What statistics are available regarding the work of the Lawyer Assistance Program?
All information about program participation is reported in aggregate. To view data about the LAP, please see the annual Lawyer Assistance Program Fact Sheet.
As part of National Consumer Protection Week March 1–7, the State Bar of California has published an updated and expanded set of consumer pamphlets in multiple languages and updated the consumer protection section of its website.
This week, the State Bar of California announced the initial class of Leadership Banks.To join the ranks of Leadership Banks, a bank must agree to pay comparable interest rates on its attorney client trust accounts under California's Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program, thereby helping to support access to justice for low-income Californians.
At its January meeting that concluded Friday, the State Bar Board of Trustees set direction on strategic priorities intended to expand access to justice and ensure that the attorney discipline system is fair and effective.
Admitted with four months or less left in the compliance period?
The proportional requirement rules specify that if a licensee is subject to the MCLE requirement for four months or less, s/he does not need to comply with the MCLE education requirement for that compliance period.
Thus, if an attorney was admitted in December and his or her Compliance Group's deadline is less than 2 months away, it is unnecessary to comply with the MCLE requirement for that compliance period. The next compliance period for this group begins on February 1, and an attorney can count only activities earned on or after February 1 toward the requirement for that next compliance period. (There is no carryforward of credit hours from one compliance period to the next. [Rule 2.72(D)])
Do providers report to the State Bar each time I attend a participatory CLE activity?
Neither licensees nor providers report attendance at an approved activity to the State Bar of California. Rather, licensees are responsible for keeping track of their own education. Attorneys must keep the certificates of attendance that providers distribute when attending a participatory education activity. (Providers are required to keep a record for four years of licensee's attendance at provider's participatory activities. Duplicate certificates of attendance may be available from the provider.)
Please note that a personal CLE log of self-study education activities must also be maintained. See Compliance Information for Record Keeping Requirements.
I was not practicing law for a portion of the compliance period. Do I owe all 25 hours?
The only time that a lattorney (or licensee) is not subject to the MCLE requirement is during the time s/he is officially on Inactive status. If the attorney remains an Active attorney, he/she is subject to the MCLE requirement, regardless of whether the attorney is practicing law. See Inactive Status for more information.
If an attorney is Inactive for a portion of the compliance period, the MCLE education requirement is pro-rated, based on the number of months during the compliance period that s/he is subject to. (See Requirements)
