California CLE Requirements
Credit hours required: 25 hours per reporting period
Specialty credits required: 4 hours of ethics credit; 1 hour of competency issues credit; and 1 hour of elimination of bias in the profession credit, per reporting period
Length of reporting period: 3 years
Compliance date: January 31
Reporting date: February 1
Compliance group: California attorney membership is divided into 3 compliance groups by last name: Group 1 (A-G); Group 2 (H-M); and Group 3 (N-Z). Each group is up for compliance every 3 years. Group 1's compliance period is 2/1/16 -1/31/19; Group 2's is 2/1/15 - 1/31/18; and Group 3's is 2/1/17-1/31/20.
Minutes per credit hour: 60 minutes. To calculate credit for a specific program, divide the total length of the program in minutes by 60 and round to the nearest quarter-hour.
Limit on credit hours for self-study: Attorneys must earn 12.5 credit hours through activities qualified for participatory credit (or one-half of their proportional requirement). The remainder (up to 12.5 hours) can be earned via self-study. ABA On-Demand CLE courses are considered participatory in California. All 25 credit hours may be earned with ABA On-Demand CLE courses.
Attendance Reporting Procedure: Attorneys are responsible for tracking their CLE credit and reporting compliance to the State Bar of California at the end of the reporting period. Prior to the end of the reporting period, the State Bar sends compliance cards to those who must comply that year. Attorneys must retain their certificates of attendance for participatory credit activities. Neither the ABA nor attorneys send certificates of attendance to the California State Bar unless requested during an audit.
California CLE Requirements (from the American Bar Association website)
