This chart indicates jurisdiction requirements for certain courses, activities, or skills training prior to or after admission to the bar. These include jurisdiction-specific components for Uniform Bar Examination jurisdictions (a separate test, course, or some combination of the two, offered in person or online, that a UBE jurisdiction may choose to administer to assess candidate knowledge of jurisdiction-specific law).
Supplemental Remarks
Alabama Online course on Alabama law is required for applicants seeking admission by examination or by UBE score transfer.
Alaska Applicant must attend presentation on attorney ethics as prescribed by the Board, currently a 1½-hour video course offered by the bar association.
Arizona Online course on Arizona law is required prior to admission for all applicants. Within one year after being admitted to the practice of law, the applicant shall complete the state bar course on professionalism.
Colorado Exam applicants must complete the Colorado Supreme Court’s mandatory course Practicing with Professionalism.
Delaware 12-week clerkship and pre-admission session conducted by the Supreme Court and Board of Bar Examiners.
Maryland Prior to bar admission, all applicants must complete the Maryland Law Component, which consists of online outlines of significant distinctions of Maryland substantive law and procedure followed by an online confirmatory quiz.
Massachusetts All petitioners for admission must successfully complete an online multiple-choice test, based on substantive materials provided online, on key distinctions and essential highlights of Massachusetts law and procedure.
Michigan All applicants are required to complete the Michigan Law Basics Online Training prior to admission.
Missouri Rules require an open-book online test, the Missouri Educational Component Test (MECT), for applicants to complete as a condition of licensure. Review materials are posted to assist applicants. An applicant applying to be licensed by motion is required to attend a Missouri Bar Annual Law Update Program or similar program no sooner than 12 months before the application for admission by motion is filed and no later than 90 days after the applicant is notified in writing that the applicant’s character and fitness application has been approved
Montana Must complete the Montana Law Seminar online.
New Mexico Online, on-demand course on New Mexico law is required prior to admission.
New York Applicants are required to perform 50 hours of pro bono service before they can be sworn in. (The requirement does not apply to lawyers licensed elsewhere who are seeking admission without examination.) Qualifying work may be performed at any time during law school and prior to filing an application for admission and can include pro bono work performed for a law school clinical program or during a summer job, internship, or externship. The work need not be completed before taking the bar examination. Online course (NYLC) and online exam (NYLE) on New York law is required prior to admission for applicants seeking admission by examination or by UBE score transfer. The New York Court of Appeals has added a skills competency requirement for admission to the bar. Applicants may satisfy the requirement by completing one of five separate pathways contained in Section 520.18 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals. Applicants should review the requirements of the rule to assist them with selecting a law school that provides a program that will allow them to meet the requirement. The skills competency requirement applies to all applicants who commence their law school studies after August 1, 2016, and to those foreign-educated applicants who commence their LLM program after August 1, 2018.
Ohio Both those sitting in Ohio and those transferring in a UBE score are required to complete the Ohio Law Component, an online open-book, multiple-choice exam and outlines covering Ohio-specific components.
South Carolina Must complete online Course of Study on South Carolina Law prior to admission.
Tennessee All applicants for admission by examination, by transferred UBE score, as the spouse of a military servicemember, or without examination (comity) must complete the online Tennessee Law Course in order to be eligible for licensing and admission.
Texas All UBE score applicants and applicants for admission without examination after December 1, 2019, must complete an online, on-demand
course on Texas law prior to admission. The course is accessible, at no charge, on the State Bar of Texas CLE website.
Washington Qualified applicants must complete a free 4-hour course. Available online. Washington Law Component (WLC) is an open-book, timed, online multiple-choice test with Washington-specific study materials available online to review prior to and during the test.
Virgin Islands Applicants must complete the Virgin Islands Law Component (VILC), which is an open-book, 50-item, 90-minute, online multiplechoice test with Virgin Islands–specific study materials available online to review prior to and during the test.
Arizona Completion of professionalism course is required within the first year of admission.
Arkansas Each person admitted to the Bar of Arkansas by examination shall complete a mandatory course on maintaining an Arkansas law license required by the Arkansas Supreme Court. The course shall be completed within 2 years after the date an attorney is certified for admission by the Board of Law Examiners. The course will be offered various times throughout the year.
California Beginning February 2018, within the first year of admission, new attorneys must complete the State Bar’s New Attorney Training
10-hour online program, which can also be applied to the regular MCLE requirement of all attorneys.
Colorado Newly admitted on motion or via transferred UBE score must complete the Colorado Supreme Court’s mandatory course Practicing with Professionalism within the first six months of admission.
District of Columbia Mandatory course on D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct and D.C. Practice; requirement must be met within 12 months of admission.
Florida Mandatory basic skills course, including instruction on discipline, ethics, and responsibility to the public, must be completed within 12 months of admission, and may be completed 12 months prior to admission. At least 3 of the 30 credit hours must be in approved technology programs. At least 5 of the 30 credit hours must be in approved legal ethics, professionalism, substance abuse, or mental health and wellness programs; as part of the 5 credit hours, each member must complete, during each reporting cycle, the 2-credit hour Florida Legal Professionalism course produced by the Florida Bar and approved by the Supreme Court of Florida.
