Texas CLE Explained
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) refers to the ongoing training, education, and professional development required of licensed attorneys in many jurisdictions. In Texas, the purpose and underlying goals of CLE are to promote the quality of legal practice, encourage professional growth, and provide lawyers with the tools necessary to maintain their licensing requirements.
As a lawyer in Texas, you are subject to the rules and policies governing CLE as drafted and enforced by the State Bar of Texas. Currently your CLE requirements include obtaining twelve (12) hours of approved CLE credit annually, including at least one (1) hour on legal ethics. This may seem like a lot but when divided across the calendar year these requirements boil down to about an hour and a half of Continuing Legal Education per month — this is much more manageable than it seems!
It is also important to note that Texas CLE rules and regulations vary based on your specific State Bar membership requirements . For example, new lawyers admitted to the Texas bar and those reinstating their license after having been inactive, disabled, or disbarred (for a period of 6 months or more) have different CLE obligations that require them to take additional CLE. As a new lawyer you have to complete 15 hours of CLE credit during your first year of practice and that must be completed by 31 months from the date you were admitted to the bar. Your first year of practice runs from the date your bar card is issued to the last day of the calendar year. Your deadline is therefore January 31st of your 3rd year of practice. It sounds more complicated than it is but basically, if you’re a Texas new lawyer, you have to graduate from the New Lawyer program and take 15 additional hours of CLE within 12 months of being licensed.
Texas State CLE Requirements
For Texas attorneys, the requirement to complete a certain number of approved CLE hours is one of the first mandates that you should get a grip on. To be eligible for CLE compliance in Texas, you must be a member of the State Bar of Texas, and be employed in the active practice of law in Texas or have a good cause for non-compliance as determined by the CLE Commission. You are also required to report your compliance.
In Texas, lawyers must complete 15 hours every year. And, of these 15 hours, at least 10 MUST be approved credit hours. "Approved" means that you have taken the course from an accredited CLE sponsor, such as The Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism at the State Bar of Texas. The remaining five hours do not require such accreditation. Upon reviewing the options, you’ll find that there are many distance learning options available. Ethics credit can be earned for some programs. Half of any ethics hour has to be in legal ethics. (Legal ethics includes competence and substance abuse.) You cannot "carry over" credits from one compliance year to another; there is no grace period; and late fees apply.
If you’re not an active member of the Texas Bar you may not be required to take CLE courses to continue practicing law. However, attorneys who are not admitted to the State Bar of Texas must still attend ongoing legal education seminars which are licensed, approved and regulated by their own local bar association, to maintain their certifications.
Compulsory Texas Law Lessons
In addition to earning the required 15 hours of CLE credit through CLE courses, Texas lawyers also have certain mandatory CLE topics that must be part of their learning each year. Some of these topics are required for all Texas attorneys, and others are outlined in the bylaws of specific BAR sections for members of those sections.
As a member of the Texas Bar, you must complete at least three of your required 15 hours of CLE credit in Professionalism as defined in the Texas Group Study on Professionalism. The courses presented by the Texas Bar are designed to help lawyers of all experience levels learn new classroom leaders and are separate from other groups such as the Texas State Bar. You can earn distance learning credit and live CLE credit by attending designated Professionalism CLE courses in any Texas Bar CLE credit year.
Professionalism is framed around 10 core principles for lawyers and provides an overview of professionalism and its importance to the Bar. The Texas Group Study on Professionalism was released in 2011 and introduced the Professionalism Course Requirement to the Texas Bar MCLE Rules beginning in CLE Year 2013 (outlining the requirements in Rule 2.05).
Workforce Diversity and Inclusion is a key concern of the Texas Bar MCLE. Since 2013, Texas attorneys have been required to earn at least one hour of their CLE credit each year in this topic. This includes classes on differences and similarities among colleagues, clients, and opposing counsel, as well as ethical issues related to diversity in the legal profession. In order to fulfill this requirement, the lawyer may take either a live or online seminar.
Since the adoption of Texas Rule of Disciplinary Procedure 13, Texas attorneys are mandated to earn one hour of ethics credit, including at least half an hour of ethics credit, in any CLE program in which the attorney is earned credit in a substantive area. In other words, if a lawyer is earning one hour of credit in contract law, half of that credit should be in ethics.
The Texas Bar MCLE makes the final determination of the number of hours that count for each course.
Entering Credits: Activities That Get Approved
The BOC recognizes a variety of activities and formats for obtaining CLE credit. This includes live seminars, online courses, and self-study. On the BOC application, there is a drop-down menu for CLE activity completion type; if the activity type is not editable, then TexasBarCLE has designated it as live credit and not self-study in order to comply with the 12 hour maximum allowable for online credit.
Regardless of the activity format, a lawyer must participate in activities that have been approved by the BOC in order to earn credit toward the MCLE requirement.
