Washington CLE Requirements

45 credit hours every three years

All credits may be completed online.

*You cannot earn more than 8 credits in a day.

At least 15 hours in Law and Legal Procedure
At least 6 hours in Ethics with 1 hour on the topic of Equity, Inclusion, and the Mitigation of Implicit and Explicit Bias in the Legal Profession and the Practice of Law

*Effective Sept. 1, 2022, the Washington Supreme Court as adopted an amendment to Admission and Practice Rule (APR) 11, requiring each licensed legal professional in Washington to complete at least one (1) ethics credit in the topic of equity, inclusion, and the mitigation of both implicit and explicit bias in the legal profession and the practice of law in every three-year reporting period. See order NO. 25700-A-1349.

The first MCLE reporting period with an “Equity…” credit requirement is 2023-2025 (Group 1). Followed by the 2024-2026 reporting period (Group 2) and 2025-2027 (Group 3).

December 31

February 1

Attorneys must self-report their CLE hours earned through Online, On-Demand courses at login.wsba.org.
TRTCLE will report credits earned through our Live Webcast, In-Person, Teleconference, and Videoconference programs.

*COVID-19 Temporary Change: On 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 (formerly known as Group 2). 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.

This extension order encompasses all licensed legal professionals: lawyers, LLLTs and LPOs. Despite narrower prefatory language in the order, the operative provision includes all who share the reporting requirement under APR 11, as to both earning and carrying over credits.

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.

New attorneys are exempt from the CLE requirement during the first calendar year of their admission and the following calendar year.

• Washington State Bar
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