Oklahoma CLE Deadline 2026: 12 Hours Due December 31

Mark Houts Author

October 1, 2026 - Crunch Time! Twelve hours, two of them ethics, earned by December 31.

It's October 1. For Oklahoma lawyers, the MCLE compliance year has 92 days left in it, and every one of your twelve hours must be earned by December 31. Not reported, earned.

Most of us know the number. What catches people is the calendar: trial settings, year-end closings, and the holidays eat December before it starts, and the lawyers who meant to start in October spend December 29 watching CLE at double speed. Start NOW!!!

What's due, and when

• 12 hours of approved CLE each calendar year (Rule 3).
• At least 2 of those hours in Legal Ethics and Professionalism (Reg. 3.6).
• Earned by December 31. The compliance year is the calendar year.
• Reported by February 15 (Rule 5).

The February reporting deadline is not a grace period. Hours taken in January count toward 2027, not 2026. For the full rundown, including exemptions and how hours are counted, see our guide to Oklahoma MCLE requirements.

What missing it costs

Rule 6(b) imposes a $100 expense charge for failing to complete your hours by December 31, and a separate $100 charge for failing to report by February 15. Two hundred dollars is annoying, not ruinous. The part worth taking seriously is Rule 6(c): after February 15, a lawyer who hasn't complied is served by certified mail with an order to show cause, within sixty days, why the lawyer's license should not be suspended.

Nobody plans to end up there. People end up there because December got away from them.

Already behind? See how to catch up on Oklahoma CLE hours and ethics credit before December 31.

The one-hour-a-week plan

From October 1 to December 31 is thirteen weeks. One hour a week gets you to twelve with a week to spare. The version that works:

• October: four hours, ethics first. Your two Legal Ethics and Professionalism hours are the only part of the requirement with a category attached, so knock them out while you're thinking about it.
• November: four more. Pick the topics you'd actually use in your practice. On-demand means a lunch hour or a slow Friday afternoon.
• December: the last four, finished by the 18th. That leaves the holiday weeks free, and it gives your provider time to report your attendance before you file your own report.

Three things that trip lawyers up in Q4

First-year admittees. You're exempt for the calendar year in which you were first admitted (Rule 2.2). If you were sworn in this year, your first compliance year is 2027.

Extra hours don't vanish, but they don't last either. Hours beyond the minimum carry forward to the next calendar year only (Reg. 3.7). They cannot be banked beyond that.

On-demand approvals expire. OKMCLE approves an on-demand program for twelve months from approval (Reg. 4.1.9). If you're working through a course you bought a while ago, from any provider, confirm it's still approved for credit when you take it.

Oklahoma law, taught by Oklahoma lawyers

OkieCLE is an Oklahoma MCLE approved sponsor (No. 4712). Our courses are recorded by practicing Oklahoma lawyers on the questions that come up in Oklahoma practice: collections, contempt, the Governmental Tort Claims Act, attorney discipline, license-plate cameras and the Fourth Amendment. Everything is on demand, so you watch on your schedule, not ours.

• 12-Hour Bundle: 7 general + 5 ethics. The whole year in one purchase. $299, about $25 an hour.
• 11-Hour Bundle: 6 general + 5 ethics, $279.
• 9-Hour Bundle: 6 general + 3 ethics, $239. For those who already have a few hours in.

Start this week, and December 31 is just another day.

Ready to finish your year? Browse our Oklahoma CLE courses.