A variety of CLE providers offer different formats, including (but not limited to) the following: All TexasBarCLE eCourses and some livestream seminars are eligible for on-demand credit. TexasBarCLE LIVESTREAM seminars are featured articles and other qualifying videos from sponsored events viewable on demand.
Being a mentor (as addressed in MCLE Rule 5.3) on an individual basis or via the Texas Bar Foundation Mentor Program may also qualify for CLE credit (up to 6 hours as long as the associated TexasBarCLE Faculty and Speaker Guide form is submitted with your application).
Any legal writing may be accepted for CLE credit (up to 7 hours), so long as it is suitable for publication, and is accompanied by a signed Faculty and Speaker Guide form. Any attorney can submit a Legal Writing Summary Report form with a description of the article they have written, a copy of the publication showing their name as author (if applicable), and the Faculty and Speaker Guide form.
Attorneys are also entitled to CLE credit for serving as editors for qualified publications.
Documenting Texas CLE Hours
All hours earned during a compliance year are automatically reported to the State Bar of Texas at the end of that year. You don’t need to take any additional steps to report credit for courses taken through OnlineCLE. For 2018, the compliance year runs through CLE Sunday of 2019 – November 24, 2019.
The penalty for not reporting your courses is that you will be prevented from continuing to practice law in Texas until you have reported your credits. In extreme cases, there are penalties and fees for non-compliance with the CLE requirement.
If you enter a course that is outside your compliance year, and your license is eligible for MCLE compliance but you have no compliance obligation for this reporting period, the course will be designated as COMING DUE . It will not count toward compliance or as carry-over; it will end up on your list of courses due on the date you input it.
You can easily check the date you reported and number of hours reported on your Past Compliance Reports list. The number of hours in your Past Compliance Reports list is the number of hours you have reported during the reporting year identified by the date of the list.
The Due Dates list shows what you have to do to keep the State Bar of Texas MCLE Department informed about which courses you attended. Types of entries on the Due Dates list include reminder entries for courses that are due, courses you have taken and hours you still need to make up for this compliance year, a statement of your current compliance status, and an entry that indicates your status as a first compliance year lawyer.
CLE Exceptions & Extensions
Exemptions to the CLE requirement are, thankfully, awarded in certain situations. Below are listed possible exemptions and guidelines for applying for an exemption.
Anger over state-mandated hours may be soothed by the fact that attorneys are eligible to request an exemption from CLE requirements in specific situations. The last year of his or her life was spent handling a death penalty case. He or she has been absent from Texas for the most part during the year. He or she is an attorney who meets the definition of a "disabled individual" under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He or she has been diagnosed with a physical or mental disorder that prevents the person from complying with the CLE requirements. He or she dies or becomes disabled at some point during the year in which compliance is required. She or he does not practice law (i.e., is inactive) in Texas. The attorney is a full-time judge, as defined by the Texas Government Code. He or she is a visiting judge, senior judge or retired judge. The requesting attorney has been deployed for duty in overseas combat. The requesting attorney has voluntarily left Texas. To be considered an inactive compliance necessity, and therefore exempted from the CLE requirement, the attorney must file the required affidavits.
Texas CLE Resources
With numerous online legal education platforms, including our own LexVid CLE, attorneys can find CA Bar CLE courses from anywhere with ease. The Texas bar however has a number of options for legal education that most out-of-state attorneys may not be aware of. Here are a few resources for CLE courses in the Lone Star State.
State Bar of Texas – Many CLE courses are available online directly through the Texas State Bar Association. Explore all the CLE options from the State Bar here. It is also worth noting that in addition to CLE services, the State Bar offers a member support service, the Lawyer Referral & Information Service ("LRIS"), for attorneys seeking to pursue various practice area certifications. Membership into the LRIS provides attorneys with opportunities to network with other attorneys. Session and web-based are the primary modes of presentation for the courses offered by the State Bar. The courses provide valuable access to a wide array of topics, including ethics , skills, practice management, and substantive law.
AllCLEonline.com – A new resource for Texas attorneys seeking convenient CLE courses on the go. Texas lawyers can select from a wide range of courses for MCLE credit, including both ethics and participatory programs, from the 2019 calendar year. The allowable course categories encompass a wide spectrum of subject areas and topics, providing coverage for most areas of law. Courses can be filtered based on credit type, subject matter, and location of the presenter.
Lawline.com – We also recommend the series of Texas CLE courses on Lawline, from MCLE and Ethics webinars on Pro Bono topics to Basic Estate Planning and Family Law courses.
The Texas Bar Foundation and Texas Young Lawyers Association also offer CLE courses.
These and other organizations also sponsor live CLE workshops and conferences throughout the year. You can search for upcoming events by browsing the various calendars searchable through the State Bar website.
