Last Updated: December 23, 2018
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Sources of Free California MCLE:
Free California MCLE from LexVid: (Participatory) First hour free, with no obligation to purchase anything.
Free California MCLE from the California Lawyers Association: (Participatory) The CLA offers a different free MCLE course every month. If you check this page every month, you can get 36 hours of free MCLE during each compliance period.
Free California MCLE from Above the Law: (Participatory) ATL offers a different free MCLE course each month. If you check this page every month, you can get 36 hours of free MCLE during each compliance period.
Free California MCLE from One LLP: (Participatory) One LLP is a law firm specializing in intellectual property.
Free California MCLE from the Legal Aid Association of California: (Self-Study) The Legal Aid Association of California keeps an archive of their prior MCLE accredited legal trainings available on their web-site at no cost. Includes ethics, competence issues, and elimination of bias courses. If you watch these, please consider making a donation!
Free California MCLE from the Contra Costa County Bar Association: (Self-Study) Includes ethics, competence issues, and elimination of bias courses.
Free California MCLE from the Legislative Intent Service: Includes one-hour of ethics.
Free California MCLE from the Practising Law Institute: (Participatory) PLI is normally very expensive, but they have some courses that are free.
Free California MCLE Credit from One Legal: One Legal is an online process service and E-filing company in California. They offer a number of MCLE and non-MCLE courses relating to E-Filing, Service of Process, and the like.
Free (for Barkley Customers) California MCLE Credit from Barkley Court Reporting: Barkley is a California Court Reporting firm. They offer a number of online participatory MCLE programs that are free for anyone who has used Barkley in the last 12 months.
Free California MCLE Credit from the Chapman University School of Law: (Self-Study) Downloadable MCLE videos for self-study credit.
Free California MCLE from 4FreeCLE: A blog that tracks free MCLE seminars.
Free California MCLE from the Center for Judicial Education and Research: (Self-Study) These programs are designed for persons who intend to become temporary Judges.
Free California MCLE from TWZ Enterprises: (Self-Study) Four hours of free California MCLE credit for learning about mediation.
Free California MCLE from Rutter Online: (Participatory) Look for “Free Trial Program” on the home-page. Except for the free program, Rutter can be expensive. However, you can find many of their programs on CD and DVD at your local law library (see next entry).
Free California MCLE Credit from Your Local Law Library: (Self-Study) Your local law library will have a large variety of CLE courses on CD and DVD that you can check-out and watch. Make sure that the course indicates that it is approved for MCLE credit and that it is less than five years old when you watch it.
Notable Paid MCLE Providers:
LexVid: (Participatory) Very low pricing ($59 as of 2018) for all 25 hours of participatory MCLE credit. Search Google for “Lexvid Coupon” to find applicable discount codes.
Sacramento County Law Library: (Participatory) Relatively inexpensive MCLE videos.
California Lawyers Association: (Participatory) The CLA has a variety of reasonably priced MCLE courses.
Continuing Education of the Bar: (Participatory) CEB has a wide variety of On Demand Participatory MCLE Courses, but pricing is comparatively high.
California MCLE Requirements:
If you are a California attorney, you are required to complete 25 hours of Minimum Continuing Legal Education (“MCLE”) every three years. MCLE can be completed in person, online, or by reading or listening to course materials. Within these 25 hours:
- 12.5 of the 25 hours must be “participatory.” You will receive a certificate for any participatory activity.
- The remaining 12.5 hours can be either “participatory” or “self-study”. Self-study courses must be less than five years old when you watch/listen to them. You must keep a record of a record of your self-study that includes the title, provider, credit hours, and date of each MCLE activity.
- 4 hours must concern “Legal Ethics.” This can be done either as self-study or participatory.
- 1 hour must concern “Competence Issues,” which includes certain courses on substance abuse and mental illness. This can be done either as self-study or participatory.
- 1 hour must concern the “Elimination of Bias in the Legal Profession.” This can be done either as self-study or participatory.
Generally, your attendance at any live training is participatory. Watching and listening to video and audio programs can be participatory, if your provider has a verification process. If the provider does not verify, of if you listen or watch without verification, the program is considered self-study. If you read an article and take a quiz that is graded, this is considered self-study.
Courses that you take while physically outside of California that are approved as MCLE in any approved jurisdiction and which are a type of activity that qualifies for MCLE credit in California automatically count for MCLE in California without obtaining prior approval from the State Bar of California.
For more details on the State Bar’s requirements, click here.
Why Bother? What if I don’t comply?
You may be audited, and can lose your right to practice law.