Continuing Legal and Judicial Education Requirements

The Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) requirement for all actively licensed Colorado lawyers (under the age of 72) is 45 credit hours of CLE, of which seven must be professional responsibility. C.R.C.P. 250.2(1).

BEGINNING January 1, 2023: the seven hours devoted to professional responsibility must include the following: At least two credit hours in the area of equity, diversity, and inclusivity, and at least five credit hours in the areas of legal ethics or legal professionalism. All actively licensed attorneys who are required to comply with Colorado’s CLE requirements - in all compliance periods - must comply with this requirement.

Mandatory CLE Compliance Reporting Period

Your MCLE obligation begins on the date of your admission or certification to the bar of the State of Colorado. The first compliance period begins on the date of admission or certification and ends on the 31st of December of the third full calendar year following the year of admission or certification to practice law in Colorado. For non-lawyer judges, the first CLE compliance period begins on the date of appointment as a judge and ends on the 31st of December of the third full calendar year following the year of appointment as a judge.

Subsequent MCLE compliance periods begin on the 1st of January immediately following a previous compliance period and end on the 31st of December of the third full calendar year thereafter.

For example, if you are admitted to Colorado on May 10, 2019, your first compliance period runs from May 10, 2019 to December 31, 2022 – assuming you were on active status during that entire time. Your subsequent compliance period would run from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025 – assuming you were on active status during that entire time.

You must complete all CLE activities by December 31 of the final year in your compliance period, but you have until January 31 of the following month to report compliance. In the above example, you would need to complete your CLE activities by December 31, 2022, but you would have until January 31, 2023 to report the activities to our Office. We encourage you to report your CLE activities at the time of completion, in order to avoid late fees and penalties for reporting late compliance.

Professional Responsibility CLE Requirement

You are required to complete 45 CLE hours, of which seven must be devoted to professional responsibility. The seven hours devoted to professional responsibility must include the following: At least two credit hours in the area of equity, diversity, and inclusivity, and at least five credit hours in the areas of legal ethics or legal professionalism.

Legal ethics is an activity of portion of an activity that addresses the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct, the Colorado Code of Judicial Conduct, similar rules of other jurisdictions, the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the ABA Model Rules of Judicial Conduct, or legal authority related to any of the above specified rules.

Legal professionalism is an activity or portion of an activity devoted to the values embodied in the Colorado Attorney Oath of Admission and the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct, which require attorneys to act with civility, integrity, honesty, candor, fairness, trust, respect, dignity and courtesy.

Equity, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI) is an activity or portion of an activity that addresses equal access to the legal system; competent representation of diverse populations; or the recognition, mitigation, or elimination of bias in the legal profession or the legal system.

Reporting CLE Credits

Colorado is a self-reporting state. Most lawyers complete their MCLE requirements by attending live CLE programs or on-demand pre-recorded programs that have been accredited by our Office. If you attend a CLE program or complete an on-demand CLE program, the sponsor of that program WILL NOT report your attendance or the completion of an on-demand program to our Office. You must certify and submit notice of your attendance to a CLE program or completion of an on-demand program to your online transcript at www.cletrack.coloradosupremecourt.com. The easiest way to report your attendance at a program or completion of an on-demand program is to have the Colorado Program ID before you begin entry. All providers should be able to give you the program ID issued by our Office when the program was accredited.

Only programs that have been accredited by our Office can be entered online directly to your transcript. To report an activity to our Office other than attending a Colorado-accredited live program or homestudy/on-demand program, you will need to complete and submit the appropriate form to our Office for review and processing. Click here for Forms. Click here for FAQs on other activities for which you may earn CLE credit.

When entering your credit hours on your online CLE Transcript, remember that ‘general’ credits comprise the total number of hours for which a program has been accredited. If a program has also been granted credit for professional responsibility (legal ethics, legal professionalism, and/or equity, diversity and inclusivity), do not subtract those credits from the ‘general’ category. For instance, if a program has been accredited for 6 general credits, of which 4 legal ethics credits have been granted – if you attended 100% of the program you will enter 6 in the general credits box and 4 in the legal ethics box. DO not subtract from these categories unless you did not attend the full course. One CLE credit hour equals 50 minutes of instruction.

Record Keeping

You should keep a record of all accredited courses you attend or complete, as well as other activities that you have submitted to our Office for approval for CLE credit. To determine which courses have received accreditation, consult the list of accredited courses. You may also view a copy of your current transcript by using the online affidavit system.

Mandatory Professional Responsibility Course

Attorneys admitted by On Motion, UBE Score Transfer, or as a Single Client, Judge Advocate, Military Spouse, or Law Professor must complete the required professionalism course within six months of their admission. Failure to comply with this requirement may result is an administration suspension of your Colorado law license.

Click here to learn more about CLE requirements, compliance, and accreditation

Click here to learn more about CLE Noncompliance and Reinstatement

Click here to learn about taking the Oath of Admission