Gerben Perrott, PLLC regularly conducts complimentary, online Pennsylvania continuing legal education (CLE) courses in an interactive webinar format to make it as simple as possible for you to attend and stay compliant with your annual PA CLE requirements.
If you would like to receive information regarding our future courses, please sign up below.
Our Pennsylvania continuing legal education courses focus on intellectual property law, more specifically trademarks. While you may not realize it, intellectual property can be found in every industry, as each business has at least one protectable trademark – their name. Our courses provide basic, but important information surrounding trademark law, allowing you to speak knowledgeably on the topic and perhaps provide added value to your clients.
Pennsylvania attorneys are required to complete 12 credit hours of continuing legal education annually. Two hours must be dedicated to ethics, professionalism, or substance abuse, while the remaining ten can be general substantive information.
Continuing legal education promotes continuing professional development for attorneys, allowing them to maintain or deepen their skills or learn something new in the field of law.
Pennsylvania attorneys can acquire their PA CLE Bar credits by attending continuing legal education courses that have been approved and accredited by the PA CLE Board. Courses can be taken in a variety of formats, from live classes to distance learning courses.
Distance learning courses are categorized as online video lectures or live webcasts/webinars. Each attorney is allowed a maximum of six distance learning credits per reporting period. Live classes can be formatted as a traditional classroom or a satellite seminar. Any attorney that is attending law school or taking graduate level courses at an ABA-accredited laws schools may receive one CLE credit for each approved graduate credit hour awarded by the school. This is only applicable if the attorney is attending the accredited school for purposes other than receiving a basic degree.
Pennsylvania attorneys can also receive up to two CLE credits for each hour spent teaching an accredited PA CLE course. The two credits given are based upon the hour of teaching and the quality of the written materials used in the course. If the course is presented multiple times, the presenting attorney can only receive one credit for each subsequent presentation. If the written materials are considered to be of a poor quality, the attorney may only receive one credit for their presentation.
There are three PA compliance deadlines, each of which correlate to a compliance group. Each Pennsylvania attorney is assigned a compliance group and should complete their CLE credits by their group’s deadline.
Yes, in Pennsylvania, attorneys can roll over any live course credits earned, up to twice the annual credit requirement, into the next two compliance reporting periods for their group. Distance learning credits cannot be rolled over.
Attorneys are allowed a maximum of six distance learning credits per each compliance period.
*Temporary Rule Change*
Due to the ongoing pandemic in 2021, there were no maximum credits allowed for distance learning. As of January 2022, the PA CLE has stated that maximum distance learning credits have been reinstated for the 2022 and 2023 compliance periods (regardless of Compliance Group).
Bridge the Gap is a mandatory four credits for newly admitted Pennsylvania attorneys. Pennsylvania attorneys who are still within their first annual compliance period are considered newly admitted.
Newly admitted attorneys are exempt from completing the standard CLE requirements for at least 12 months or up to two years from the date of their bar admission. This grace period is dependent on their assigned compliance group. During a newly admitted attorneys’ first compliance period, they must complete their four Bridge the Gap credits in addition to the standard 12 credits for experienced attorneys.
Immediately after each course, Gerben Perrott reports your attendance to The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Continuing Legal Education Board. Once course attendance has been processed you will receive your PA Bar CLE credit.
PA CLE Accredited providers are required to report course attendance within 30 days of course completion. As long as the course was completed prior to a compliance group’s deadline, a Pennsylvania attorney will be considered compliant once the credit is reported.
Gerben Perrott, PLLC will also send you a Certificate of Attendance for the course, please retain that certificate for your records.
MCLE stands for mandatory (or minimum) continuing legal education and is just a different name for CLEs.
Gerben Perrott, PLLC Provider #: 12118