New Jersey CLE Requirements

In New Jersey, active status attorneys must complete 24.00 CLE credits every 2 years to maintain good standing with the New Jersey State Bar.

In addition, New Jersey attorneys must complete 5.00 ethics/professionalism credits every 2 years. Of these, 2.00 credits must be in diversity, inclusion, and elimination of bias.

New Jersey attorneys must complete all 24.00 required credits by December 31 in their reporting year. Attorneys must certify compliance with NJ CLE requirements on their Annual Attorney Registration Statement.

The reporting period is 2 years and ends on December 31 in your reporting year. There are 2 reporting groups.

You are permanently assigned to a Compliance Reporting Group based on your birthday as follows:

• Compliance Reporting Group 1: Birthday between January 1 and June 30
• Compliance Reporting Group 2: Birthday between July 1 and December 31

Depending on your reporting group, you may have a 1-year transitional reporting period before your first regular 2-year reporting period.

• Group 1 completes requirements in odd-numbered years (and reports in even-numbered years)
• Group 2 completes requirements in even-numbered years (and reports in odd-numbered years)

New Jersey attorneys are required to track their CLE credits and retain records for three years. Compliance with New Jersey CLE requirements must be certified online via the New Jersey Courts Annual Attorney Registration and Payment website.

Experienced attorneys can fulfill their New Jersey CLE requirement by completing courses approved and accredited by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Examples of accepted course formats include:

Live (Minimum 12.00 Hours)

• Live Webcast
• Live Classroom

Alternative Format

• Webinars
• Webcasts
• Online Internet Computer Presentations
• Remote-Place Viewing
• Audiotape
• Videotape

New Jersey attorneys may carry over 12.00 CLE credits for one compliance period.

Attorneys who reside or work on a regular and continuous basis in New Jersey (or in another mandatory CLE jurisdiction for the entire compliance period) can earn a maximum of 12.00 CLE credits with alternative learning formats.

However, attorneys who reside in, work in, and are licensed in a MCLE jurisdiction that allows all CLE credits to be earned through alternative learning formats, they can satisfy all CLE requirements in New Jersey through reciprocity.

Yes. In-program attendance verification is required.

You are permanently assigned to a Compliance Reporting Group based on your birthday as follows:

• Compliance Reporting Group 1: Birthday between January 1st and June 30th.
• Compliance Reporting Group 2: Birthday between July 1st and December 31st. 

• State Contact Information:
  • Address: Supreme Court of New Jersey, Board on Continuing Legal education, Richard K. Hughes Justice Complex, 25 Market Street, 8th Floor, North Wing, Trenton, NJ 08625-0965
  • Phone Number: (609) 815-2930
  • Email Address: sctcle.mailbox@judiciary.state.nj.us
  • Website: https://www.njcourts.gov/attorneys/cle

• New Jersey CLE FAQs and Additional Resources
  • New Jersey CLE FAQ Page
  • List of New Jersey Approved Programs
  • Attorney Registration
  • New Jersey Lawyers Assistance Program
  • New Jersey eCourts

Of the 24 required hours, newly admitted attorneys must complete 16.00 CLE credit hours in at least 6 of the following 12 subject areas. In addition, all newly admitted attorneys must take at least 1.00 credit in New Jersey attorney trust and business accounting fundamentals in their first 2-year compliance period.

• New Jersey basic administrative law
• 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 attorney trust and business accounting fundamentals
• New Jersey landlord/tenant practice
• New Jersey municipal court practice
• New Jersey law office management
• New Jersey workers' compensation law
• New Jersey labor and employment law

Complete 16 credit hours of subject area training with our New Jersey New Attorney training program.

*Transitional newly admitted attorneys are not required to report CLE credit during the year they are first admitted to practice law in New Jersey.

At least one of the required sixteen credits must be in New Jersey attorney trust and business accounting fundamentals.

Yes. If you complete CLE credit after admission to the New Jersey State Bar and prior to December 31 of that year, you may carry over up to 12.00 credits to your first compliance period.

You may also carry over CLE credit for courses taken after graduation from law school but before admission to the New Jersey State Bar, as long as those credits were earned 12 months or less prior to your admission.

Your first reporting period begins on January 1 of the year immediately following your admission to the New Jersey Bar and ends 24 months later.

You are permanently assigned to a Compliance Reporting Group based on your birthday as follows:

• Compliance Reporting Group 1: Birthday between January 1 and June 30
• Compliance Reporting Group 2: Birthday between July 1 and December 31

Depending on your reporting group, you may have a 1-year transitional reporting period before your first regular 2-year reporting period.

If you have a 1-year reporting period, you must complete half of all CLE credits required for a normal 2-year compliance period (12.00 total, which must include 2.50 ethics/professionalism, of which 1.00 credit must be in diversity, inclusion, & elimination of bias).

Yes. Of the 24 required hours, newly admitted attorneys must complete 16.00 CLE credit hours in at least 6 of the following 12 subject areas. In addition, all newly admitted attorneys must take at least 1.00 credit in New Jersey attorney trust and business accounting fundamentals in their first 2-year compliance period.

• New Jersey basic administrative law
• 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
• New Jersey law office management
• New Jersey labor and employment law
• New Jersey workers and compensation law

Complete 16 credit hours of subject area training with our New Jersey New Attorney training program.

*Transitional newly admitted attorneys are not required to report CLE credit during the year they are first admitted to practice law in New Jersey.

For newly admitted attorneys in New Jersey, at least 12.00 credit hours must be taken live; the balance may be in alternative verifiable learning (AVL) formats. (See BCLE Reg. 201:8).

An attorney who lives, works, and is licensed in a mandatory CLE jurisdiction that allows for 100% AVL formats may apply all AVL format courses toward compliance in New Jersey through reciprocity. AVL format courses include videotape, audiotape, on-line internet computer presentations, satellite simulcasts, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, internet computer self-study, or other type of remote verifiable learning format authorized by the Board.

If an attorney is living and working out of state and cannot obtain the live courses related to the new admission subject areas, they may apply for a waiver of the live requirement. A newly admitted lawyer may obtain credit for CLE courses taken after graduation from law school but before admission to the New Jersey bar toward their first compliance reporting period, as long as those courses were taken no more than 12 months prior to the lawyer’s date of admission to the New Jersey bar.

Attorneys may carry over no more than 12 extra credits into the next compliance period.