The Florida Supreme Court has amended Rule Regulating The Florida Bar 20-6.1 (Continuing Education; Generally), changing Florida Registered Paralegal continuing education to allow lecture credit, among other changes. In a per curiam opinion issued October 22, 2026, in In re Amendments to Rules Regulating The Florida Bar – Rule 20-6.1, No. SC2026-0024, the Court adopted the amendments as The Florida Bar proposed them. The amendments become effective December 21, 2026, at 12:01 a.m. Justice Tanenbaum dissented with an opinion. Chief Justice Couriel and Justices Labarga, Muñiz, Grosshans, Francis and Barrios concurred.
The process
The Bar filed a petition proposing the amendments and published formal notice of its intent on its website and in The Florida Bar News, directing interested parties to file comments with the Court. No comments were received.
What changed for Florida Registered Paralegal continuing education. The opinion describes three changes. First, a new subdivision (a), Lecture Credit, allows Florida Registered Paralegals to receive lecture credit for approved seminars. The appendix text shows this is credit “after satisfactory performance as a lecturer in an approved course,” meaning for lecturing rather than attending: up to 3 credit hours for each 50 minutes of lecture at basic seminars, or up to 5 credit hours for each 50 minutes of lecture time at intermediate seminars.
Second, a new subdivision (b), Extensions, allows the Executive Director or Board of Governors to permit extensions of the time for completion for continuing education requirements in certain circumstances. Third, language was added to clarify that if a Florida Registered Paralegal completes more than 30 credit hours during any reporting cycle, the “excess credits cannot be carried over to the next reporting cycle.”
The dissent
Justice Tanenbaum wrote that Chapter 20 should be removed from the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar because paralegals are not lawyers and, in his view, are beyond the Court’s regulatory authority under article V, section 15 of the Florida Constitution. He also wrote that the Bar should avoid “a money-raising operation” beyond its core mission, which he said the Florida Registered Paralegal Program appears to be.
What this does and does not mean
The amendments are not in effect until December 21, 2026, and the opinion states that the filing of a motion for rehearing shall not alter that date. The opinion summarizes the changes and refers to an appendix for the full rule text. It describes the new lecture credit as for “approved seminars,” while the appendix rule text refers to an “approved course.” The opinion’s own text describes the extensions only as available in “certain circumstances”; the appendix rule text says the Executive Director or Board of Governors may adjust the time “for good cause shown,” which may include, but is not limited to, a national or regional emergency, disaster, disease or pandemic, war or terrorist acts, civil unrest, or a government order, and that requests for extensions from individual members will not be considered. A dissent is one justice’s view and does not change the rule.
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Read the opinion (PDF): Download the opinion (PDF)
Source: In re Amendments to Rules Regulating The Florida Bar – Rule 20-6.1, No. SC2026-0024 (Fla. Oct. 22, 2026) (Tanenbaum, J., dissenting). This article is general information, not legal advice.