Wisconsin CLE Reporting: Requirements, Deadlines & Exemptions

Wisconsin’s CLE reporting requirements call for every licensed attorney to complete 30 hours of approved continuing legal education, including at least 3 hours of ethics and professional responsibility, during each two-year reporting period, and to file a CLE Form 1 electronically with the Board of Bar Examiners by February 1 following the end of that period.¹ Missing the deadline triggers a $100 late fee, and an unresolved deficiency leads to automatic suspension of your law license.

Credits You Need Each Cycle

Thirty approved hours total, with a 3-hour ethics minimum and 27 hours in any approved topic.¹ Live programs count, and so do recorded programs when a qualified instructor is available to answer questions. On-demand (pre-recorded, watch-at-your-convenience) programs count too, within limits.²

On-Demand Cap

On-demand programs are capped at 15 credits per reporting period.³ They cannot satisfy your 3-hour ethics requirement, so plan to get those ethics hours from a live or recorded program with an instructor present.⁴ On-demand credits also cannot be used for reinstatement, readmission, or reactivation of a law license.

Teaching Credit

Teaching or presenting at an approved CLE program, or guest-lecturing at an ABA-approved law school, earns 2 hours of credit for every hour spent presenting.¹

Carrying Credits Forward

Earn more than 30 hours and you can carry up to 15 excess hours into the next cycle, provided you file Form 1 by the February 1 deadline and the courses were already approved when you filed. Ethics credits can be carried forward as general hours, but they will not satisfy the ethics requirement in the next period.² Fresh ethics hours are required every cycle.

When Your Cycle Ends and When to File

Wisconsin uses a staggered two-year system based on your admission year. Admitted in an even-numbered year, your reporting period ends December 31 of each even-numbered year. Admitted in an odd-numbered year, it ends December 31 of each odd-numbered year.¹

Two end-of-cycle deadlines matter, and they are not the same date. Courses must be completed by January 31 following the end of the reporting period. CLE Form 1 must be electronically filed by February 1.⁵ For the 2024–2025 cycle, that means courses done by January 31, 2026, and the form filed by February 1, 2026. Finishing your last course on February 1 and filing the same day still counts as late.

How to File Your Report

All Wisconsin attorneys file electronically through the Board of Bar Examiners’ online CLE reporting system.⁶ Paper filing is not an option. The portal lives at the BBE’s CLE reporting website, where you register for a new account or log in with existing credentials.⁷

Before logging in, gather the details for every course you’re claiming: title, sponsor, location, dates of attendance, and the Wisconsin course identification number assigned by the Board when the program was approved. Enter each course into the designated fields, specifying general or ethics credit. On the certification page, submit the report under oath or affirmation; the filing is effective the moment you e-file.⁵ Save or print the confirmation receipt. That receipt is your proof of timely filing if questions come up later.

Who Is Exempt (and Still Has to File)

SCR 31.04 provides three main exemptions from the attendance requirement:¹

The calendar year you are admitted to practice in Wisconsin, you are exempt from both attendance and reporting. Approved hours earned between admission and December 31 (up to 15) can be reported on your first full-cycle Form 1, but they cannot satisfy the ethics requirement.²
If you did not practice law in Wisconsin at any point during the reporting period, you are exempt from attendance. You still must file Form 1.
If you primarily practice in another state with mandatory CLE and are current with that state’s requirements, you are exempt from Wisconsin’s attendance requirement. You still must file Form 1.

The reporting-only obligation for exempt attorneys trips people up. Even if you owe zero credits, failing to submit the form can trigger late fees and eventually suspension.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

A missed February 1 filing deadline, or courses completed after January 31, results in a $100 late fee under SCR 31.03.⁸ The fee is assessed routinely and automatically; the rules describe no discretionary waiver.⁵

If the deficiency continues, the Board sends a notice of noncompliance. You then have 60 days from service of that notice to complete any missing credits, file the report, and pay the late fee. Fail to do all three within that window and your state bar membership is automatically suspended.¹ You may not practice law while suspended.

Reinstatement after a suspension of less than three consecutive years requires a petition to the Board of Bar Examiners, a $100 petition fee, and payment of any outstanding late fees.⁹ A suspension of three years or more requires petitioning the Supreme Court directly, serving the BBE and the Office of Lawyer Regulation, and paying $200 to each, with an OLR investigation before reinstatement can be granted. A $100 late fee compounds quickly once it turns into a suspension, so clearing a deficiency before the 60-day window closes is almost always cheaper than curing it afterward.

1
Wisconsin Court System. SCR Chapter 31 Continuing Legal Education
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Wisconsin Court System. SCR Chapter 31 Continuing Legal Education
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Wisconsin Court System. Board of Bar Examiners CLE Reporting Memo
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Wisconsin Court System. SCR Chapter 31 Continuing Legal Education
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Wisconsin Court System. 2024-2025 CLE Reporting Information
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Wisconsin Court System. Continuing Legal Education for Attorneys
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Wisconsin Court System. Board of Bar Examiners CLE Reporting
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Wisconsin Court System. SCR Chapter 31
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Wisconsin Court System. Law License Reinstatement