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

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

BOG Liaisons: Sunitha Anjilvel  │  Russell Knight

Staff Liaison: Adelaine Shay

Suggested Amendment to APR 11

On Oct. 15, 2020, the MCLE Board submitted a suggested amendment to Admission and Practice Rule (APR) 11, regarding the ethics requirement to the Supreme Court. The MCLE Board previously sent a suggested amendment of the ethics requirement to the Washington Supreme Court in 2019, which was rejected. Now, the MCLE Board is recommending a related but much narrower amendment to the rule, to focus on equity, inclusion, and mitigation of bias.

The suggested amendment to APR 11 would require that each licensed legal professional complete at least one (1) ethics credit in the topic of equity, inclusion and the mitigation of bias per each three year MCLE reporting period. The suggested amendment being recommended by the MCLE Board would not increase the total number of ethics hours required, nor prevent legal professionals from earning additional ethics credits on other topics, which would also count toward the 45 total required credits. Please see the GR 9 Cover Sheet for background and more detailed information.

The MCLE Board solicited feedback on the suggested amendment from licensed legal professionals, stakeholder organizations such as WSBA committees and Court-appoint boards, and members of the public (non-WSBA members).  The comments received are linked below. On Sept. 18, 2020, MCLE Board member Asia Wright presented the suggested amendment to the WSBA Board of Governors for review. The Board of Governors voted to support the MCLE Board’s suggested amendment.  The WSBA Board of Governors also renewed their commitment that WSBA provide one hour of free CLE credit annually in the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The CLE credit will be offered in both live and recorded formats, which will let licensed legal professionals meet this requirement on their own time and at no cost to them.

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

• MCLE Board Report and Recommendation
• Initial Stakeholder Feedback Received as of Aug. 4, 2020
• Public Comments Received as of Oct. 5, 2020
• 2018-2019 Rejected Suggested Amendment to APR 11 - Ethics

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.