Georgia Mandatory Transition into Law Practice Program must be completed in the year of admission or in the next calendar year. Program requires that newly admitted lawyers are subject to State Bar mandatory mentoring program for their first year of practice and must complete continuing legal education component. Certain classes of new lawyers are exempt (e.g., judicial law clerks).
Hawaii Completion of State Bar’s professionalism course no later than December 31 of the year following the year of election of active status.
Idaho Completion of 10 continuing legal education credits addressing Idaho law is required within 12 months of admission.
Illinois Most newly admitted attorneys must complete the following two requirements. (1) A course accredited as a Basic Skills Course. In lieu of that course, an attorney may undertake a mentoring program approved by the Commission on Professionalism. (2) At least 9 other hours of Illinoisapproved CLE credit, including any amount of professional responsibility (PR) credit. See Rules 793–795 for a full explanation of which attorneys must complete these requirements and what will fulfill the requirements.
Indiana Indiana requires completion of an online jurisdiction-specific component within 6 months of admission on a UBE score, whether earned in Indiana or in another jurisdiction. New admittees must complete 6 hours of applied professionalism in the first 3 years.
Kentucky Completion of the New Lawyer Program is required by Supreme Court Rules within 12 months of admission; this also fulfills the annual CLE requirement.
Massachusetts A course in professionalism is required within the first 18 months after admission to the Massachusetts Bar.
Nevada Mandatory new lawyer training program during first year of admission.
New Hampshire Practical skills course given by the State Bar must be completed during first 2 years of practice.
New Jersey Newly admitted lawyers must obtain 15 credit hours in 5 of 9 New Jersey subject areas during first full 2-year compliance period. The compliance period is deferred until January 1 of the year immediately following admission to the New Jersey Bar.
New Mexico New attorneys who are practicing in New Mexico and have practiced law for less than 2 years must participate in the 1-year Bridge the Gap Mentorship Program.
New York Newly admitted lawyers must complete 32 hours of continuing legal education credits within the first 2 years of admission to the bar.
North Carolina Active members must complete the North Carolina State Bar Professionalism for New Admittees Program in the year the member is first required to meet CLE requirements. Those licensed in another state for 5 or more years at the time admitted are exempt from this requirement but must notify the North Carolina State Bar of their exemption.
Ohio New admittees must comply with New Lawyer Training requirements.
Oregon In the first year following admission, the new member must complete 15 CLE credits. Of the 15 required hours, 1 hour in ethics must be devoted to Oregon ethics and professionalism, and 4 hours of practical skills must be devoted to Oregon practice and procedure. Three credits must be from an Oregon State Bar–approved introductory course in access to justice. Newly admitted attorneys are subject to the State Bar’s New Lawyer Mentoring Program for their first year of practice.
Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania requires newly admitted lawyers to complete the Bridge the Gap program prior to their first CLE compliance deadline.
Rhode Island Completion of training course sponsored by the bar association and approved by the Supreme Court within 1 year of admission.
Texas Mandatory seminar within 1 year of admission.
Utah Active, new admittees with less than 2 years of legal practice must complete mandatory new lawyer training program within the first year of practice.
Vermont All newly admitted attorneys must complete 15 hours of Vermont-specific CLE courses within the first year after admission. New attorneys admitted by examination or transferred UBE score must also complete a six-month mentorship with a Vermont judge or attorney within the first year after admission.
Virginia The Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia require completion of a mandatory professionalism course within 12 months of becoming licensed.
West Virginia Within 2 years of admission, must complete the mandatory Bridge the Gap seminar in person.
Does your jurisdiction have a post-admission mandatory Continuing Legal Education (CLE) requirement?
Colorado 45 credit hours required in a three-year compliance period, of which 5 hours must cover legal ethics and 2 hours must cover equity, diversity, and inclusivity.
Delaware Requirements may differ for senior attorneys, newly admitted attorneys, and attorneys resuming active practice after a period of inactivity. New admittees are required to complete 7 Delaware fundamentals courses within their first 2 CLE reporting periods. Attorneys admitted after December 1, 2015, within 4 years of the start of the attorney’s CLE requirement (i.e., 2 compliance periods) must attend the following 7 Fundamentals programs, available only through the Delaware State Bar Association: (1) Fundamentals of Lawyer-Client Relations, (2) Fundamentals of Family Law, (3) Fundamentals of Real Estate, (4) Fundamentals of Civil Litigation, (5) Fundamentals of Will Drafting and Estate Administration, (6) Fundamentals of Law Practice Management and Technology, and (7) Fundamentals of Criminal Law and Procedure.
Maine 12 credit hours required for each admitted attorney. 15 credit hours required when an applicant is going through the Admission by Motion process to waive into Maine (once admitted, the CLE requirement is reduced to 12 hours per year). CLE information can be found at the following website: https://www.mecle.org/rules-policy/print.
Nevada 13 hours of CLE required: 10 hours of general CLE, 2 hours covering ethics, and 1 hour covering substance abuse or mental health well-being.
