All active lawyers must complete 24 hours of CLE over a two-year cycle. Five of the 24 credits must be in ethics or professionalism; two of those five credits must be in diversity, inclusions, and elimination of bias.
CLE Reporting Requirements for Newly Admitted Attorneys
Every active lawyer is required to complete 24 credit hours of continuing legal education (CLE) every 2 years. Of those 24 credits, at least 5 credits must be in ethics and/or professionalism, including 2 credits of coursework in diversity, inclusion, and elimination of bias.
During the newly admitted lawyer’s first full two-year compliance period, within the general 24 credit CLE requirement, a newly admitted lawyer with a plenary license in New Jersey must obtain 15 credit hours in at least 5 of the following 9 subject areas: New Jersey basic estate administration; New Jersey basic estate planning; New Jersey civil or criminal trial preparation; New Jersey family law practice; New Jersey real estate closing procedures; New Jersey trust and business accounting; New Jersey landlord/tenant practice; New Jersey municipal court practice; and New Jersey law office management. A “newly admitted lawyer” is defined by the Board on Continuing Legal Education (Board) as a lawyer who becomes an active member of the New Jersey bar for the first time. Newly admitted attorneys with a limited license do not have to take the 15-credit new admit coursework. Some newly admitted attorneys, depending on when admitted and when their birth month falls may have a one-year transitional reporting period. Read more here.