All New Mexico Courts will be closed Monday, October 13th.

In-Person & Live Programs

CEI offers in-person and online educational programs such as required annual and biennial training for New Mexico state and municipal judges and court staff; as well as topic specific seminars, workshops, video conferences, and webcasts.

Annual and Biennial Programs

These programs are required by the New Mexico Supreme Court. You are required to attend the annual training conducted by CEI for your specific jurisdiction each year. If you cannot attend your annual training, please follow the Excusal Procedures. Required programs generally include specific substantive and procedural areas of law such as legal updates, ethics, professionalism, case flow management, evidence, and topics such as DWI, domestic violence, legal writing, and technology in the courts.

Our programs include:

Judges

  • Judicial Conclave
  • Magistrate Judges’ Conference
  • Municipal Judges’ Conference
  • Probate Judges’ Conference

New Judges 

  • New District Court Judges’ Training
  • New Magistrate Judges’ Training
  • New Municipal Judges’ Training
  • Mentorship Programs

Court Staff

  • District Court Staff Seminars
  • Municipal Court Staff Conference

Topic-specific programs

These are optional programs on hot topics and are generally shorter than our required programs. Most are either one-day regional seminars and workshops or lunch-time video conferences and webcasts. Programs include DWI and Domestic Violence Regional Seminars, Faculty Development Workshop, Law and Literature Discussion, Judicial Security and Advanced Issues on Self-Represented Litigants webcasts, and New Magistrate Judges RoundTable video conference.

Minimum CJE Requirements by Jurisdiction

Important! Of the minimum CJE requirements listed below, at least one CJE credit hour must be earned in Ethics.

  • Domestic Relations Hearing Officers: 6
  • Domestic Violence Commissioners: 6
  • Magistrate Judges: 12
  • Magistrate Judges Pro Tempore: 12
  • Municipal Judges: 12
  • Probate Judges: 6

*If your jurisdiction is not listed, then you are not required to earn CJEs in New Mexico.

Continuing Judicial Education Policy

Failure to Satisfy Annual CJE Minimum Requirements

Please review how to earn and report CJEs to ensure that you satisfy your annual requirements. If, however, you have not earned the required number of CJEs in a year, you will need to submit to the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) a specific plan for earning the missing credits that includes:

  • Name(s) and location(s) of approved educational programs
  • Number of credits that will be earned
  • Date(s) that credits will be earned
  • Earn the missing credits within 90 days after your plan is approved
  • Pro Tems Only: If you did not satisfy the requirements the previous year, then the AOC will no longer allow you to serve as a pro tem.

Excusal Procedures 

Excusal procedure for New Mexico judges unable to attend required annual training.

All New Mexico judges are required to attend the annual training specific to their jurisdiction. For example, magistrate judges are required to attend the annual Magistrate Judges Conference and district judges are required to attend the Judicial Conclave.

Procedure

If you are unable to attend your annual training due to illness, physical disability, personal or family emergencies, or other unanticipated and unpreventable occurrences, then you will need to do the following:

  • Send a written request for excusal to the Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court explaining the circumstances.
  • Once you receive the written excusal from the Chief Justice, please forward a copy of that excusal to the attention of CEI by email at aocpvc@nmcourts.gov
  • If recorded, after the training, you must request CEI to send copies of the materials and recordings to you.
  • CEI will send you a CJE Self-Study form and a deadline for viewing the recordings and returning the CJE form back to CEI.
  • All self-study must be completed by December 1 of the year of the program.

Earning and Reporting CJEs 

How to earn and report Continuing Judicial Education credits in New Mexico. Three ways to earn CJEs:

1. Attend any of the following judicial education programs.

  • Training programs conducted by CEI specific to your jurisdiction. Visit our Events Calendar or contact CEI for upcoming programs.
  • National programs such as those offered at the National Judicial College and the National Center for State Courts.
  • Other educational programs offered by public or private organizations if approved by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).

2. Watch recordings of:

  • Annual training sessions. Because annual trainings are required, judges will need to follow the Excusal Procedures to be excused from a required annual training and access the recordings.
  • New Judges Orientation. This is a requirement for newly appointed judges to be certified to sit on the bench. Request a recording!

3. Prepare and present at educational programs in collaboration with the AOC.

Interested in being part of our faculty? Connect with us!

Submitting CJEs

You are responsible for submitting CJE reports to CEI for annual trainings and any other approved training that you attended.

You are also responsible for verifying that you have earned the minimum required credits for the year. If you attended or viewed your annual training, then you have probably satisfied the requirements. You can request a transcript to verify credits earned.

CEI tracks and records CJEs on or before December 31st of each year. The AOC then certifies whether or not you have completed your required hours of approved continuing education programs.