Continuing Legal Education . the compliance deadline .
IN THE PROFESSION
With this as the backdrop , work began on enhancing and updating the rules . That included : consideration of an expanded compliance period ; emphasizing updates to Georgia ’ s law ; placing an emphasis on legal ethics ; placing an emphasis on members ’ particular practice areas ; and easing the burden on lawyers overall . Through the work , it was determined that many of those ideas were easy to address . Others were not practical or in the best interest of members .
The rewrite work team incorporated those priorities into a revised rule , as well as worked to clean up or make concise other parts of the CLE rules and regulations that are promulgated by the Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency . All of our work is designed to improve the quality of legal services in the state .
When the work began , the recommendations of the Task Force related to CLE served as a base . Part Five of the report concluded that “ we do not recommend that the State Bar of Georgia abolish mandatory CLE altogether . However , we do recommend that the Court reconsider its current mandatory requirements in several respects .” Those areas included :
Prioritizing CLE around professional ethics Requiring lawyers to complete CLE in areas in which the lawyer practices or intends to practice , with special attention to recent developments in the law that governs those areas of practice
Removing limits on hours earned through in-house or remote programs , and Considering a biennial or triennial period
Here are the key highlights of the essential changes to the CLE Rules and Regulations , as approved by the Board of Governors :
Moved from an annual CLE requirement to a biennial CLE requirement ( every two years ).
The first biennial compliance period begins January 1 , 2025 , and ends December 31 , 2026 . All lawyers will have the same CLE deadline of December 31 in every even year ( except new lawyers in the Transition Into Law Practice Program (“ TILPP ”)).
The deadline is the end of the compliance period , although a lawyer will not be suspended immediately at the end of the compliance period . The CLE Department will notify lawyers of their noncompliance and provide time for the lawyer to make corrections , add courses that are not on a transcript , and pay the CLE late fee for missing the deadline if that is the case . Written notice of the lawyers who have not complied or paid the late fee will be forwarded to the Supreme Court of Georgia , per the rules , no sooner than April 30th immediately following
CLE requirements : o 18 hours every two years ( maximum of 6 CLE hours can be carried from one compliance period to the next ). o 3 hours of ethics every two years ( no ethics carryover from one compliance period to the next ). o 2 hours of professionalism every two years ( no professionalism carryover from one compliance period to the next ). o 3 trial hours are suggested every two years ( for trial lawyers ) ( no trial carryover from one compliance period to the next ).
All the exemptions to be in one place under Rule 8-104 ( d ). Previously the exemptions were spread out in three places : Rule 8-102 , Rule 8-104 ( c ), and under Regulations to Rule-104 ( c ).
Age-70 CLE Exemption o Attorneys who reach age 70 after the effective date of the new CLE rules will have a biennial requirement of 9 CLE hours ( including 3 ethics hours , 2 professionalism hours and 3 trial hours for trial attorneys ). o Grandfathered exemption for attorneys who reached age 70 before the effective date of the new CLE rules .
Eliminated trial observation as an activity approved for CLE hours .
Most of the definitions moved to the top ( Rule 8-102 )
Changed the CLE late fee to $ 200 after the compliance deadline ( currently it is $ 100 ), but eliminated the additional CLE late fee of $ 150 that is currently in the regulation
TILPP Rules and Regulations were all moved to be under one rule ( new Rule 8-105 )
Changed “ sponsor ” to “ provider ” and changed “ attorney ” to “ lawyer ” throughout .
There are some additional internal / policy changes that may evolve , including the potential creation of reduced cost / free ethics and professionalism CLE courses .
Candidly , we have heard from many members who are in favor of the proposed rules changes and from many who are not in favor of the changes ( particularly as they impact members of the Bar who remain active in their practice , but who are over 70 ). We have taken all of this feedback into consideration .
There have been other , technical questions that followed the analysis and vote by the Board of Governors . Some
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