15 credit hours per year, reported every year (mar 1). Verified against the IA bar or court authority.
| Total CLE required | 15 credit hours per year |
|---|---|
| Ethics requirement | 2 hrs |
| Reporting cycle | Every year (Mar 1) |
| Wellness / mental health credit | 1 hr attorney wellness OR diversity & inclusion |
| Online CLE accepted | Yes |
| Accreditation route | Approved (Commission on CLE) |
Note: Iowa explicitly allows attorney wellness CLE to satisfy this required hour, alongside diversity & inclusion.
Iowa requires 15 hours every year. That matches thirteen of the 46 jurisdictions that mandate CLE, the most common requirement in the country.
Iowa recognizes wellness or mental health credit. 1 hr attorney wellness OR diversity & inclusion This is the most direct route to satisfying part of your requirement with substantive training rather than a box-ticking exercise. AWP programs are built for exactly this category: live, taught by physicians, judges, and practising attorneys, and grounded in the neurobiology of cumulative stress rather than general wellness advice.
Iowa requires 15 hours each year, of which 2 are earmarked for ethics. That leaves roughly 13 hours each year that you choose the content for. Those are the hours in question.
Judges are not insulated by seniority. In one study, 63 percent of judges surveyed reported at least one symptom they identified as work-related vicarious trauma, including sleep disturbance, difficulty concentrating, and interpersonal strain. Court staff and court interpreters process the same material without the professional distance an advocate's role provides.
Exposure follows the material rather than the job title, and it is not only the attorneys and advocates who carry it. Family and domestic relations practice sits close to the material: custody disputes involving abuse allegations, protective orders, and termination proceedings put everyone on the matter in sustained contact with the worst days of a client's life. Firms, offices, and courts in Iowa whose work runs through material like this carry more of it than a general commercial practice does, and their training needs differ accordingly.
These are competence issues, not comfort issues. They surface as missed deadlines, degraded judgment on live matters, ethics complaints, and the departure of lawyers a firm has already paid to train. If Iowa is going to require the time anyway, it can be spent on the thing that is measurably breaking.
Iowa requires 15 credit hours per year. Of that, the ethics requirement is 2 hrs. The reporting cycle runs every year (mar 1).
Yes. Rules on self-study versus live or interactive formats vary, and newly admitted attorneys are often held to stricter requirements than experienced ones. Confirm with the accrediting authority before enrolling.
Yes. Iowa recognizes wellness or mental health credit: 1 hr attorney wellness OR diversity & inclusion Attorney Wellness Project delivers live, accredited programming in this category, taught by attorneys, judges, physicians, psychologists, and coaches.
Approved (Commission on CLE). Requirements change, so verify directly with the issuing authority before relying on any summary, including this one.
Accredited, live CLE in secondary traumatic stress, work-related burnout, and career sustainability, delivered by 41 lawyers, judges, physicians, psychologists, and coaches. In person and virtual, nationwide.
Schedule a Consultation See CLE Programs