New York CLE Requirements for Experienced and New Attorneys

New York’s continuing legal education requirements split attorneys into two tiers. If you’ve been admitted to the New York Bar for more than two years, you owe 24 CLE credit hours every two years. If you’re in your first two years of practice, you owe 32 hours, divided 16 and 16 across your first and second admission anniversaries. Both tiers carry mandatory minimums in ethics, diversity, and cybersecurity, and both are certified through the biennial attorney registration you file within 30 days of your birthday.¹

What Experienced Attorneys Owe Each Cycle

Any attorney admitted more than two years is “experienced” for CLE purposes and must complete at least 24 accredited credit hours during each two-year reporting cycle.² The cycle runs between your registration filings, which are due every other year within 30 days of your birthday.

Inside the 24 hours, the rules fix three subcategory floors:

Ethics and professionalism: at least 4 credit hours
Diversity, inclusion, and elimination of bias: at least 1 credit hour
Cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection: at least 1 credit hour

The remaining 18 hours can come from any approved category, including skills, law practice management, or areas of professional practice.³ The diversity requirement applies to every biennial cycle beginning on or after July 1, 2018.⁴

Carryover Credits

If you finish a cycle with more than 24 hours, you can carry up to 6 excess credits into the next biennial period. That’s a hard cap. Anything beyond 6 extra hours disappears, so front-loading a cycle only helps you to a point.

What Newly Admitted Attorneys Owe

Attorneys in their first two years after admission owe 32 total credit hours, split 16 and 16. The first 16 must be complete by your first admission anniversary, the second 16 between the first and second anniversaries.⁵

Each year’s 16 credits break down as:

Ethics and professionalism: 3 credit hours
Skills: 6 credit hours
Law practice management, areas of professional practice, and/or cybersecurity (general): 7 credit hours

Across the full two years, newly admitted attorneys must complete at least 1 credit hour in cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection. Up to 3 hours of cybersecurity-ethics coursework can count toward the ethics and professionalism requirement.⁶ Ethics and cybersecurity-ethics credits cannot be carried over into the next cycle.

Format matters more for newly admitted attorneys than for experienced ones. Skills credits must be earned in a traditional live classroom or by fully interactive videoconference. Ethics and cybersecurity-ethics credits allow one additional option: simultaneous transmission with synchronous interactivity, such as a live webinar where you can ask questions during the program. The remaining category credits carry no special format restrictions.⁷ Check the format before signing up for any skills or ethics course; a pre-recorded video won’t count. Both the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association run “Bridging the Gap” programs that package a full year of transitional credits into two days.⁸

Experienced attorneys, by contrast, have broad format flexibility. Approved options include live classroom courses, teleconferences, videoconferences, on-demand videos, self-study, and online courses.² The full 24 hours can be earned from a laptop.

Credit Categories

Every course you take must fall into a category the CLE Board recognizes under 22 NYCRR 1500.2.⁹

Ethics and professionalism covers the Rules of Professional Conduct, duties to clients and the court, and professional responsibility.
Skills covers practical training such as legal research, document drafting, trial advocacy, and negotiation.
Law practice management covers the business side of running a firm, including client trust accounts, office administration, and billing.
Areas of professional practice covers substantive legal topics like civil litigation, real estate, family law, or corporate transactions.
Diversity, inclusion, and elimination of bias covers topics such as implicit bias, equal access to justice, and cultural competency.
Cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection is split into two tracks. The ethics track covers professional obligations around electronic data and confidentiality. The general track covers network security, breach prevention, vendor assessment, and applicable privacy laws.

Other Ways to Earn Credit

Beyond traditional courses, experienced attorneys have several alternative paths to credit, most of them underused.

