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CLE Requirements by State · TX

Texas CLE Requirements for attorneys

15 credit hours per year, reported every year (birth-month). Verified against the TX bar or court authority.

Texas at a glance

Total CLE required15 credit hours per year
Ethics requirement3 hrs
Reporting cycleEvery year (birth-month)
Wellness / mental health credit1 hr may be earned in a legal-wellness category (verify)
Online CLE acceptedYes
Accreditation routeApproved (State Bar of Texas MCLE)

Note: Mandatory legal-technology component. Confirm the current wellness-credit rule.

Verify current TX requirements at the source ↗

How Texas compares

Annualised, that is 15 hours per year, above the national median of 12 hours per year, placing Texas 10th of the 46 jurisdictions that mandate CLE.

Texas recognises wellness or mental health credit. 1 hr may be earned in a legal-wellness category (verify) This is the most direct route to satisfying part of your requirement with substantive training rather than a box-ticking exercise. AWP programmes 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.

Why wellness credit is worth the hours in Texas

Texas requires 15 hours each year, of which 3 are earmarked for ethics. That leaves roughly 12 hours each year that you choose the content for. Those are the hours in question.

The evidence: it arrives early, not late

National research found 28 percent of attorneys screening positive for depression, 19 percent for anxiety, and 21 percent for problematic drinking. The finding that surprised the profession was where the risk concentrated: among younger attorneys and those in their first ten years. The prior assumption ran the other way. It is shaping the careers of the people a firm has most recently invested in.

Where it concentrates in Texas

Exposure is not evenly distributed across a bar. It follows the material. Immigration practitioners take asylum narratives in detail and repeatedly, frequently with the client's safety turning on how completely the trauma is recounted. Firms and offices in Texas doing immigration practice carry more of this 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 Texas is going to require the time anyway, it can be spent on the thing that is measurably breaking.

See what burnout actually costs a legal organization →

Texas CLE questions

How many CLE hours does Texas require?

Texas requires 15 credit hours per year. Of that, the ethics requirement is 3 hrs. The reporting cycle runs every year (birth-month).

Does Texas accept online CLE?

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.

Can wellness or mental health CLE count in Texas?

Yes. Texas recognises wellness or mental health credit: 1 hr may be earned in a legal-wellness category (verify) Attorney Wellness Project delivers live, accredited programming in this category, taught by attorneys, judges, physicians, and psychologists.

Who accredits CLE in Texas?

Approved (State Bar of Texas MCLE). Requirements change, so verify directly with the issuing authority before relying on any summary, including this one.

Other jurisdictions

Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Tennessee · South Dakota · South Carolina

Search and filter all 51 jurisdictions →

Texas requires the hours. We teach what matters.

Accredited, live CLE in secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and professional resilience, delivered by 41 lawyers, judges, physicians, and psychologists. In person and virtual, nationwide.

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