PLI's Credit Information: Coronavirus CLE Rule Changes

Many states are modifying their rules to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. Most changes focus on compliance deadlines and modifications to the limitations of credits earned online.  You can learn about all MCLE rules changes here or learn the latest Coronavirus legal developments on PLI's Coronavirus Update page.

Alabama: The Alabama State Bar MCLE Commission 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.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Alabama.

Arizona: The Supreme Court of the State of Arizona 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 had been June 30th. The MCLE extension applies only to the 2019-2020 MCLE year.  The deadlines for the 2020-2021 MCLE year remain unchanged.  See the State Bar of Arizona's FAQs related to 2019-20 MCLE Extension for more info. 

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Arizona.

California: The State Bar of California had previously 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.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for California.

Connecticut: Due to limitations of public gatherings, the Connecticut Superior Court Rule Committee has voted to suspend on an interim basis Sec. 2-27A (Minimum Continuing Legal Education) which prescribes the requirements for MCLE. 

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Connecticut.

Delaware: 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 periods ending December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2021. 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. 

The Supreme Court of Delaware previously issued an order that waived the requirement that at least 12 of the required 24 CLE credit hours must be earned by attending in-person to only those attorneys who failed to complete required CLE requirements for the Compliance Year ending December 31, 2019. The Attorney must have verified the Transcript on or before April 30, 2020, accompanied by a specific plan for making up the deficiency. The plan must have been completed by May 31, 2020. The Attorney must have reported completion of the plan by June 15, 2020. 

Meet your requirements with PLI's eCLE CLE programs approved for credit for Delaware.

Florida: The Florida Bar 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 includes the Basic Skills Course Requirement. 

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Florida.

Georgia: The Supreme Court of Georgia has issued an order extending the waiver of the 6-hour in-person CLE requirement and the grace period through May 31, 2021. This means attorneys can earn all of their 12-hour CLE requirement through self-study, in-house, or distance-learning through May 31, 2021.

PLI's self-study programs approved for credit for Georgia.

Illinois: The Supreme Court of Illinois 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 is 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 fails 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.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Illinois.

Indiana: The Indiana Supreme Court has ordered on September 23, 2020, that, until further notice, any continuing legal education courses taken by attorneys, judges, and State Level Judicial Officers shall not count toward the credit-hour limitations on distance education set forth in Indiana Admission and Discipline Rule 28, Sections 3(a) and 3(b), and Rule 29, Section 3(a) and the Order entered by this Court on March 31, 2020.

The Indiana Supreme Court had previously 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 supersedes this order.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Indiana.

Iowa: In the matter of preparation for COVID-19's impact on the office of regulation, The Iowa Supreme Court has issued an order allowing attorneys to complete all 15 hours of their requirement online through webinars or on-demand programming effective March 16, 2020. 

Meet your full requirements with PLI's online programs approved for credit for Iowa.

Kansas: The Kansas Supreme Court issued an Administrative Order to extend the modifications to temporarily waive the limitation on prerecorded programming through June 30, 2021. 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 previously 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 waives a limit on continuing education hours delivered by prerecorded programs.

Meet your full requirements with PLI's online programs approved for credit for Kansas. 

Kentucky: To provide more flexibility to Kentucky attorneys during the COVID-19 emergency, the Supreme Court hereby ORDERS 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 shall be August 10, 2021.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Kentucky.

Louisiana: The Supreme Court of Louisiana 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 previously 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 previously 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 applies to those members who are currently delinquent for 2019 and who become compliant by earning and reporting credits by the May 15, 2020 deadline.

Meet your requirements with PLI's self-study programs approved for credit for Louisiana.

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. 

Meet your full requirements with PLI’s electronic programs approved for credit for Maine.

Minnesota: The Minnesota Supreme Court 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. 

Meet your full requirements with PLI’s live webinars and on-demand programs approved for credit for Minnesota.

Mississippi: The Mississippi Supreme Court previously issued an order that waived the in-person requirement for attorneys' continuing legal education obligation for the 2019-2020 reporting year ending July 31 so that attorneys will be allowed to earn CLE credits in the method of their choosing either online, webinars or live, or in-person programs.  In addition, an automatic extension to September 30, 2020, for any attorney not able to meet the CLE credit hours requirement during the compliance period, has been granted.

Meet your full requirements with PLI’s live webinars and on-demand programs approved for credit for Mississippi.

Missouri: The Supreme Court of Missouri 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 is 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.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Missouri.

Nebraska: The Nebraska Supreme Court previously entered 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.

Meet your full requirements with PLI’s distance learning programs approved for credit for Nebraska.

New Hampshire: The Supreme Court of New Hampshire previously 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.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand web programs approved for credit for New Hampshire.

New Jersey: 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.

Meet your full requirements with PLI's alternative verifiable learning programs approved for credit for New Jersey.

New Mexico: The Supreme Court of New Mexico previously 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.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand web programs approved for credit for New Mexico.

