Every active member of The Missouri Bar must complete 15 hours of continuing legal education each reporting year, and the Missouri CLE requirements set by Supreme Court Rule 15 also dictate which topics those hours have to cover, how many can come from recorded programs, and when the annual report is due. The reporting year runs July 1 through June 30, and your compliance report must be filed by July 31.1The Missouri Bar. MCLE Home
How the 15 Hours Break Down
Of the 15 required hours, at least 2 must cover ethics, professionalism, substance abuse and mental health, or malpractice prevention. A separate 1 hour must focus on cultural competency, diversity, inclusion, or implicit bias.2The Missouri Bar. Frequently Asked Questions The remaining 12 hours can cover any area of law.
Credit is calculated by dividing total minutes of instruction by 50 and rounding to the nearest tenth of an hour.2The Missouri Bar. Frequently Asked Questions A 75-minute session earns 1.5 credits, not one. Attorneys who assume a 60-minute hour sometimes come up short at reporting time.
What Counts Toward Your Hours
Most attorneys earn credit through programs offered by accredited sponsors pre-approved by The Missouri Bar. Live programs, including webinars with real-time interaction, earn full credit. Teaching at approved CLE seminars and writing for legal publications also count, and courses at an ABA-accredited law school can be applied toward your annual hours.
The Self-Study Cap
Self-study credit covers on-demand programs, recorded presentations, and similar activities you complete without live interaction. Missouri caps self-study at 6 hours per reporting year.3The Missouri Bar. What Is Self-Study Credit? At least 9 of your 15 hours have to come from live or interactive programming. Self-study hours don’t carry into the next reporting year either, so banking extra recorded hours beyond six gives you nothing.
Carrying Credits Forward
If you earn more than 15 live hours in a reporting year, the excess carries forward into the next year. Ethics credits earned from live programs can carry over as well. Self-study credits, again, cannot. Getting a few live hours ahead in a lighter year cushions you when the next year gets busy.
Filing the Annual Report
You record your hours and submit your compliance report through The Missouri Bar’s online My MCLE portal.1The Missouri Bar. MCLE Home For each program, you’ll enter the title, sponsor, date, format (live, webinar, or self-study), and how the credits break down among general, ethics, and bias or diversity categories.
All credits must be earned by June 30, and the report must be filed by July 31.1The Missouri Bar. MCLE Home Tracking credits throughout the year, rather than reconstructing them in late July, tends to keep filings clean.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline
Missing July 31 triggers a late fee that increases by $50 for each month you remain noncompliant, up to a maximum of $500.4The Missouri Bar. MCLE Late Fee Pay By Check Two months late is already $100 on top of the credits you still owe.
Fees are only the first step. Continued noncompliance can lead to license suspension. After three years of suspension for CLE noncompliance, an attorney must file a petition for reinstatement under Supreme Court Rule 5.28 to return to practice.2The Missouri Bar. Frequently Asked Questions A reinstatement petition involves far more scrutiny than simply making up overdue credits.
Exemptions and Hardship Waivers
Not every Missouri-licensed attorney has to complete the full 15 hours every year. Rule 15.05 recognizes several categories:
- Newly admitted attorneys have no CLE or reporting requirement for the compliance year in which they are first admitted.
- Lawyers who have not actively practiced law in Missouri or held themselves out as practicing during the reporting year can claim an exemption on the annual affidavit.
- Full-time governmental officials who do not practice law may apply for an exemption within 90 days of the reporting year’s end.
- Out-of-state attorneys who appear in Missouri for a specific case under Supreme Court Rule 9.03 are not subject to Missouri CLE requirements.
Judges follow separate educational requirements tied to their roles and are not covered by the standard Rule 15 framework.
Hardship Waivers
Missouri offers relief when full compliance is unreasonably difficult. Attorneys facing a physical or mental disability, military service at an isolated duty station, advanced age, or other good cause can request a waiver, a time extension, or permission to meet the requirement through an alternative method. A hardship waiver can also allow more than the standard six hours of self-study credit. Requests are made in writing to The Missouri Bar.