Do newly licensed lawyers get CLE discounts?

A CLE deficiency notice is an official notification sent by a state bar or MCLE board when an attorney has not completed or reported the required CLE credits by the deadline. It alerts the attorney to the deficiency and provides a cure period before penalties or suspension are imposed.

What It Includes

• The number of CLE credits still outstanding.
• Categories of credits missing (e.g., ethics, professionalism, specialty).
• Deadlines for curing the deficiency (often 30–60 days).
• Instructions for submitting proof of compliance and paying late fees.

Key Takeaway: A CLE deficiency notice is the bar’s formal warning that you are out of compliance, giving you a final chance to fix missing credits before fines or suspension take effect.

No, CLE is not required before passing the bar. CLE requirements generally begin only after an attorney has been formally admitted to practice law.

When CLE Obligations Begin

• Law students and bar applicants are not subject to CLE requirements.
• Once admitted, attorneys must complete CLE according to the rules of their licensing jurisdiction.
• Many states provide special initial requirements for new admittees, such as orientation programs or bridge-the-gap training.

Exemptions and Special Rules

• New admittees are often exempt from standard CLE requirements in their first reporting cycle.
• Instead, they may be required to complete specific new-lawyer training courses within a set period after admission.
• These requirements vary by jurisdiction and must be confirmed with the state’s CLE authority.

Provider Support

• Sprout Education monitors these distinctions and ensures that new attorneys understand when CLE compliance begins and what transitional rules apply.

Key Takeaway: CLE is never required before bar admission; obligations start only once an attorney is admitted, with special new-lawyer requirements in some states.

Florida attorneys must complete 30 CLE credit hours every 3 years, including at least 5 hours in Legal Ethics, Professionalism, Substance Abuse or Mental Health & Wellness (2 of which must be the mandated Florida Legal Professionalism course) and 3 hours in technology.
The Florida Supreme Court reduced the total requirement from 33 to 30 credits effective January 8, 2024.

Details

• Total requirement: 30 CLE credit hours per 3-year reporting cycle
• Legal Ethics, Professionalism, Substance Abuse, or Mental Health & Wellness: At least 5 hours total, including 2 hours from the required Florida Legal Professionalism course offered by The Florida Bar
• Technology: At least 3 hours of approved technology programs
• No carryover: Excess CLE hours cannot be applied to the next reporting cycle
• Reporting obligation: Members must self-report CLE completion via their MyFloridaBar Member Portal before their reporting deadline
• Newly admitted attorneys: Must also complete the Basic Skills Course Requirement (BSCR), which includes the Practicing with Professionalism course during their first year of admission

Key Takeaway

Florida attorneys must complete 30 CLE hours every three years — including 5 hours in Legal Ethics, Professionalism, Substance Abuse, or Mental Health & Wellness (with 2 hours from the mandatory Florida Legal Professionalism course) and 3 hours in technology — with all credits self-reported through the Bar’s online portal.

No — judges in Massachusetts do not have a separate, mandatory CLE requirement apart from general attorney education norms.

Massachusetts does not impose a mandatory CLE for attorneys; judges may participate in Judicial Education programs, but those are not required under a distinct CLE mandate.

Details

• The Massachusetts Bar Association confirms that Massachusetts does not maintain a mandatory CLE regime for attorneys.
• Because there is no required CLE for attorneys statewide, there is no parallel, separate CLE requirement for judges in Massachusetts.
• Massachusetts’s Judicial Education program offers training and ethics guidance for judges, but it functions on a discretionary or policy basis rather than under a binding credit mandate.
• The Judicial Ethics FAQs for Massachusetts reference ethics obligations but do not state a continuing legal education credit mandate for judges.

Key Takeaway

In Massachusetts, judges are not subject to a separate mandatory CLE requirement — only discretionary Judicial Education applies, because the state does not enforce CLE for attorneys.

Yes — Pennsylvania requires that 6 of the 12 annual CLE credits be earned via “live-online or in-person/classroom” formats (i.e. synchronous or live courses). The remaining 6 credits may come from prerecorded (asynchronous) distance learning courses, subject to the Board’s limits.

Pennsylvania CLE Format Rules

• Total requirement: 12 credit hours annually, including at least 2 in ethics, professionalism, or substance abuse.
• Live-credit requirement: 6 credits must be live-online or in-person/classroom courses.
• Distance learning cap: Up to 6 credits may be earned through accredited prerecorded/asynchronous programs.
• Carryover: Only credits earned via live (in-person or live-online) courses may carry forward to future compliance periods.

Key Takeaway: In Pennsylvania, attorneys must earn half of their CLE credits through live formats (in-person or synchronous webcasts), and only the other half may be from prerecorded courses — in-person attendance is not required as long as the format is live.

Alabama attorneys must complete 12 CLE credit hours per year, including 1 hour in ethics.

This obligation applies to all non-exempt active attorneys under Alabama’s MCLE rules.

Details

• At least 6 hours must come from “live” or synchronous activity; up to 6 hours may be from on-demand formats.
• Excess credits may carry over: attorneys may carry over up to 12 credits (including 1 ethics) into the next year.
• Newly admitted attorneys are exempt from the annual requirement for the remainder of the year in which they are admitted.
• If an attorney fails to meet the requirement by December 31, they must submit a deficiency plan by February 15 and complete it by March 1; noncompliance may incur sanctions.

Key Takeaway: Alabama requires 12 CLE hours each year (with 1 hour ethics), with half from live formats, carryover allowed, and deficiency procedures in place for late compliance.