Covid-19 CLE Rule Changes
Many states have modified their rules to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. Most changes focus on compliance deadlines and modifications to the limitations of credits earned online. Expired orders can be found at the bottom of this page.
Current Orders
Maine: Effective March 13th, 2020 and until further order, any in-person participation requirements for continuing legal education, including but not limited to the requirement in M. Bar. R. 5(c)(3), are hereby suspended and participation may be by an electronic medium. For further information, please see the notice on the State of Maine Judicial Branch website.
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New York: Effective March 11, 2020, through June 30, 2025, the New York State CLE Board (the "CLE Board") permits newly admitted attorneys to participate in Skills CLE courses by either individual (self-study) or group participation in the following live, nontraditional formats, where questions are allowed during the program: webconference, teleconference, and videoconference. See the announcement from the NYS CLE Board.
Newly Admitted New York attorneys may earn Skills CLE courses via PLI’s live webcasts and live groupcasts.
Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board has updated distance learning guidance for 2023 and 2024: at least six (6) credits must be live-online or in-person/classroom, and only up to six (6) credits may be completed through pre-recorded online courses. Only credits through live-online and in-person/classroom courses taken during this period may carry forward (up to two compliance periods). See Pennsylvania’s expired rule change.
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Expired Orders
Alabama (Expired): The Alabama State Bar MCLE Commission extended its suspension of MCLE Regulation 3.1 through Dec. 31, 2022. Alabama attorneys may have satisfied their full annual CLE requirement with approved on-demand and/or virtual courses. The Alabama State Bar MCLE Commission also temporarily suspended the 6-hour limit for online courses. For the CLE year that ended December 31, 2020, attorneys may have satisfied their annual CLE requirement from approved online courses.
Arizona (Expired): The Supreme Court of the State of Arizona had issued an order that the deadlines for both the completion of mandatory continuing legal education hours and the required affidavit of compliance, under Rule 45, Arizona Rules of the Supreme Court, be extended solely for the educational year 2019-2020. The deadline for completion of the necessary hours was extended through December 30, 2020; the deadline for submission of the affidavit of compliance was also extended through December 30, 2020. The deadline for completion of the necessary hours was June 30th. The MCLE extension applies only to the 2019-2020 MCLE year. The deadlines for the 2020-2021 MCLE year remain unchanged.
California (Expired): The State Bar of California had announced that the Board of Trustees approved of a modified schedule that extended from June 30th to September 30th, 2020, as the final deadline for licensees in Compliance Group 3 (N-Z) to comply with their MCLE requirements or be administratively enrolled on Involuntary Inactive status.
Connecticut (Expired): Due to limitations of public gatherings, the Connecticut Superior Court Rule Committee had voted to suspend on an interim basis Sec. 2-27A (Minimum Continuing Legal Education) which prescribes the requirements for MCLE.
Delaware(Expired): The Supreme Court of the State of Delaware has issued an order stating the requirement that at least 12 of the 24 CLE credit hours must be earned by attending in person, live CLE approved courses is waived for the two-year period ending December 31, 2022. All 24 CLE credit hours for those two-year periods may be satisfied by approved courses that do not require an in-person, live appearance. This order is in addition the the previous order that waived the requirement that at least 12 of the 24 CLE credit hours must be earned by attending in person, live CLE approved courses for the two year periods ending December 31, 2019, December 31, 2020, and December 31, 2021.
Florida (Expired): The Florida Bar had announced that deadlines for members scheduled to report their three-year cycle CLE for February through November 2020 were extended to a new reporting deadline of December 31, 2020. This included the Basic Skills Course Requirement.
Georgia (Expired): The Supreme Court of Georgia issued an order on May 14th, 2021 stating effective immediately and continuing through March 31, 2022, lawyers may earn all or any portion of the required twelve hours for 2021 through self-study, in-house, or distance-learning continuing legal education activities. This means attorneys can earn all of their 12-hour CLE requirements through self-study, in-house, or distance-learning approved by the State Bar of Georgia through March 31, 2022. The Supreme Court of Georgia had also issued an order extending the waiver of the 6-hour in-person CLE requirement and the grace period through May 31, 2021.
Effective October 22, 2021, The Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency (CCLC) permanently changed the regulation related to distance learning. Georgia licensed attorneys can now complete all or any portion of their CLE requirement through approved distance learning CLE programs. For further information on this rule change, please see Rule 8-106(15) on the State Bar of Georgia website. See Georgia’s expired rule change.
