Possibly. Placing a law license on inactive status with the Board of Professional Responsibility does not automatically excuse the CLE requirement. See Regulation 2B.1. An attorney who places his or her license on inactive status with the Board of Professional Responsibility but has not placed his or her license on inactive status with the Commission is still subject to the annual CLE requirement (12 General hours and 3 Ethics/Professionalism hours).

An attorney who lives outside Tennessee and does not practice Tennessee law may be eligible to claim the non-resident exemption on the Annual Report Statement sent in February. This exemption must be claimed on an annual basis.

If an attorney with an inactive law license is not practicing law in any jurisdiction, he or she may request inactive status with the CLE Commission by completing a Request for Inactive Status form found in the Attorney Forms section of the website. (The form may be completed online, mailed to the Commission, or emailed to info@cletn.com.)  See Regulation 2B.2.