courses by individual participation (self-study) or group participation in the following live, nontraditional formats where questions are allowed during the program: webconference, teleconference, and videoconference.
03/11/2020: Through June 30, 2020, allows newly admitted attorneys to participate in Skills CLE courses by individual participation (self-study) or group participation in the following live, nontraditional formats where questions are allowed during the program: webconference, teleconference, and videoconference.
03/23/2020: Suspends the 15-hour cap on self-study credits. Allows lawyers in Reporting Group 3, who report in 2020, to earn all or a portion of the required 45 credits through self-study. Three ethics CLE hours will still be required.
Waives the self-study cap for 2018/2019 late compliance and extends the deadline to complete all late compliance hours to June 29, 2020. Late compliance for those with a New Lawyers Training (NLT) requirement only, extends the deadline to complete all NLT hours to September 10, 2020 and allows all NLT to be completed by live webcasts.
03/19/2020: Extends the CLE compliance deadline applicable to Compliance Group 1 to from April 30, 2020 to August 31, 2020. All other 2020 annual compliance deadlines remain unchanged.
Extends the CLE compliance deadline to April 30, 2020.
03/17/2020: Waives the 8-hour cap on CLE via online or telephonic courses. Lawyers may earn all or any portion of the required 14 hours of CLE credit for the 2019-2020 annual reporting year through online or telephonic programs.
03/13/2020: Suspends the 8-hour cap on distance learning. Lawyers may earn all or any portion of the CLE hours required for 2019 through approved distance learning completed through March 31, 2020.
03/23/2020: Grants an automatic 60-day extension to lawyers reaching their compliance deadlines in March, April, or May. Provides an automatic 60-day extension to lawyers who missed compliance deadlines in January or February. Provides an additional one-month extension to lawyers now subject to suspension for failing to comply with MCLE requirements in November or December.
Suspends all requirements for in-person CLE attendance for the remainder of the current reporting cycle, which ends on June 30, 2020. Lawyers required to report CLE compliance through this reporting cycle may complete all hours through webinars and self-study courses.
Emphasizes to newly admitted lawyers that any reasonable request for an extension of time to complete the first-year CLE requirement will be granted and reminds newly admitted attorneys that "live" programming includes non-recorded programming presented via electronic means, such as webinars and teleseminars.
03/12/2020: For the 2018-2020 reporting period only, allows lawyers to earn all or any portion of the required 24 CLE credits through video, audio, correspondence, telephone seminars, computer-based training courses, or in-house instruction, so long as the courses otherwise satisfy the requirements of the CLE rules and regulations and are approved for CLE credit in West Virginia.
03/17/2020: Allows lawyers to claim up to 30 credits from repeated on-demand programs for the reporting period ending December 31, 2020. Repeated on-demand programs may not be used to satisfy the mandatory 3 legal ethics and professional responsibility credit hours.