Illinois (Expired): The Supreme Court of Illinois had announced that in consultation with the MCLE Board, the Court decided to provide every attorney in the 2018-2020 compliance period (last names beginning A-M) the option to secure a no-cost, three-month extension to the June 30th compliance deadline.
Instructions for an Illinois-licensed attorney to choose between the June 30, 2020 deadline and the September 30, 2020 deadline:
- Option 1: Keeping June 30, 2020 compliance deadline - For an attorney who completes the required credits or has a valid out-of-state exemption by June 30, 2020, that attorney reports “Complied” or the exemption on the Board’s website, by July 31, 2020. No other report was needed, and no fee is due.
- Option 2: Selecting the September 30, 2020 deadline - To choose this option, the attorney reports “Not Yet Complied” on the Board’s website, no later than July 31, 2020. With that report, the attorney obtains a new deadline of September 30, 2020, to complete the required credits and report compliance online to the Board. No fee is due this year for securing this new deadline.
- Please note: If an attorney failed to submit a report choosing Option 1 or Option 2 no later than July 31, 2020, the attorney will incur a $250 late fee and need to complete their credits and report compliance to the Board no later than September 30, 2020.
Indiana (Expired): The Indiana Supreme Court had ordered that the credit-hour limitations on distance education courses be waived for all attorneys, judges, and State Level Judicial Officers whose three-year Educational Period or Judicial Officer Educational Period ends on December 31, 2020. That order had also amended the credit-hour limitations to allow Judges and attorneys whose educational periods expire on or before December 31, 2022 to obtain no more than 24 hours of distance education. The previous limit of distance education credits attorneys could earn per three-year compliance period was 18 credits. The September 23, 2020 order superseded this order.
In an order signed June 6th, 2022, the Indiana Supreme Court has permanently amended continuing education rules to lift limits on distance education. The order vacates the two previously-issued COVID-related orders that waived certain distance-education limits until further notice. See Indiana's expired rule change.
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Iowa (Expired): In the matter of preparation for COVID-19's impact on the office of regulation, The Iowa Supreme Court had issued an order allowing attorneys to complete all 15 hours of their requirement online through webinars or on-demand programming effective March 16, 2020.
Kansas (Expired): The Kansas Supreme Court had issued an Administrative Order to extend the modifications to temporarily waive the limitation on prerecorded programming through June 30, 2022. Here is the link to the Administrative Order filed on September 4, 2020. Applications for prerecorded programs for more than 6 hours will be considered for credit through June 30, 2021.
The Kansas Supreme Court had also issued an order extending until September 30, 2020, the reporting deadline for continuing legal education that is required by Supreme Court rule to be completed between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020. An attorney unable to complete the education within the compliance period is automatically granted an extension until September 30.
The order also waived a limit on continuing education hours delivered by prerecorded programs.
Kentucky (Expired): To provide more flexibility to Kentucky attorneys during the COVID-19 emergency, the Supreme Court had issued an order under Section 116 of the Kentucky Constitution that the 2019-2020 CLE deadline under SCR 6.645(1) is moved to June 30, 2021, at which time every person licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth must complete and certify 24 CLE credits, 4 of which must be ethics. The reporting deadline under SCR 6.645(2) for the combined 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 educational years was August 10, 2021.
Louisiana (Expired): The Supreme Court of Louisiana had issued an order amending the online credit limit to 6 hours for the 2022 compliance period ending December 31, 2022. The Supreme Court of Louisiana had previously issued an order effective January 13, 2021 that for mandatory continuing legal education compliance year 2021, the limitation on “self-study” credits (as defined in Rule 3(d) of Supreme Court Rule XXX) was increased to twelve and one half (12.5) hours annually. Additionally, excess hours earned in the 2019 compliance year can be carried forward to compliance year 2020, 2021 or 2022. For mandatory continuing legal education compliance year 2021, the limitation on "self-study" credits (as defined in Rule 3(d) of Supreme Court Rule XXX) was increased to a maximum of 18 hours for purposes of completing the certification requirements for the approved fields of law set forth in the Louisiana State Bar Association Plan of Legal Specialization.
