Every attorney admitted in Connecticut must complete an annual attorney registration with the Judicial Branch’s Statewide Grievance Committee, and the 2026 window runs from January 5 through March 6.1 Registration is free, filed electronically through E-Services for most attorneys, and required whether you live in Connecticut or not. Miss it and you risk administrative suspension of your license.
Who Has to Register
Practice Book Section 2-27(d) covers every Connecticut-admitted attorney, plus authorized house counsel and any attorney currently admitted pro hac vice. Residence and where you actually practice make no difference. If your Connecticut license is active, you file.
Four groups are exempt: attorneys who have been disbarred, attorneys who have resigned from the bar, attorneys on permanent retirement status, and attorneys placed on inactive status due to disability.
How to File
Registration is completed through the Judicial Branch’s E-Services portal. You need an enrolled E-Services account before you can open the form, so if you’ve never set one up, do that first. There is no fee for the registration itself.
Two groups file on paper. Pro hac vice attorneys do not have E-Services access and submit a paper form. Attorneys located in foreign countries, including U.S. territories, also register by paper.
The form asks you to update contact information and certify compliance with continuing legal education and financial requirements. If you practice law in Connecticut, you must also register the address of every office you maintain for the practice of law. Failing to provide an office address is treated as professional misconduct under Practice Book Section 2-27(f).
Certifying CLE Compliance
Part of registration is certifying that you have met Connecticut’s Minimum Continuing Legal Education requirements. The standard is 12 credit hours per calendar year, and at least two of those hours must be in ethics and professionalism. The reporting period ends December 31.
Excess credits carry over, up to a point. If you earn more than 12 credits in a year, you can carry up to two hours (ethics hours included) into the next reporting period. Keep records of completed credits for seven years in case of an audit.
Newly admitted attorneys get one break: you are exempt from CLE requirements during the calendar year of your admission to the Connecticut bar. The full 12-hour rule applies starting the following year.
The Fees That Are Not Part of Registration
Registration itself costs nothing, but Connecticut attorneys owe two annual payments on separate schedules, plus an IOLTA certification handled through the registration form itself.
Client Security Fund Fee
Every active attorney pays an annual assessment to the Client Security Fund. It is typically collected between mid-May and mid-June, so it doesn’t line up with the March registration deadline.
A partial exemption is available if you don’t practice law as your primary occupation and earned less than $1,000 in legal fees during the calendar year. You claim it on Form JD-GC-14E and pay half the standard fee. Attorneys on revocable retired status are fully exempt.
Attorney Occupational Tax
The Attorney Occupational Tax is administered by the Department of Revenue Services, not the Judicial Branch. It is due between late December and mid-January, runs on its own schedule, and carries its own late-payment penalties. Paying your registration obligations does not satisfy it.
IOLTA Certification
If you hold client funds, you must maintain an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account at an eligible financial institution. During registration, you certify IOLTA compliance and report your trust account details, including bank name and account number, to the Statewide Grievance Committee.
What Happens if You Miss the March Deadline
Missing March 6 does not immediately suspend your license, but it starts a process. The Statewide Grievance Committee sends a notice to any attorney who has not registered or has not certified MCLE compliance. That notice gives you until December 31 of the same year to complete registration and produce proof of CLE compliance.
If December 31 passes without compliance, the Committee refers you to the Superior Court for an administrative suspension. Once the court issues the order, your name is published in the Connecticut Law Journal and your suspension takes effect on the date of publication. The Statewide Grievance Committee publishes these lists regularly.
Reinstatement After an Administrative Suspension
To get reinstated, complete the registration you missed and submit proof of MCLE compliance to the Statewide Grievance Committee. That means a copy of your registration receipt and your Continuing Legal Education Log (Form JD-CE-1) covering the year or years you were suspended. If you qualified for a CLE exemption, notify the Bar Counsel’s office of the exemption instead.
If you were suspended and did not register during the same calendar year, your E-Services account will be locked. Contact the Statewide Grievance Committee to unlock it; they will do so only after you have shown MCLE compliance or confirmed an exemption. After you finish registration, notify the Committee so reinstatement can take effect.
There is also a court route. You can apply directly to the Superior Court for the Hartford Judicial District to vacate the suspension order, but the application must be filed within 30 days of the date the order appeared in the Connecticut Law Journal, and it must explain why the court should grant relief.
Ending or Pausing the Registration Obligation
If you have stopped practicing, or plan to, Connecticut offers status changes that affect whether you keep registering.
Revocable Retired Status
File Form JD-GC-24 to move to revocable retired status. You become exempt from both the Client Security Fund fee and MCLE requirements, but you still complete annual registration each year. Retired attorneys can perform uncompensated legal work under the supervision of an organized legal aid society, a bar association project, or a court-affiliated pro bono program. To return to active practice, file Form JD-GC-25 with the clerk for the Hartford Judicial District and the Statewide Bar Counsel.
Permanent Retirement
Permanent retirement under Practice Book Section 2-55A is irrevocable. Once granted, you are exempt from the Client Security Fund fee and from registration entirely, and you can never practice law in Connecticut again. There is no reinstatement or readmission path, so this decision is worth careful thought before filing.
A Note on Resignation and Inactive Status
Resignation is not a retirement option. Under Practice Book Section 2-52, it is available only to attorneys whose conduct is under investigation or disciplinary proceedings and functions as a disciplinary outcome. Inactive status under Section 2-54 is also not voluntary; the court imposes it when a disability prevents an attorney from practicing. Both remove the registration obligation, but neither is a path an attorney chooses in place of retirement.