New York: Effective March 11th through June 30, 2021, newly admitted attorneys (those admitted to the New York State Bar for two years or less) may participate in Skills CLE courses by either individual participation (self-study) or group participation, in the following live, nontraditional formats, where questions are allowed during the program: webconference, teleconference, and videoconference. Newly Admitted New York attorneys may earn Skills CLE courses via PLI’s live webcasts and live groupcasts. For additional information, please see the Changes to CLE Program Format Restrictions in Response to COVID-19 Coronavirus statement on the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board website.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and live groupcasts approved for Skills credit for New York.

North Dakota: 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 also issued an order that extended the deadline for completing continuing education to September 1, 2020.

Meet your requirements with PLI's self-study programs approved for credit for North Dakota.

Ohio: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission on Continuing Legal Education ("Commission") 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. Previously, the Commission on Continuing Legal Education ("Commission") waived the self-study caps for those with the last names beginning with M-Z to complete the CLE requirements for the 2019-2020 compliance period ending December 31, 2020. Accordingly, all CLE requirements may be completed through approved self-study courses, including live interactive webinars, for both the compliance periods ending December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2021.Meet your full requirements with PLI's self-study programs approved for credit for Ohio.

Pennsylvania: Effective January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 the CLE Board is adopting a temporary policy to recognize live online programming by accredited distance learning providers as live (non-capped) credit towards lawyers’ CLE requirement.  This policy expands the definition for live learning to include in-person, non-virtual programs, as well as virtual, synchronous programming. Credits earned through pre-recorded and certain on-demand formats will remain subject to the six-hour cap.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania previously issued an order to extend the April 30, 2020 CLE compliance deadline applicable to Compliance Group 1 to August 31, 2020. All other 2020 annual compliance deadlines remain unchanged and on standard schedule. 

On April 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania previously issued a Court Order temporarily waiving 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 this 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.

Meet your full requirements with PLI's distance learning programs approved for credit for Pennsylvania.

Rhode Island: The Rhode Island Supreme Court has issued an order relieving attorneys of the obligation to complete continuing legal education credits for the 2021 reporting year.

• 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.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court 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 be used to satisfy CLE requirements for the 2021 reporting year.

In addition, the Rhode Island Bridge the Gap requirement in Article IV has also been suspended.  Newly admitted attorneys required to file proof of their attendance at the Rhode Island Bridge the Gap course by June 30, 2020 shall have until June 30, 2021 in which to file.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Rhode Island.

South Carolina: Based on the continued development of COVID-19, The South Carolina Supreme Court issued an order effective June 16, 2020 that allows lawyers to earn all or any portion of the CLE credit they are required to obtain for the 2020-2021 annual reporting year through online or telephonic programs.

The South Carolina Supreme Court previously 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 annual reporting year.

Meet your full requirements with PLI's online programs approved for credit for South Carolina.

Tennessee: In furtherance of the Judicial Branch’s obligation to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19, The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an order allowing lawyers to earn all or any portion of the required continuing legal education hours for 2021, or for purposes of seeking reactivation or reinstatement in 2021, through approved Distance Learning completed through December 31, 2021.

The Tennessee Supreme Court previously 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.

Meet your requirements with PLI's distance learning programs approved for credit for Tennessee.

Texas: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Bar of Texas MCLE Department has granted extensions to attorneys beginning with those who had compliance dates in November 2019. Below are the current 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.

The MCLE department continues to review compliance deadlines due to the pandemic. Please contact the MCLE Department at 800-204-2222, ext. 1806, or mcle@texasbar.com if you have questions about the extensions or MCLE compliance requirements.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for credit for Texas.

Utah: The Supreme Court of Utah 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.

Meet your full requirement with PLI's online programs approved for credit for Utah.

Vermont: The Vermont Supreme Court 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 Supreme Court previously lifted the 10 hour cap on credits earned via self-study programs for the 2018-2020 reporting period. For additional information, please see Rule 15(f) of the Administrative Order No. 49 on the Vermont Judiciary website.

The Vermont Judiciary 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."

Meet your full requirements with PLI's self-study programs approved for Vermont.

Virginia: The Supreme Court of Virginia 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.

Meet your requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for Virginia.

Washington: Effective June 5, 2020, the Washington Supreme Court 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 complete earning their credits by December 31, 2021, and must complete the certification of their credits by February 1, 2022. The next reporting period will be a shortened two year reporting period: 2022-2023.  As a result, the order allows 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 applies only for the 2018-2021 reporting period.

West Virginia: The West Virginia Mandatory CLE Commission previously issued an order that suspended the live requirement effective March 12, 2020, through June 30, 2020. West Virginia-licensed attorneys were able to meet their full requirement via PLI live webcasts and on-demand programs approved in West Virginia. For additional information, please see the Temporary Waiver of Online Continuing Legal Education Credit Limit on the West Virginia State Bar website.

The West Virginia Mandatory CLE Commission also issued an order that extended the deadline for the 2018-2020 CLE reporting period to September 30, 2020.

Meet your full requirements with PLI's live webcasts and on-demand programs approved for West Virginia.

Wisconsin: In an effort to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, the Wisconsin Supreme Court previously 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.

Meet your full requirements with PLI's repeated, on-demand programs approved for Wisconsin.

For more credit information, go to pli.edu/credit or email PLIcredits@pli.edu.  Learn the latest Coronavirus legal developments on PLI's Coronavirus Updates page.