New Implicit Bias Education Now Required for All Attorneys
Hi Friends,
Beginning with Compliance Group 3 (N-Z), the State Bar now requires all attorneys to include 1 unit of implicit bias education in their required 25 hours of MCLE every 3 years. This is in addition to the 1 unit of elimination of bias training that was previously required.
What does this mean for you?
All attorneys should now be seeking out implicit bias training. Many providers, including SCBA, have added such training to our regular curriculum. If the credits advertised do not specifically indicate they are implicit bias, then the program does not qualify for such. Elimination of bias credit is a different subfield credit and is not interchangeable with the implicit bias credit.
When is SCBA’s Implicit Bias training?
SCBA is hosting a live implicit bias training on January 4, 2023, at 12:00 pm (Seminar Topic = Language Access/Justice). The recording of this presentation will then be available on-demand through the SCBA website. Registration for this program will open when our annual MCLE Blitz schedule is announced in October.
What are the full MCLE requirements now?
While all attorneys will still be required to complete 25 hours of MCLE every three years, the total hours must now include no less than seven hours as follows:
• At least four hours of legal ethics.
• At least two hours dealing with elimination of bias. Of the two hours, at least one hour must focus on implicit bias and the promotion of bias reducing strategies.
• At least one hour of education addressing competence issues.