Frequently Asked Questions

Minnesota lawyers must complete 45 approved credit hours every 3 years, including at least 3 ethics credit hours and 2 elimination of bias credit hours.

Each Minnesota-licensed lawyer is placed in a CLE category for reporting CLE. Categories 1, 2, or 3 correspond with the 3-year CLE reporting cycle. The lawyer’s category is assigned by the date of admission to the Minnesota bar.

Category 1 lawyers report their CLE in 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2024, etc. Category 2 lawyers report in 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025, etc. Category 3 lawyers report in 2017, 2020, 2023, and 2026.

Your CLE category is printed on your Attorney License card, or you can log onto your OASIS Attorney Record and find your CLE category that way.

New lawyers have a full three year reporting period, plus the balance of the year that the lawyer is admitted. In this case, your first reporting is August 2019.

No. Any credit hours earned in excess of the required 45 prior to the June 30th deadline cannot be “saved” and used in the next reporting period. The 45 hours per reporting period is a minimum requirement.

Yes. Courses taken after bar admission, but prior to the start of the initial reporting period, can be reported if the requirements of Rule 5A(9) are met. You cannot carry-over credits to later reporting periods.

See Rule 2 of the Rules of the Minnesota Board for Continuing Legal Education for the definitions of Elimination of Bias and Ethics.

CLE Rule 9B(1-2) states that there are special categories of CLE credit that every lawyer must attend – 2 hours of courses in elimination of bias and 3 hours in courses on ethics and professional responsibility.

Lawyers may report CLE attendance at any time during the reporting period. Lawyers must report CLE attendance for the 3 year period no later than August 31st of the last year of the lawyer’s assigned reporting period.

Lawyers are encouraged to report CLE attendance online by logging into the OASIS Attorney Record.

There is no fee to file online. There is a $10 fee for reporting by paper affidavit.

Yes. See instructions for requesting an extension. But please be aware that there is a $75 late filing fee that is payable even if you have requested an extension.

Minnesota approves courses based on a 60-minute hour. Courses are approved in 15 minute increments.

No. The online reporting system replaces the paper affidavit for reporting attendance. There is nothing else you need to do for the reporting period once you have reported your 45 hours of CLE requirements. If you would like confirmation that you are in compliance, print the screen in OASIS showing the reported credits and keep a copy for your records.

You can download an affidavit form by clicking here. Fill out the form and mail it along with a $10.00 check for paper filing to the Board office – 180 E. 5th St. Site 950 St Paul MN 55101. You can also find this form as Appendix III at the back of the CLE Rules in the Rules of Court volume of the Minnesota Statutes. There is a $10 filing fee for reporting on paper. There is no filing fee if you report your CLE compliance electronically through your Attorney Record in OASIS.

Yes, if you are filing your compliance in hard copy. Be sure to include all of the information requested by the standard form, including your signature, and the $10.00 paper filing fee.

Yes, the Ethics and Bias requirements are minimum requirements. Any additional ethics and or bias credit hours will be used towards your total 3-year CLE requirement. Extra bias or ethics credit hours will be automatically credited to your total CLE requirement.

No. Minnesota-licensed lawyers are responsible for reporting their own attendance at CLE courses.

No. The CLE office will notify you only if there are discrepancies or if you fail to meet our total CLE requirement. You may log into your OASIS account to verify the status.

Email. Staff responds to emails in the order received, and generally respond within 24 hours. Requests for extensions, fee waivers, and waivers of strict compliance with the Rules must be made in writing. Mail or email those requests to staff.

We recommend making an appointment to ensure staff availability and the best possible service.

No. Although you can report all at once, the online CLE reporting system (OASIS) lets you report throughout the 3 year cycle and makes it easier for lawyers to keep track of courses as you attend them. The best way to keep track is for you to report attendance in OASIS as you attend each course.

No. If you report in OASIS, please DO NOT send a hard copy of your CLE affidavit. Check your online CLE attorney record to see if OASIS already has accepted your courses.

