CLE board proposes diversity requirement

The North Carolina State Bar’s CLE Board has proposed a new mandatory CLE requirement for all lawyers in the area of Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias training. The State Bar Council voted to publish the proposal for comment during its October meeting.

The proposed rule would create a temporary rule for the 2022 reporting period that would require all members to complete at least one hour of approved diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias training, which would count toward attorneys’ annual 12-hour CLE requirement.

The temporary rule is intended to give the CLE Board more time to examine larger revisions to the CLE rules, with the intention of establishing an ongoing requirement for diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias training. During that time, the board would consider whether to require such CLE training once every year, or two years, or some other length of time, and how many hours would be required.

Peter Bolac, the assistant executive director for the State Bar, said that while the events of this summer and the increased focus on racial justice contributed to the motivation for putting a rule in place for 2022, the issue had actually already been on the board’s radar even before this summer, and the board has been studying the issue for at least a year now.

Under the proposed language, such programs may focus on implicit and explicit bias, equal access to justice, serving a diverse population, diversity and inclusion initiatives in the legal profession, and sensitivity to cultural and other differences, among other things, when interacting with clients, judges, jurors, litigants, attorneys, court personnel, and members of the public.

David Donovan