MCLE Credit

The State Bar evaluates whether a single activity is approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) credit using the following factors:

• the activity must be directly relevant to members of the State Bar
• the activity has significant and current professional or practical content
• the presenters or faculty have significant professional or academic experience related to the topic being presented
• the intended audience must be primarily members of the State Bar (for example, courses intended for paralegals do not qualify)
• the written or electronic materials that accompany the activity must be suitable and easily understood

Learn tips for offering MCLE credit for virtual events.

For a complete list of Berkeley Law MCLE credit offerings, please click here.  

MCLE SPECIAL CREDIT HOURS:

1. For Legal Ethics Credit: Activities must focus on the professional responsibility of attorneys and not on the ethics of business, corporate or government affairs or society in general. For example, activities that educate attorneys on the California Rules of Professional Conduct are eligible for ethics credit, but activities that focus on ethical dilemmas encountered in society, a business or a non-­legal profession do not qualify for MCLE legal ethics credit.
2. For Elimination of Bias Credit: Activities that qualify for such credit now include any form of bias found in either the legal profession or in society in general.
3. For Substance Abuse/Mental Illness Credit: Activities must consist of education that identifies and discusses the detection of substance abuse, mental illness or other mental of physical issue that impairs a member’s ability to perform legal services with competence.

Full details on Special Credit hours can be found here.

REQUIREMENTS FOR OFFERING MCLE CREDIT:  

All Berkeley Law programs must complete the following steps in order to offer MCLE credit:

BEFORE EVENT:

Submit your event to our MCLE calendar.
(Submission form here)

In the event description field, please include:

1. Agenda or a link to agenda.
2. Link(s) to substantive written materials. (If the presentations are one hour or more, substantive written materials are required and must be available at the event or online before the event begins.)
3. Be sure to enter the total amount of MCLE credit being offered.

Once the event is submitted, it will be reviewed and, if approved, will be posted to the MCLE calendar. Please submit your event at least 10 business days prior to the event date. The Event Services team will respond to your submission within 5 business days.

DURING EVENT:

1. Maintain Record of Attendance for MCLE requestors; in the current virtual environment, please provide a link to a google form for attendees to sign in with their name and bar number.
2. Offer Certificate of Attendance to MCLE participants. 
3. Offer Evaluation Forms to MCLE participants (Forms are optional for participants to complete).

MCLE templates for your event can be found here. This link requires a password; please contact mcle@law.berkeley.edu if you need access. 

AFTER EVENT:

Turn in the following to Event Services (please see below for link to upload electronic versions of documents):

1. Record of attendance / Sign up sheet
2. Any evaluation forms (Optional for participants to complete)
3. Blank copy of Certificate of Attendance (Original certificates for participants and/or presenters for their records)
4. Materials must be available online for at least 30 calendar days after the MCLE activity [per this page: http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Attorneys/MCLE-CLE/MCLE-Providers/Qualifying-Activities]