What are the New York CLE Requirements?
At a glance:
- Experienced attorneys must complete a total of 24 accredited CLE credit hours during each biennial reporting cycle (the two-year period between your attorney registrations).
- At least 4 of these 24 credit hours must be in the Ethics and Professionalism category
- At least 1 from the remaining 20 credit hours must be in the Diversity, Inclusion and Elimination of Bias category.
- The remaining 19 credit hours may be in any category of credit.
New York CLE Requirement Details
The New York CLE requirements are split up into two categories: Newly admitted and experienced attorneys. The NY State CLE Board has defined a different set of requirements for both groups. First, we will look at the requirements for experience attorneys and then look at the requirements for newly admitted attorneys.
Most people searching for this information will be experienced attorneys are, so we will summarize these requirements here: 24 New York CLE credit hours every two years. At least 4 of these credit hours must be ethics and at least 1 credit hour of Diversity, Inclusion and Elimination of Bias.
New York CLE Experienced Attorneys Requirements
Experienced attorneys (those who are not transitional) are able to attend any approved New Your CLE courses, activities, or programs. Any exception is that if a specific New Your CLE course is designed specifically for newly admitted attorneys, then those are not eligible to experienced attorneys for New York CLE credit.Experienced attorneys who find themselves exempt from the New York CLE requirement but who then find themselves no longer exempt and begin actively practicing law in New York during their two-year New York CLE reporting period are required to complete (by the end of the reporting period) one credit hour of approved New York CLE course activity for each month of the reporting period while an attorney is actively practicing law in New York.
Experienced attorneys who are actively practicing law in New York at the beginning of their New York CLE reporting period but then no longer practice law in New York and thus are defined as exempt from the New York CLE requirement during the two-year reporting period, and continue to be exempt through the completion of their two-year reporting period, are obligated to complete (by the end of their reporting period) one approved New York CLE credit hour for each month of their reporting period that they actively practice law in the state of New York.
Any newly admitted attorney who is exempt from New York?s transitional CLE requirements yet is obligated to fulfill the New York CLE requirements for experienced attorneys, may apply to their initial two year reporting period a maximum of 16 New York CLE credit hours for taking either approved transitional or non-transitional New York CLE courses that occur before the date that they are admitted to the bar. An exception is that they cannot apply credit earned in New York CLE courses that occurred more than two years before they joined the NY State Bar.
New York CLE Experienced Attorneys Course or Program Format Requirements
Experienced attorneys may earn New York CLE credit hours in a few different types of formats. Examples are:- Traditional live classroom setting
- Audio recordings
- Video recordings
- Live broadcasts
- Teleconferences
- Videoconferences,
- Web conferences and Webcasts
- Online courses,
Regardless of the format, the New York CLE Board needs to have approved the specific type of format to be offered by any individual provider. For example, if a provider has approval to offer live broadcasts, they do not automatically have approval to offer traditional live classroom courses.
It is important to note that New York CLE credit cannot be earned reading law practice or legal materials unless they have been explicitly approved by the New York CLE Board.
New York CLE Transitional Course Requirements
Newly admitted attorneys are required to fulfill their New York CLE requirements by attending accredited transitional New York CLE courses, activities, or programs. Newly admitted attorneys who are exempt from the New York CLE requirement for a portion of the New York CLE reporting cycle may be eligible for a prorated requirement as defined by the state bar rules.New York CLE Transitional Course Format Requirements
Newly admitted attorneys who are exempt from the New York CLE requirement and who then are no longer exempt and begin their career in the practice of law in NY during the two years after admission to the Bar, will be requested to finish by the end of those two years 1.5 credit hours of New York CLE in any combination of categories defined by the NYE CLE rules for each month during this two-year period if they are engaging in lawyering activities in NY.New York CLE credit should be engaged in a format allowable for the specific type of credit, as defined Regulations and Guidelines. An exception is that no more than 14 credits may be earned via any sort of non-participatory activity. Examples of non-participatory activity are on-demand video or live webcast broadcast.
Newly admitted attorneys who are engaging in the practice of law in New York as a new reporting cycle begins and who then no longer practice law in New York and thus become exempt from the New York CLE requirements during the first two years after they have been admitted to the Bar, and then remain exempt through the end these two years, shall be obligated to finish within that two years period 1.5 NY CLE credit hours of approved NY CLE, for each month of that two-year period when the attorney is engaging in NY law practice activity.
NY CLE Credit shall be completed in an appropriate format as defined by the NY CLE rules, with the exception that no more than 14 credits may be acquired through sorts of non-participatory NY CLE activities in the same manner as the previous requirement.
Transitional continuing legal education courses are courses designed to help recent graduates and newly admitted attorneys establish a foundation in the practical skills, techniques and procedures essential to the practice of law.
Newly admitted attorneys shall fulfill their requirement by completing transitional continuing legal education courses in a format permissible for the category of credit:
Skills - Skills credit shall be completed in a traditional live classroom location or by fully interactive web video conference.
Ethics and Professionalism - Ethics and professionalism credits should be earned in a traditional live classroom setting or by fully interactive videoconference. This should involve interactive participation where questions are allowed during the class.
Law Practice Management and Areas of Professional Practice - Law practice management and areas of professional practice credit may be completed in any approved format, including non-participatory formats such as on-demand video or live Internet webcast.
More New York Information
- What Does MCLEZ Provide to it's New York CLE Customers?
- What are the New York CLE Requirements?
- What are the New York CLE Reporting Procedures
- What are the New York CLE New Admitted Requirements
- What are the New York CLE Approved Jurisdiction and Reciprocity Rules?
- What are the New York CLE Carryover Rules?
- What are the New York CLE Ethics and Professionalism Rules?
- What New York CLE compliance bundles are available from MCLEZ?
