You must fulfill the pre-legal education requirements that apply to students who attend law school. This includes at least two years of college work or equivalent intellectual achievement by attaining a score of 50 or higher on specified College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) examinations, as detailed on the College Equivalency Education webpage.

Your pre-legal and any completed legal education will be evaluated upon submission of your LOS application. You must register with the Office of Admissions, and the Registration Application must be approved before you can submit an LOS application. When submitting your Application for the Law Office Study Program, you must submit your official, sealed undergraduate transcripts, CLEP scores, or a course-by-course evaluation of your foreign study from an approved credential evaluation agency if you have foreign undergraduate study. All official, sealed legal education transcripts must also be submitted before your participation in the LOS Program can be approved.

All sealed official transcripts must be mailed to the Los Angeles Office of Admissions. Electronic transcripts are not acceptable.

The State Bar encourages, but does not require, active California licensees to provide pro bono legal services each year. While providing pro bono or reduced legal fee services is not mandatory, licensees are required by Business and Professions Code section 6073.2 to annually report the amount of these services performed each year. Licensees will report either their hours in ranges (e.g., less than 1 hour, 1–5 hours, 6–10 hours, 11–19 hours, etc.), that they did not track their pro bono or reduced fee legal services hours, that they did not complete any pro bono or reduced fee legal services hours, or that they decline to answer.  

The State Bar was charged with administering the MCLE program by an act of the California Legislature which amended B&P code to require MCLE for attorneys. The Supreme Court also authorized the program by rule of court, giving the State Bar authority to administer the program and to place non-compliant members on administrative Inactive status. State Bar MCLE Rule 2.73 authorizes the state bar to require certificates of attendance.

The plan allows attorneys to spread their total fee into smaller, manageable payments while ensuring compliance with their financial obligations.

You must submit a Registration Application in addition to the Application for the Law Office Study Program, the required documentation, and the applicable fees in the Applicant Portal at least 30 days prior to beginning your legal studies in a law office or judge’s chamber. You will not receive credit for any study completed if the State Bar does not approve your applications.

Please do not submit the LOS application before you have found a qualified supervising attorney or judge.

No. County employees are not exempt. Employees of California Superior Courts are exempt from MCLE requirements.

The six equal payments are scheduled between May 1, 2025, and October 1, 2025.

Generally, the State Bar will process your LOS application within two to three weeks of receipt if you submit a complete and accurate application.

Incomplete applications will take longer to process. If your application is deemed incomplete, you will have 60 days from the date of the incomplete notice to provide the missing information or documentation. If your application is not deemed complete within this period, your application will be abandoned without a refund of any fees paid.

Under Business and Professions Code section 6073.1(c), pro bono legal services means “providing or enabling the direct delivery of legal services without expectation of compensation from the client other than reimbursement of expenses to any of the following:

• An indigent person, as defined in subdivision (d) of section 6213.
• A charitable, religious, civil, community, governmental, or educational organization in matters that are designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means.
• A charitable, religious, civil, community, governmental, or educational organization in matters in furtherance of its organizational purposes.”

Generally, pro bono work performed through any State Bar legal aid grantee organization or through “a nonprofit organization that provides civil legal services for the poor without charge” qualifies as pro bono legal services and should be reported. See Business and Professions Code section 6159.51. 

Attorneys are asked to use their best good-faith judgment when determining what qualifies.

In addition to reporting pro bono legal services, Business and Professions Code section 6073.2(b)(2) requires attorneys to report the amount of reduced fee legal services hours performed for low-income individuals, nonprofit organizations, or public law libraries established under section 6360. Some examples of reduced fee legal services might include offering affordable help through programs like bar association reduced fee panels or legal clinics that provide services on a sliding scale. 

Per Business and Professions Code section 6073.1(d), reduced fee legal services means “providing or enabling direct delivery of legal services at a substantially reduced rate affordable to persons of limited means to either a person of limited means or a person or organization identified in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1) in subdivision (c) of section 6073.1.”