MCLE Board

Licensed legal professionals in the state of Washington are required to continue their legal education throughout their careers in order 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

Asia N. Wright, Chair  │  Todd Alberstone  │  M. Christopher Bueter  │  Ayanna Colman  │  Merri Hartse  │  Robert Malae  │  Melissa Skelton  

BOG Liaison: Russell Knight

Staff Liaison: Adelaine Shay

Suggested Amendment to APR 11

Update: At the Dec. 4, 2019, En Banc Administrative Conference, the Washington Supreme Court voted to reject the suggested amendment to APR 11 put forward by the MCLE Board. See the letter from the Court informing us of this decision.

After receiving a request/suggestion from the WSBA Diversity Committee, the MCLE Board is suggesting an amendment to the Admission and Practice Rule (APR) 11 ethics requirement.  If approved by the Court, the suggested amendment would require that, of the six required ethics credits for licensed legal professionals each reporting period, one credit be required in each of these three topics: equity, inclusion, and the mitigation of both implicit and explicit bias; mental health and addiction; and the use of technology as it pertains to professional responsibility including how to maintain security.

On Sept. 27, 2019, MCLE Board member Todd Alberstone made a presentation about the suggested amendment to the WSBA Board of Governors. The WSBA Board of Governors discussed the suggested amendment and passed a motion (7-5 vote) stating they were not supporting the amendment, and instead are directing WSBA CLE department to offer free CLEs each year on each of the three topics.

NOTE: The WSBA CLE department operates independently from the regulatory MCLE Board and staff.

After some discussion at the MCLE Board meeting on Oct. 4, the MCLE Board voted (5-0, one Board member absent and one vacant position) to send the suggested amendment to the Washington Supreme Court for consideration and action. See General Rule 9 for more information about possible Supreme Court actions with respect to the suggested amendment.

Materials:

• Suggested APR 11 Amendment
• Letter from WSBA Board of Governors
• Report and Preliminary Recommendation of the Washington Supreme Court Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Board Re: Suggested Amendment to APR 11
• Public Comments

Please note: The original request was suggested by the WSBA Diversity Committee working in partnership with and supported by the Washington Women Lawyers and eight minority bar associations: the Asian Bar Association of Washington, Cardozo Society of Washington State, Filipino Lawyers of Washington, Pierce County Minority Bar Association, Loren Miller Bar Association, Latina/Latino Bar Association of Washington, South Asian Bar Association of Washington, and QLaw.

Meeting Dates and Minutes

Contact Us

Please direct all correspondence, petitions, notices, and other written communications to:

Washington State Bar Association
MCLE Board
1325 Fourth Ave., Suite 600
Seattle, WA 98101-2539

Please submit all requests and notices to the MCLE Board in writing. Requests and petitions must be received two weeks prior to a board meeting in order to be placed on that meeting's agenda.

To request a MCLE Petition of Undue Hardship, please contact our MCLE Team at 206-733-5987, or email us at mcle@wsba.org.