Temporary Rule Change: The Supreme Court of New Jersey has issued a rule change stating that until further notice, New Jersey attorneys may take all 24.00 credits through alternative learning formats.
Total credit hours: 24.00 credit hours every 2 years.
At least 2.00 credits must be in Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias
A minimum of 12.00 credit hours must be taken as live programs. However, this rule has been relaxed to allow all 24.00 credits to be taken as alternative learning programs until further notice.
Deadline to Complete CLEs: December 31
Reporting Deadline: December 31
Reporting Period: 2 years
In New Jersey, active status attorneys must complete 24.00 CLE credits every 2 years to maintain good standing with the New Jersey State Bar.
New Jersey attorneys must complete all 24.00 required credits by December 31 in their reporting year. Attorneys must certify compliance with NJ CLE requirements on their Annual Attorney Registration Statement.
The reporting period is 2 years and ends on December 31 in your reporting year. There are 2 reporting groups.
You are permanently assigned to a Compliance Reporting Group based on your birthday as follows:
Depending on your reporting group, you may have a 1-year transitional reporting period before your first regular 2-year reporting period. Group 1 completes requirements in odd-numbered years (and reports in even-numbered years) and Group 2 completes requirements in even-numbered years (and reports in odd-numbered years).
New Jersey attorneys must keep track of CLE credits and maintain records for 3 years. You must certify compliance with New Jersey CLE requirements online through the attorney registration link.
New Jersey attorneys can carry over 12.00 CLE credits for one compliance period.
Attorneys who reside or work on a regular and continuous basis in New Jersey or in another mandatory CLE jurisdiction for the entire compliance period can complete a maximum of 12.00 CLE credits with alternative learning formats.*
However, attorneys who reside in, work in, and are licensed in a MCLE jurisdiction that allows for 100% of CLE courses to be taken through alternative learning formats can satisfy their CLE requirements in New Jersey through 100% alternative learning formats through reciprocity.
*Due to COVID-19, this limit has been temporarily relaxed. Until further notice, New Jersey attorneys may take all 24.00 of 24.00 CLE credits through alternative learning formats.
New Jersey attorneys must complete 5.00 ethics/professionalism credits every 2 years. Of these, 2.00 credits must be in diversity, inclusion, and elimination of bias.
Yes. In-program attendance verification is required.
You are permanently assigned to a Compliance Reporting Group based on your birthday as follows:
Newly admitted attorneys are not required to report CLE credit during the year they are first admitted to practice law in New Jersey. However, newly admitted attorneys must complete 15.00 credits in the following subject areas in their first 2-year compliance period.
Yes. If you complete CLE credit after admission to the New Jersey State Bar and prior to December 31 of that year, you may carry over up to 12.00 credits to your first compliance period.
You may also carry over CLE credit for courses taken after graduation from law school but before admission to the New Jersey State Bar, as long as those credits were earned no less than 12 months prior to your admission.
Your first reporting period begins on January 1 of the year immediately following your admission to the New Jersey Bar and ends 24 months later.
You are permanently assigned to a Compliance Reporting Group based on your birthday as follows:
Depending on your reporting group, you may have a 1-year transitional reporting period before your first regular 2-year reporting period.
If you have a 1-year reporting period, you must complete half of all CLE credits required for a normal 2-year compliance period (12.00 total, which must include 2.50 ethics/professionalism, of which 1.00 credit must be in diversity, inclusion, & elimination of bias).
Yes. Newly admitted attorneys must complete 15.00 CLE credit hours in at least 5 of the following 9 subject areas within their first 2-year compliance period:
Unless an attorney neither lives nor works in New Jersey or lives and works in another mandatory CLE jurisdiction, no less than ½ of the required credits per compliance period must be taken live with an instructor in the room; the balance may be in alternative verifiable learning (AVL) formats. (See BCLE Reg. 201:8). An attorney who lives, works, and is licensed in a mandatory CLE jurisdiction that allows for 100% AVL formats, through reciprocity, may apply those 100% AVL format courses towards compliance in New Jersey. AVL format courses include videotape, audiotape, on-line internet computer presentations, satellite simulcasts, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, internet computer self-study, or other type of remote verifiable learning format authorized by the Board. If an attorney is living and working out of state and cannot obtain the live courses related to the new admit subject areas, he or she may apply for a waiver of the live requirement. A newly admitted lawyer may obtain credit for CLE courses taken after his or her graduation from law school but before admission to the New Jersey bar towards their first compliance reporting period, so long as those courses were taken no more than 12 months prior to the lawyer’s date of admission to the New Jersey bar.
Attorneys may carry over no more than 12 extra credits from the preceding compliance period into the next. Please note that by Order dated March 10, 2020, the live instruction requirement has been relaxed until further notice because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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