Courses will show as “0 credits” when they are pending approval or have been denied. Pending courses show as red and the status will be “pending.” Expect the course approval process to take 2-4 weeks. If the course was denied, it will also show as “0 credits” and will state denied.

Some courses may have breakout/concurrent sessions that are approved for multiple credit types or are varied in the length of time causing a different number of hours of credit. The sessions that are approved for credit hours other than standard will be listed out separately and can be viewed by clicking on theⓘ. You are only able to claim credit for the total credit hours approved. You may edit the credit hours to claim credit for the total and specific credit types you actually attended.

If a course is denied because it did not meet course approval requirements, the course sponsor or participant will receive a notice of denial from the CLE office. The notice will list the reason(s) the course was denied. The denied course will appear on the search screen as having zero credits and will state “denied.” Lawyers should contact the sponsor if you have any questions. You may also click on the information symbol, if applicable, for more information.

Lawyers can apply for course accreditation for a course either online through OASIS or by mailing in the hard copy course accreditation application and fee to the Board office. For more information on applying by mail, click here.

The Board staff takes 3-5 weeks on average for course review. It can take longer if the course application or attachments are not complete.

Hours are calculated on a 60-minute per classroom hour basis. Introductory remarks and breaks are excluded. Credit will not normally be given for speeches at luncheons or banquets (Rule 5A(6)). Question and answer periods are generally approved.

-No fee for live courses that are 60 minutes or less in length.

-$35 for live courses that are more than 60 minutes in length – if submitted by paper.

-$20 for live courses that are more than 60 minutes in length – if submitted through OASIS.

-$35 for all on-demand courses, regardless of length of time – if submitted by paper.

-$20 for all on-demand courses, regardless of length of time – if submitted through OASIS.

Standards for course approval can be found in Rule 5. Among other requirements, CLE courses must deal “primarily with matter directly related to the practice of law.”

The easiest way to determine if a course has been approved is to do a search on our website; click here.

Course Search tips:

1. Use the course event code.

2. If you do not know the event code, use minimal search criteria. Use one key word from the title and the event start date (leaving all other fields blank). Less information yield better results.

3. If your search attempts are unsuccessful, then you may wish to contact the course sponsor and ask if the sponsor sought CLE credit in Minnesota.

No. Minnesota licensed lawyers must report CLE credits that have been or may be approved by the Minnesota State Board of Continuing Legal Education. If another state has already approved the course, the course sponsor or a lawyer who attended the course still needs to submit a Course Accreditation Form and pay the applicable fee in order for this office to review and approve the course.

Change your address or phone number here.

Instructions can be found here.

Yes, you simply check the box marked Teaching/Prep.  This allows you to adjust the hours claimed to include your preparation time.

Lawyers may request a fee waiver by submitting a written request to the Board office stating the basis for the request.

The Continuing Legal Education Rules state:

Waivers of strict compliance [may be made] in cases of hardship or other compelling reasons.” (Rule 3D(1))

The lawyer should include in the request for waiver sufficient information for the Board office to make a determination.  Factors that the Board office considers include the following:

1. The diligence of the lawyer in timely filing and in resolving any issues after the deadline;
2. Whether there is a compelling reason for the lawyer’s delay in filing, such as a serious medical condition that impacted timely filing, or other serious circumstance outside of the lawyer’s control;
3. The compliance history of the lawyer;
4. Whether financial hardship will result if the waiver is denied;
5. If the request is for waiver of the course approval fee, whether the lawyer has paid other course approval fees during the filing period and if the courses were taken in another state;
6. Whether the lawyer has previously requested and been granted waivers; and
7. Other relevant past history.

The initial determination is made by Board office staff.  The lawyer may appeal the staff’s determination to the Director.  The lawyer may appeal the Director’s determination to the Board of Continuing Legal Education by submitting a written request within 10 business days of receipt of the Director’s determination.