If an activity or provider is approved by California, the provider is required to give a certificate of attendance for participatory education activities that lists total credit hours and the number of those total hours allocated to the special requirements (i.e. legal ethics; detection, prevention and treatment of substance abuse; and elimination of bias in the legal profession). An attorney can claim credit only for the amount of time actually attended.

For information about attending a participatory activity outside California, go to Approved Jurisdictions.

MCLE records should be kept at least one year from the date compliance is reported online. Records should be kept in the event that an attorney's compliance is audited. Go to Compliance Information for information on what records to keep.

There is no specific MCLE requirement for reactivation. An attorney will receive a 60-day notice to comply soon after reactivation. However, for attorneys who have been Inactive for two (2) or more years, previously accrued hours may have all been tolled off.

• For more information, see Inactive Status
• Transfer to Active form. 

If an attorney takes a CLE course while physically outside California, it can be counted toward California MCLE requirements. However, the education activity must be approved by an Approved Jurisdiction.

An attorney's compliance group never changes, even if a last name is changed. Attorneys always remain in the compliance group to which they originally were assigned. See Compliance Groups for more information.

Except in the case of an audit, an attorney should never send in any MCLE-related documentation unless specifically requested to do so by the State Bar (otherwise, it will be returned).

However, in the event that an attorney's compliance is audited, attorneys are required to maintain sufficient proof of compliance with the education requirement or of an exemption status for at least one year from the date they report compliance.

The accused attorney must file an answer, or risk a default judgment and involuntary enrollment as an inactive Bar member pending the outcome of the case. The clerks in State Bar Court schedule a status conference (a meeting of all parties), to be held within 45 days after the complaint is filed. The next step depends on the individual case. There could be additional status conferences, settlement conferences, or simply the trial date.

Information about becoming an attorney is in the Admissions section. There you'll find additional information about getting a legal education. You can also find information about taking the California Bar Exam.

The convicted attorney, the district attorney and the court are each required, by law, to notify the State Bar any time that an attorney is arrested and charged with a crime or criminally convicted. These overlapping requirements help assure that the State Bar will be notified. When the State Bar receives such a report, the information is forwarded to the State Bar Court. Then it is handled in several different ways, depending upon the nature of the conviction.

If the attorney is convicted of a felony, they are placed on interim suspension pending a disciplinary hearing on the merits in State Bar Court. Attorneys convicted of a misdemeanor also are put on interim suspension if the crime involved "moral turpitude" by its very nature. Some crimes, such as theft, are designated by law as crimes involving moral turpitude.

But if the attorney's misdemeanor conviction does not by its very nature involve moral turpitude, they face a hearing in State Bar Court to determine the discipline, if any, to be imposed in the case.

The Client Security Fund represents reimburses clients who have lost money or property due to theft or other dishonest act by a California lawyer acting in a professional capacity. Supported entirely by lawyers' annual fees, the fund reimburses eligible applicants up to $100,000. See the State Bar pamphlet "The Client Security Fund Can Help You."