The Supreme Court of Louisiana had issued an order that for mandatory continuing legal education compliance year 2020, the limitation on “self-study” credits (as defined in Rule 3(d) of Supreme Court Rule XXX) was increased to twelve and one half (12.5) hours annually. Louisiana-licensed attorneys were limited to 4 credits of self-study per reporting period. The Louisiana Supreme Court had also agreed to suspend the 4-hour limitation on the number of self-study credits that is found in Supreme Court Rule XXX, Rule 3(d) for members who are delinquent for the 2019 compliance only. Members who are currently delinquent for 2019 may now complete their CLE requirement through unlimited online continuing legal education credits. This allowance only applied to those members who are currently delinquent for 2019 and who become compliant by earning and reporting credits by the May 15, 2020 deadline.
Minnesota (Expired): The Minnesota Supreme Court had issued an order temporarily suspending the 15-hour cap on earning credits with on-demand programming for lawyers in category 3 effective March 18, 2020. Minnesota attorneys in category 3 may now complete all 45 credits online with live webinars or on-demand programs.
Mississippi (Expired): The Supreme Court of Mississippi had issued an orders temporarily amending Rule 3 of the Rules and Regulations for Mandatory Continuing Legal Education to waive the in-person requirement for attorneys’ continuing legal education obligation for the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 reporting years.
Missouri (Expired): The Supreme Court of Missouri had issued an order dated March 23, 2020 that as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the reporting year for 2019-2020 will be for the 15 months between July 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020. Any extra credit hours earned during the 2019-2020 reporting year may be carried over as prescribed in Regulation 15.05.5.
In addition, as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the reporting deadline for the 2019-2020 reporting year was extended until October 31, 2020. Every lawyer failing to meet the Rule 15 credit hour and reporting requirements for the 2019-2020 reporting year by December 31, 2020, shall be notified pursuant to Rule 15.06 and subject to the procedures and fees outlined therein.
Nebraska (Expired): The Nebraska Supreme Court entered an order dated December 16, 2020 that lifted the 5-hour cap on distance-based courses for the 2021 calendar year. Attorneys may have submitted up to 10 credits of distance learning to satisfy the annual requirement. The Nebraska Supreme Court had also issued an order dated March 25, 2020 that lifted the 5-hour cap on distance-based courses. For attorney CLE reports that were due prior to December 31, 2020, attorneys may have submitted up to 10 credits of distance learning to satisfy the annual requirement.
In response to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, the Nebraska Supreme Court has determined it necessary to allow all 10 required credits to be obtained without attending live education (regular/traditional class type) for 2022. As attorneys file annual reports for 2022 in December, 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. Contact the MCLE Help Desk at 402.471.3137 or nsc.mcle@nebraska.gov with any questions about CLE requirements for attorneys or submission and reporting procedures for CLE sponsors. See Nebraska's expired rule change.
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New Hampshire (Expired): The Supreme Court of New Hampshire had issued an order to extend the deadline to file the certification of NHMCLE compliance for the July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 reporting year to September 1, 2020.
New Jersey (Expired): In response to the growing public health crisis worldwide and in New Jersey, The Supreme Court of New Jersey Board on Continuing Legal Education has issued an order to relax the live classroom instruction requirement. Effective immediately, all twenty-four credit hours for the compliance period may be fulfilled through approved courses offered in alternative verifiable learning formats until further notice. For additional information, please see the order on The Supreme Court of New Jersey Board on Continuing Legal Education website.
Update: The order to relax the live classroom instruction requirement will expire on January 1, 2024, the effective date of the Amendments to the Regulations of the Board on Continuing Legal Education Approved by the Supreme Court.
New Mexico (Expired): The Supreme Court of New Mexico had issued an order dated March 27, 2020 that as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency, deadlines for bar dues and MCLE delinquency and administrative suspension processes were extended by 30 days.
North Dakota (Expired): As a result of the restrictions imposed on in-person conferences because of COVID-19, the North Dakota CLE Commission temporarily suspended ND CLE Policy 1.15. Attorneys in Reporting Group 3, who reported in 2020, were allowed to earn all or a portion of the required 45 credits through self-study. Three (3) ethics CLE hours were still required.
The North Dakota Supreme Court had also issued an order that extended the deadline for completing continuing education to September 1, 2020.
Ohio (Expired): In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Commission on Continuing Legal Education ("Commission") had waived self-study caps for judges, magistrates, and attorneys with last names beginning with M through Z for the 2021-2022 compliance period ending December 31, 2022.
