Lawyers were given greater flexibility in choosing continuing legal education relevant to their practice while promoting legal specialization and accessible learning after the Supreme Court En Banc recently approved the 2026 Rules on Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE).

The legal education requirement requires lawyers to continue their legal education throughout their careers to stay updated on laws and court decisions, uphold professional ethics and improve their legal skills.

The SC En Banc promulgated the Rules on 22 April 2026, replacing the Revised Rules on Continuing Legal Education for Members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines issued in 2001.

The new Rules respond to the changing needs of the legal profession, make greater use of technology in learning and support the development of legal specialization.

They also advance the SC’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI), which promotes efficiency, innovation and access to justice.

Lawyers must still complete 36 MCLE credits every three years, with at least six units devoted to legal ethics. They may choose between a general program covering various legal subjects or a focused program in a specific field of law.

This replaces the previous system, which prescribed specific subject areas and allocated the required 36 hours among them.

The new framework allows lawyers to pursue learning more relevant to their practice while retaining legal ethics as a core requirement.

It also promotes legal specialization through focused programs that allow lawyers to develop expertise in particular fields.

A Committee on Legal Specialization will help develop specialization programs and a system for specialty credentials.

Recognizing that modern legal practice involves expertise beyond traditional legal subjects, the Rules allow accredited MCLE providers to engage qualified non-lawyers as resource persons in relevant fields under the direct supervision of an accredited lecturer.

More Accessible Ways to Earn MCLE Credits

To improve accessibility, MCLE providers must use appropriate and effective learning methods and make courses accessible to lawyers regardless of location or disability through technology and reasonable accommodations.

Lawyers may also earn MCLE credits through activities beyond lectures and seminars. These include publishing significant legal articles, textbooks or commentaries; pursuing post-graduate studies; participating in special education activities; and taking part in nation-building projects, subject to applicable guidelines.

The Rules also recognize lawyers’ work under the Unified Legal Aid Service (ULAS).

Up to 15 MCLE credit units earned under the ULAS Rules may be credited toward MCLE compliance, subject to guidelines issued by the MCLE Governing Board.

These units must be applied in full to either the current compliance period or the immediately succeeding one.

Newly admitted lawyers are considered MCLE-compliant from the time they sign the Roll of Attorneys until the end of the current compliance period.

Lawyers who are 70 years old or older are now exempt from MCLE, provided they have complied with the requirements for previous compliance periods and undertake to stay updated on laws and jurisprudence.

The exemptions also now cover members of the MCLE Governing Board and incumbent lawyers serving in the Offices of the Chief Justice and Associate Justices, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, Senate Electoral Tribunal and House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.

Lawyers supervising law students for 10 continuous years under the Law Student Practice Rule are also now exempt, as long as the 10-year period was completed during the compliance period applied for.