MCLE Board

New MCLE Requirement

The Washington Supreme Court entered  order No. 25700-A-1349, adopting the MCLE Board’s suggested amendment to the Admission and Practice Rule (APR) 11 ethics requirement, effective Sept. 1, 2022. 

Get more information here.

Volunteer with the MCLE Board

Licensed legal professionals in the state of Washington are required to continue their legal education throughout their careers to remain eligible to practice law. The Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Board plays a critical role in defining and determining compliance with the minimum education requirements. The Board meets five times a year to consider MCLE policy issues and review requests from legal professionals, including requests for waiver and extension of time to meet their minimum education requirements, and holds hearings on denied requests.

Board Members

Todd Alberstone, Chair  │  M. Christopher Bueter  │  Ayanna Colman  │  Merri Hartse  │  Efrem Krisher  │  Katherine Denmark   │  Asia N. Wright

Board of Governors Liaison: Serena Sayani & Kevin Fay

Contact the MCLE Board and Staff Liaison at MCLE@wsba.org

Preliminary Suggested Amendments to APR 11-Technology Security and Mental Health Ethics Requirement

The MCLE Board is considering amendments to APR 11, which would require one credit of Technology Security Ethics and one credit of Mental Health Ethics to be earned each reporting period. The amendments would increase the total credit requirements in the area of legal ethics to eight credits and create four distinct categories of legal ethics: (1) general ethics and professional responsibility; (2) equity ethics; (3) technology security ethics; and (4) mental health ethics. The MCLE Board voted at its meeting held on April 17, 2023, to move forward with the preliminary suggested amendments and to post the amendments for public comment before presenting the suggested amendments in final form to the Board of Governors and Washington Supreme Court. For more information, please see:

MCLE Board Preliminary Suggested APR 11 Amendments

Provide Feedback to the MCLE Board

The MCLE Board is currently soliciting feedback on the preliminary suggested amendments. Feedback is open to everyone. 

Provide Written Feedback to the MCLE Board

 Please provide your written feedback here: https://forms.office.com/g/NBnMcnYJnv by June 9, 2023. 

Provide Feedback at the next MCLE Board Meeting

You may also provide feedback by attending the MCLE Board meeting on June 16, 2023. The meeting will be held via zoom. Meeting details are below:

MCLE Board Meeting (PUBLIC SESSION) – 6/16 Participant Information:

Link to access the Zoom meeting: https://wsba.zoom.us/j/86106917437 pwd=VGZIMEZtL3YxdjdpOWh6ZmpCSHluQT09

Zoom Conference Call Lines: LOCAL OPTION: (253) 215-8782 || TOLL-FREE OPTION: (888) 788-0099

Suggested Amendment to APR 11-Law Clerk Tutor Credit 

The MCLE Board proposed an amendment to APR 11 to allow tutors in the WSBA Law Clerk Program to receive MCLE teaching credit for their personal supervision of law clerks.

At its April 9, 2021 meeting, the MCLE Board discussed the potential for tutors to claim MCLE credit for instruction time. The MCLE Board formed a work group, prepared a report and recommendation, posted the suggested amendment for public comment, and solicited feedback from the WSBA Board of Governors. At the July 22 Board of Governors meeting, Todd Alberstone and Robert Malae presented the preliminary suggested amendment on behalf of the MCLE Board. The Board of Governors then voted to support the MCLE Board’s amendment.

Taking into consideration the Board of Governors' feedback and support, the MCLE Board made final edits to the suggested amendment. The updated amendment clarifies that law clerk tutors are eligible for law and legal credit in addition to ethics and other reported credits. Additionally, the amendment creates a new approved activity category, APR 11(e)(10), for law clerk tutoring, instead of consolidating the credit with the law school teaching category, APR 11(e)(6). The edits were intended to assist with implementing the suggested amendment and do not impact the spirit in which the original revisions were made. In September, the MCLE Board shared the final language of the amendment with the Board of Governors and in October sent it to the Washington Supreme Court for consideration.

Public Comment

On Jan 5, 2023, the Supreme Court entered an order directing the suggested amendment to APR 11 to be published for comment in the normal 2023 cycle with comment period January through April 30, 2023. Comments are to be submitted to the Clerk of the Supreme Court by either U.S. mail or email by April 30. Comments may be mailed to:

Washington Supreme Court
P.O. Box 40929
Olympia, Washington 98504-0929

Or supreme@courts.wa.gov. Please limit email comments to 1,500 words. 

For more information, please see:

Order No. 2700-A-1494 In the Matter of the Suggested Amendment to APR 11-Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE)

Memo to the WSBA Board of Governors – Sept. 7, 2022

Memo to the WSBA Board of Governors – June 24, 2022

Meeting Dates and Minutes