24 credit hours every 2 years, reported every 2 years. Verified against the WV bar or court authority.
| Total CLE required | 24 credit hours every 2 years |
|---|---|
| Ethics requirement | 3 hrs (ethics / office mgmt / substance abuse / mental health) |
| Reporting cycle | Every 2 years |
| Wellness / mental health credit | Qualifies within the 3-hr ethics block |
| Online CLE accepted | Yes |
| Accreditation route | Approved (WV State Bar) |
Note: Substance abuse / mental health explicitly qualifies within the ethics requirement.
West Virginia's 24 hours over two years works out to 12 hours a year. That matches 20 of the 46 jurisdictions that mandate CLE, the most common requirement in the country.
West Virginia recognizes wellness or mental health credit. Qualifies within the 3-hr ethics block 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.
West Virginia requires 24 hours every 2 years, of which 3 are earmarked for ethics. That leaves roughly 21 hours every 2 years 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. Criminal defense carries measurably elevated exposure. The research found criminal lawyers scoring significantly higher on secondary trauma measures than non-criminal lawyers, a gap attributed to case material and client contact rather than caseload alone. Firms, offices, and courts in West Virginia 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 West Virginia is going to require the time anyway, it can be spent on the thing that is measurably breaking.
West Virginia requires 24 credit hours every 2 years. Of that, the ethics requirement is 3 hrs (ethics / office mgmt / substance abuse / mental health). The reporting cycle runs every 2 years.
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. West Virginia recognizes wellness or mental health credit: Qualifies within the 3-hr ethics block Attorney Wellness Project delivers live, accredited programming in this category, taught by attorneys, judges, physicians, psychologists, and coaches.
Approved (WV State Bar). 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