Each attorney must complete a total of 15 hours of CLE, which must consist of no less than 12 General hours and three Ethics/Professionalism hours (or Dual hours) per year.

Tennessee no longer requires a minimum number of in-person hours. 

Absolutely! The completed ARS must be received by us by March 31st. Do NOT forget to pay your non-completion fee. You are merely verifying the correctness of our records. As hours are reported for you, we will carry them back to the preceding year, but we must have your confirmation of our records for that year before we can show you as in compliance.

No, placing your law license on inactive status with the Board of Professional Responsibility does not have any effect on your CLE requirement to complete the required 15 hours of CLE annually. See Regulation 2B.1. 

If you live outside of Tennessee, and do not practice Tennessee, law, you may be eligible to claim the non-resident exemption on the Annual Report Statement you will receive in February. 

If you have placed your law license in inactive-retired status, you can request inactive status with the CLE Commission by compleitng the Request for Inactive Status form found in View All Forms on our website andproviding a copy of your BPR inactive-retired status letter. Mail or email both documents to: info@cletn.com.  See Regulation 2B.2.

You have a CLE obligation the year you pass the February Bar Exam  but the Commission on CLE will award you the required fifteen (15) hours of CLE credit to fulfill that CLE obligation. If you were not sworn in prior to September 1, then you should contact the Commission on CLE.

 See Rule 21 §4.06.

Because you did/will not receive your results until October, you do not have a CLE obligation the year you passed the July Tennessee Bar Exam. You will receive your fifteen (15) hours of CLE credit the year following your passage of the bar exam regardless of when you are sworn in. See Rule 21 §4.06.

No, however if you cannot attend CLE programs without great difficulty you may file a request with the Commission for a substitute program in place of attendance. You must submit a plan tailored to your specific interests and physical abilities for consideration by the Commission.  Requests are approved or disapproved on an individual basis. See Rule 21 § 3.02.

Yes, up to one full year's worth of both General (12 hours) and Ethics & Professionalism (3 hours) can be carried forward to the next compliance year. 

No.  The AGE exemption is not automatic.  It must be requested.   An attorney born in 1951 or earlier is eligible to claim the Age Exemption by filing a request with the CLE Commission.  The exemption can be requested on the Annual Report Statement, by email or by letter.

An attorney born in 1952 or later is eligible to claim the age exemption the year after the year in which the attorney turns 70 years of age.   An attorney shall submit a written request for age exempt status to the Commission listing their Board of professional Responsibility number. and requesting the age exemption.   Rule 21 § 2.03(c) 

An attorney born in 1952 would be eligible to claim the age exemption starting with the 2023 compliance year.

Each attorney must complete a total of 15 hours of CLE, which must consist of no less than 12 General hours and three Ethics/Professionalism hours (or Dual hours) per year. All hours may be earned via an approved onbline or in-person format.

Possibly. If you were sworn in prior to September 1, you are required to complete the full fifteen (15) hour CLE obligation this year.  

You will not have a CLE obligation for the year you were sworn in if you were sworn in on or after September 1. Your fifteen (15) hours CLE obligation will begin the next year.

If you were activated prior to September 1, you must complete the fifteen (15) hour CLE requirement.  

If you were activated on or after September 1, your fifteen (15) hour CLE requirement will begin the year after you were activated.

Note: with such a designation, the "M" is not part of your BPR number on our website.

YES!   Ignoring pending attendance can cost you money.  

CLE compliance means you have earned your hours or claimed an exemption, AND all fees have been paid.  

If you owe posting fees for Pending Attendance ($2.00 per credit hour) you are not in compliance and will be assessed non-compliance fees if deadlines pass.  

You must do something!  You have three choices:  

(1) You can pay the fees and receive all the hours, Keep in mind you can only carry forward one year’s worth of hours.  

(2)  You can reduce the number of hours by logging on to your CLE account or by contacting the CLE Commission, and pay for the remaining hours

(3) you can delete all the Pending Attendance hours and the money due will go away.

Pending attendance is NOT counted toward the 15.0 hour requirement or eligible to be carried forward until it is paid for and becomes attendance rather than pending attendance.

If you are receiving emails and letters from us saying you are not compliant, it is because our records indicate you are not compliant.  

You must contact us and clear up the discrepancy regarding your hours or payment of your fees or you could be assessed additional fees and possibly have your law license suspended.

You do not need to return to Tennessee to get your live CLE.   Live is live.   If you could physically shake the presenter's hand at the end of the presentation, then it was live regardless of locale.  If the course has not been accredited in Tennessee it will be your responsibility to obtain the aproval and accreditation of the course or activity before you can receive CLE credit.

Florida uses a fifty minute hour so a four hour Florida course lasts 200 minutes (plus breaks) In Tennessee you would only receive 3 1/3 hours for the same program  (200/60).

YES.  You need to make sure that the hours you reported on the Affidavit get reported and appear on your account. Follow up with the provider to ensure they report your attendance and pay the reporting fee on time.

If you submitted the course for accreditation yourself, check with the Commission to see if the course was approved.

If the course is not approved, you will need to take an addititional course(s) to replace the missiing hours. It is the attorney's responsibility to make sure that their attendance is reported timely and accurately in order to avoid fines and possible suspension of his/her license.

Under Rule 21, you can earn hour for hour credit for participating in an LLM or PhD program.  

To request credit, submit a Request for Out of State, Online or Other Unpaid Credits listing the number of hours you are requesting. 

Attach a copy of your grades/transcript. There is a $2.00 per credit hour attendance reporting fee that must also be paid.  

You can only carry forward twelve (12) general hours so you are not likely to benefit from submitting more than 24 general hours.

Generally, ethics courses are not offered in an LLM program, so you will probably need to get your ethics credit elsewhere.

Yes. You can earn your CLE credits anywhere in the world as long as the course has been submitted and approved and accredited by CLE Commission.  

Live and distance learning CLE has the same requirements whether it is in Paris, France or Paris, Tennessee.  If the course has not been approved and accredited in Tennessee, your provider or you will need to get the course approved and accredited for you to receive CLE credit.