Pro Bono Legal Services

Experienced attorneys earn one skills credit for every two hours of qualifying pro bono work, delivered either through a court assignment or an accredited program run by a bar association or legal services provider. The cap is 10 credit hours per biennial cycle, with an additional 5 hours available under CLE Board guidelines.¹⁰

Teaching and Speaking

Teaching, speaking, or serving on a panel at an accredited CLE program earns credit for the activity. On a panel, every participant receives teaching credit.¹⁰

Legal Publications

Writing and publishing legal research can qualify, but you have to apply to the CLE Board. The work must be an article, chapter, or book written in whole or substantial part by the applicant, and it must contribute meaningfully to the legal education of the author and other attorneys.¹⁰

Out-of-State Courses

New York’s Approved Jurisdiction policy lets you count CLE courses taken in other states toward your New York requirement. It covers live courses held outside New York and non-traditional format courses offered by out-of-state providers.¹¹

To claim the credit, keep documentation for at least four years: proof of attendance from the course sponsor, proof the course was accredited by an approved jurisdiction, proof that written materials were provided, and proof that at least one faculty member was an attorney in good standing. Non-traditional format courses also require proof of attendance verification. Newly admitted attorneys must additionally show the content was appropriate for transitional education. Jurisdictions classified as “Group B” require you to retain the written course materials themselves.¹¹

Exemptions and Extensions

Three categories of admitted attorneys are exempt under 22 NYCRR 1500.5(b):

Attorneys who did not practice law in New York at any point during the reporting cycle. Every admitted attorney is presumed to practice in the state, so the burden of proving otherwise falls on you.
Attorneys who certify as retired under 22 NYCRR 118.1(g). Retired status also removes the registration fee.¹²
Attorneys on full-time active military duty for the entire reporting cycle.

If you didn’t practice in New York for only part of your cycle, you may qualify for a prorated requirement rather than a full exemption. Attorneys who can’t finish on time because of hardship or extenuating circumstances can apply to the CLE Board for an extension of up to 90 days, submitted by email to the CLE office.¹³

Registration, Reporting, and Records

You certify CLE compliance through biennial attorney registration. Every two years, within 30 days of your birthday, you file a registration statement and pay the $375 fee.¹ The form includes a certification that you’ve met your CLE obligations. New York is a self-reporting state, so you don’t submit individual certificates of attendance at registration time.

You do have to keep them. Certificates of attendance must be retained for at least four years from the date of each program. Documentation supporting out-of-state credits must also be kept for at least four years.¹¹ Those records are your only proof of compliance if you’re audited.

What Happens If You Don’t Comply

Self-reporting invites the temptation to skip the hours and hope for no audit. If you’re audited and can’t produce records showing you completed your credits, the CLE Board refers you to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for your judicial department, which decides the consequence. Suspension from practice is on the table. A 2014 case established that an attorney suspended for CLE non-compliance must go through a full reinstatement proceeding to get their license back, rather than simply completing the missing credits after the fact. Fixing a lapse after suspension is far more burdensome than completing the hours on time.

1
Cornell Law Institute. New York Code 22 NYCRR 118.1 – Filing Requirement
2
Cornell Law Institute. 22 NYCRR 1500.22 – Minimum Requirements
3
New York State Unified Court System. 22 NYCRR 1500.22 – Minimum Requirements
4
New York Courts. FAQs for Experienced Attorneys
5
Legal Information Institute. a href=”https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-york/22-NYCRR-1500.12″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>22 NYCRR 1500.12 – Minimum Requirements
6
New York State Courts. 22 NYCRR 1500.12 – Minimum Requirements
7
New York Courts. CLE Format Requirements for Newly Admitted Attorneys
8
New York State Bar Association. Bridging the Gap
9
Legal Information Institute. New York Compilation of Codes, Rules, and Regulations 22 NYCRR 1500.2 – Definitions
10
New York Courts. CLE Program Rules
11
New York Courts. Approved Jurisdiction List and Policy
12
New York Courts. Biennial Attorney Registration
13
New York Courts. Extension of Time to Complete CLE Requirement