New Jersey Newly Admitted CLE Requirements for Attorneys

A Newly Admitted Attorney in New Jersey is one who becomes an active member of the New Jersey bar for the first time. Newly Admitted Attorneys have a separate CLE requirement during their first two-year compliance period.

Newly Admitted Attorneys in New Jersey must complete 24 credits of approved CLE in their first full two-year compliance period. Of the 24 credits:

• At least 5 credits must be in Ethics/Professionalism, of which at least 2 must be in Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias.

• 16 credits in at least 6 of the following 12 subject areas:

• • New Jersey Administrative Law
  • New Jersey Basic Estate Administration
    
  • New Jersey Basic Estate Planning
  • New Jersey Civil or Criminal Trial Preparation
  • New Jersey Family Law Practice
  • New Jersey Real Estate Closing Procedures
  • New Jersey Attorney Trust and Business Accounting Fundamentals
  • New Jersey Landlord/Tenant Practice
  • New Jersey Municipal Court Practice
  • New Jersey Labor and Employment Law
    
  • New Jersey Law Office Management

  • New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Law

One of the required six must be in New Jersey Attorney Trust & Business Accounting Fundamentals

The compliance period for Newly Admitted Attorneys in New Jersey is the two-year period that begins on January 1st of the year following admission to the New Jersey Bar. 

Newly Admitted Attorneys are automatically assigned to a compliance group based on their birthdays:

• Compliance Group 1: Attorneys whose birthdays are between January 1st and June 30th. Group 1 is due to complete their credits by 12/31 in odd-numbered years and report their compliance on the Annual Attorney Registration and Billing the following year.
• Compliance Group 2: Attorneys whose birthdays are between July 1st and December 31st. Group 2 is due to complete their credits by 12/31 in even-numbered years and report their compliance on the Annual Attorney Registration and Billing the following year.

The deadline for Newly Admitted Attorneys in NJ depends on the attorney’s assigned compliance group. 

• Compliance Group 1: Due 12/31 in odd-numbered years
• Compliance Group 2: Due 12/31 in even-numbered years

Newly Admitted Attorneys in New Jersey have many course format options for completing this requirement, including:

• Alternate Verifiable Learning Format: Maximum 12
  • Online Internet computer programs;
  • Podcasts;
  • Videotape;
  • Audiotape;
  • Remote place viewing;
  • Webinars;
  • Satellite simulcasts;
  • Teleconferences;
  • Videoconferences; and
  • Internet computer self-study
• Live Programs: 
  • Courses in a physical classroom setting, in which the presenter is in the same room as all participants;
  • Webcasts
    

Yes! There are a couple of other ways in which attorneys can earn CLE credit in New Jersey.

• Teaching: Newly Admitted New Jersey Attorneys who teach an approved CLE course earn twice the credit for the amount of time spent teaching or acting as a panelist. If the attorney attends portions of the course in which they are not an instructor or a panelist, then credit will be earned at a one for one basis.
  • Attorneys teaching law to non-lawyers will not receive teaching credit, but attorneys can receive attendance credit for the approved program.
  • Attorneys may only claim teaching credit for the same course once during a compliance period.
  • Note: CLE credit will not be awarded to law school professors and instructors for teaching full- and part-time law students.
• Inns of Court programs: Lawyers participating as masters, barristers or pupils in Inns of Court programs may receive one CLE credit for each hour spent participation if the educational activities that are compliant with the CLE Regulations of New Jersey.

Yes! Attorneys in New Jersey may carry forward up to 12 credits earned in excess of the minimum to the following compliance period.

Yes! This is known as reciprocity. Active, Newly Admitted Attorneys in New Jersey may earn 1:1 credit for courses approved as satisfying the CLE requirements of any other jurisdiction. However, the exception to this rule is the 16 credits of New Jersey specific courses in any 6 of the aforementioned 12 categories. Those courses that are specifically required of Newly Admitted NJ Attorneys to complete may not be satisfied via reciprocity rules.

NJ newly admitted attorneys can complete all 24 credits on Lawline.

Effective 1/1/24, the definition of Live Instruction in New Jersey is expanded to include alternative verifiable learning formats such as Live Webcasts. Attorneys can complete all 24 credits on Lawline by taking 12 credits via Live Webcasts and 12 credits via On Demand programming.

Our entire New Jersey Course Catalog can be found here.