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

John Bender, Chair  │  Todd Alberstone  │  Andrew L. Benjamin  │  Ayanna Colman  │  Melissa Skelton  │  Rebecca Stewart-LeVon  │  Asia N. Wright  

BOG Liaison:  Alec Stephens

Staff Liaison: Adelaine Shay

Proposal to Amend APR 11

After receiving a request/suggestion from the WSBA Diversity Committee, the MCLE Board is considering 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, one credit be required in each of these three topics: inclusion and anti-bias, mental health and addiction, and technology security.  The MCLE Board held a public comment session at its meeting on Aug. 16, 2019. At a special meeting on Aug. 28, 2019, the MCLE Board voted to send the suggested amendment to the WSBA Board of Governors for review. The MCLE Board will present the issue to the WSBA Board of Governors for review at the Board’s final meeting of the fiscal year, Sept. 26-27 in Seattle.

Materials:

• Suggested APR 11 Amendment
• 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/suggestion was created 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.