The Commission on Continuing Legal Education had previously waived self-study caps for judges, magistrates, and attorneys with last names beginning with A through L for the 2020-2021 compliance period ending December 31, 2021. Accordingly, all CLE requirements may be completed through approved self-study courses, including live interactive webinars, for both the compliance periods ending December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2022. See Ohio’s expired rule change.
Pennsylvania (Expired): The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania had issued an order to extend the April 30, 2020 CLE compliance deadline applicable to Compliance Group 1 to August 31, 2020. On April 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania had also issued a Court Order that temporarily waived the six (6) hour limitation on distance learning credits for 2020 compliance deadlines. Attorneys in Pennsylvania were allowed to complete all 12 hours of their 2020 CLE requirements though approved distance learning activities.
Please note the following conditions of the one-time accommodation:
1.) Suspension of the distance learning cap were applied to 2020 CLE deadlines and the standard cap of six (6) hours earned through this delivery method will resume with 2021 annual compliance deadlines.
2.) In order to contribute toward the CLE requirement, distance learning credits must be earned through participation in approved programs offered by Accredited Providers of Distance Learning.
3.) Distance learning credits in excess of twelve (12) will not carry forward towards future annual compliance deadlines.
4.) Credits not classified as distance learning will carry forward if applicable.
The Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board provided guidance that for all compliance periods ending in 2021: the twelve (12) hour requirement may be completed with credits earned through live or pre-recorded online programs. Distance learning credits earned during this period may carry forward (up to two compliance periods). See the court order for 2021.
Rhode Island (Expired): The Rhode Island Supreme Court issued an order relieving attorneys of the obligation to complete continuing legal education credits for the 2021 reporting year. See Rhode Island’s expired rule change.
- Credits that have been earned between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2021 will be applied to the 2022 MCLE reporting year.
- All credits submitted in the MCLE Portal for the 2021 reporting year by June 30, 2021 will automatically be moved to the 2022 MCLE reporting year.
- Credits that were carried into the 2021 MCLE from 2019 and 2020 (as credits were waived for 2020) will automatically be applied to the 2022 MCLE reporting year.
- All other specifics (credit maximums, course submissions, etc.) of Article IV, Rule 3 of The Supreme Court Rules will apply.
They had previously issued an order that suspended all CLE requirements for the 2020 reporting year effective April 30, 2020. All CLE credits earned in the 2020 reporting year as well as excess credits that expired in the 2020 reporting year may have been used to satisfy CLE requirements for the 2021 reporting year.
In addition, the Rhode Island Bridge the Gap requirement in Article IV was also suspended. Newly admitted attorneys required to file proof of their attendance at the Rhode Island Bridge the Gap course by June 30, 2020 would have had until June 30, 2021 in which to file.
South Carolina (Expired): The South Carolina Supreme Court had issued an order that allowed lawyers to earn all or any portion of the required 14 hours of CLE credit through online or telephonic programs for the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 annual reporting year.
Tennessee (Expired): The Tennessee Supreme Court had amended Rule 21 to allow all hours for the 2022 compliance year to be earned online effective September 14, 2021. Lawyers seeking reactivation or reinstatement during the 2022 compliance year pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, section 30 and Rule 21 were also covered. Hours must have been earned by 12/31/2022. See the order here.
The Tennessee Supreme Court had issued an order allowing lawyers to earn all or any portion of the required continuing legal education hours for 2020, or for purposes of seeking reactivation or reinstatement in 2020, through approved Distance Learning through December 31, 2020. This change supplemented the previous order allowing unlimited online hours towards 2019 CLE compliance through March 31, 2020.
Texas (Expired): In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Bar of Texas MCLE Department had granted extensions to attorneys beginning with those who had compliance dates in November 2019. Below were the compliance deadlines.
Attorneys with the following birth months:
- August — granted a 90-day extension with a final deadline of November 30.
- September — granted a 90-day extension with a current deadline of December 31.
- October — granted a 60-day extension with a current deadline of December 31.
- November — granted a 60-day extension with a current deadline of January 31.
- December — granted a 60-day extension with a final deadline of February 28.
Utah (Expired): The Supreme Court authorized the Board of Continuing Legal Education to suspend the live in-person credit requirement, allowing all required CLE to be fulfilled with online self-study audio or video presentations, webcasts or computer interactive telephonic programs for the compliance reporting period ending June 30, 2022.
They had previously issued an updated order suspending all requirements for live in-person CLE attendance for attorneys reporting in 2020 and 2021. In addition, the 2020 compliance deadline was extended to September 1st, 2020 and the reporting deadline was extended to September 15th, 2020.
