Accreditation and CLE Rules for Florida
Courses purchased through UnitedCLE.com are provided and fully accredited by The National Academy of Continuing Legal Education, a Florida Bar Accredited CLE Sponsor (CLE Sponsor # 0185716).
National Academy of Continuing Legal Education is a Florida Bar Accredited CLE Sponsor (CLE Sponsor # 0185716). Attorneys can earn all 33 hours including the 5 ethics hours requirement through the National Academy of Continuing Legal Education. Preapproved courses offered by the National Academy of Continuing Legal Education have been directly approved by The Florida Bar and come with unique Florida Bar course codes which enables easy and quick reporting. “Self-Report” courses come with prefilled forms for easy self-reporting to the FL Bar.
Florida Registered Paralegals can satisfy all 33 mandated continuing education hours with our preapproved courses since they are directly approved by The Florida Bar.
Accepted CLE Formats: Audio, Video and Online programs. Excess hours may not be carried forward from one cycle to the next. Attorneys must self-report completion of CLE. The Certificate of Completion issued by National Academy may be used to verify attendance.
Effective January 1, 2017, each attorney shall complete a minimum of 33 credit hours of approved continuing legal education activity every 3 years. Five of the 33 credit hours must be in approved legal ethics, professionalism, bias elimination, substance abuse, or mental illness awareness programs and 3 of the 33 credit hours must be in approved technology programs which are included in, not addition to, the regular 33 credit hour requirement. If an attorney completes more than 33 credit hours during any reporting cycle, the excess credits cannot be carried over to the next reporting cycle. *Compliance for the new rule began on the next reporting cycle following the January 1, 2017 effective date. So the first deadline for completing the requirements of the new rule was on 1/31/2020.
For attorneys due 3/31/2022 and on, 5 of the required 33 credit hours must be in approved legal ethics, professionalism, bias elimination, substance abuse, or mental illness awareness programs, with at least 1 of the 5 hours in an approved professionalism program. *Compliance for the new rule will begin in the member’s next reporting cycle following the March 5, 2019 effective date. This means the first deadline for completing the requirements of the new rule will be on 3/31/2022.
Florida FRP’s are required to complete a 3 hour technology requirement as well but please note that this change will apply to your NEXT CLE cycle. For example if your current cycle ends January 2020, then you will be required to complete the 33 hour requirement during your next cycle from January 2020 to January 2023. The first FRP compliance group that will be required to complete the new 33 credit requirement will be 3/2022.
The Florida Bar
651 E. Jefferson St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2300
(t) 850-561-5842
(f) 850-561-9421
Web: Florida Bar CLE Page