Vermont (Expired): The Vermont Supreme Court had issued an order stating that for the license renewal period ending June 30, 2021, under the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Rules as amended effective July 1, 2020:
- The 6-hour limit on the number of hours for programs delivered as Non-Moderated Programming Without Interactivity that can be claimed for a reporting period, as specified in Rule 3(A)(3) of Rules of Mandatory Continuing Legal Education, is suspended for the 2019-2021 reporting period.
- The 12-hour minimum number of hours for programs delivered as either Moderated Programming or Non-Moderated Programming With Interactivity as a Key Component that must be taken in a reporting period, as specified in Rule 3(A)(2), is suspended for the 2019-2021 reporting period.
- The limits on the number of hours that can be claimed under all sections of Rule 6 for a reporting period are suspended for the 2019-2021 reporting period.
The Vermont Judiciary had also issued a notice stating "In light of possible cancellations/rescheduling of CLE programming due to COVID-19 concerns, the Office of Attorney Licensing wants to remind attorneys that "live" programming includes non-recorded programming presented via electronic means, such as webinars and teleseminars."
Virginia (Expired): The Supreme Court of Virginia had issued an order dated April 14, 2020 that extended the October 31, 2020 CLE compliance deadline to December 31, 2020. The deadline to report has also been extended to February 15, 2021. Each active member of the Virginia State Bar shall certify prior to February 15, 2021, that such lawyer attended approved Mandatory Continuing Legal Education programs for the minimum number of hours required during the previous calendar year ending December 31.
Washington (Expired): The Washington Supreme Court had ordered an extension of the due date for reporting MCLE credits by one year for licensed legal professionals in the 2018-2020 MCLE reporting period. Licensed legal professionals in the extended 2018-2021 reporting period must have completed earning their credits by December 31, 2021, and must have completed the certification of their credits by February 1, 2022. As a result, the order allowed for the additional 15 carryover credits (30 total carryover credits, up to 4 of which may be ethics) to be earned in the extended 2018-2021 reporting period. The increased credit carryover limit applied only for the 2018-2021 reporting period.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington Supreme Court had ordered an extension of the 2018-2020 MCLE reporting period by one year and correspondingly shortened the 2021-2023 reporting period by one year for all licensed legal professionals. The 2018-2020 reporting period became the 2018-2021 reporting period and the 2021-2023 reporting period became the 2022-2023 reporting period. Consult the Washington State Bar Association to determine your compliance period. See Washington's expired rule change.
West Virginia (Expired): The West Virginia Mandatory CLE Commission had issued an order that suspended the live requirement effective March 12, 2020, through June 30, 2020.
The West Virginia Mandatory CLE Commission had also issued an order that extended the deadline for the 2018-2020 CLE reporting period to September 30, 2020.
Due to ongoing concerns associated with the COVID-19 virus, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has issued an order effective January 28, 2021 that allows attorneys to earn all or any portion of the required 24 CLE credit minimum through video, audio, correspondence, telephone seminars, computer-based training courses and in-house instruction. This temporary waiver is limited to the 2020-2022 reporting period ending June 30, 2022. For further information, please see the Temporary Waiver of Online and In-house Continuing Legal Education Credit Limit on the West Virginia State Bar website. See West Virginia’s expired rule change.
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Wisconsin (Expired): In an effort to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, The Wisconsin Supreme Court had extended an order, requested by the State Bar of Wisconsin, that allowed attorneys to obtain up to 30 continuing legal education (CLE) credits “on-demand" through January 31, 2022. Legal ethics and professional responsibility must still have been completed with live on-online programming or in-person courses. The Wisconsin Supreme Court had also lifted the cap on credits earned via repeated, on-demand programs from 15 to 30 credits effective March 17 through December 31, 2020. For additional information, please see the notice on the State Bar of Wisconsin website.
They had further extended the order, effective January 1, 2022, and until January 31, 2023, for the CLE reporting period ending December 31, 2022 (even-year reporters), continuing to allow lawyers may, at their discretion, to claim up to 30 CLE credit from on-demand programs. On-demand courses that would be claimed in excess of the usual 15 credit-hour limit must have been completed on or before January 31, 2023. Legal ethics and professional responsibility must still have been completed with live on-online programming or in-person courses; repeated on-demand programs could not be used to satisfy the mandatory three legal ethics and professional responsibility credit hours.