Social Work Licensure in Louisiana: LCSW Requirements, Hours and Exams

Louisiana's Practice Act names every tier exactly.

The registered social worker practices social work as an employee in an agency; the statute does not extend clinical practice to it.

The licensed master social worker holds the master's-level license.

The certified social worker is not a fourth license but a temporary certification for master's graduates who have met every LMSW requirement except the examination.

The licensed clinical social worker is the independent clinical tier.

The letters do not carry across state lines, so match your current credential to Louisiana's ladder rung by rung rather than by abbreviation.

The registered social worker needs a bachelor's or master's degree from an accredited social work program.

The LMSW and the LCSW both build on a master's degree in social work; the LCSW adds the supervised postgraduate practice requirement rather than a different degree.

The rule's qualification schedule, LAC 46:XXV §305, spells out the per-tier items the board checks at application — degree, references and experience — and the statutory degree clauses for the master's levels are written in terms of accredited programs.

The controlling figure is statutory: at least 3,000 hours of postgraduate social work practice over a minimum of two years and a maximum of four years under a board-approved clinical supervisor, with the board able to consider circumstances warranting more than four years (Acts 2021, No. 215, effective January 1, 2022).

The administrative rule has not caught up: LAC 46:XXV §503(D)–(E), last amended in 2020, still prints 5,760 practice hours, 3,840 supervised hours and 96 hours of face-to-face supervision.

The statute post-dates the rule and controls on the totals, so do not build a plan on 5,760.

Whether the 96-hour face-to-face supervision figure still applies on top of the statutory total: Not stated in the sources read — confirm with LABSWE before counting.

The statute requires each applicant to have passed an examination approved by the board.

The rule names the Association of Social Work Boards examinations and sets a pass score of 70 for the LCSW and LMSW examinations.

Which ASWB category the board assigns to each Louisiana tier: Not stated in the sources read; the board's examination materials settle it.

The CSW exists for applicants who have met everything except this examination — the rule requires the examination within the first six months of certification and annually for the following two and a half years, or the certificate is recalled.

Louisiana's statutory definition of clinical supervision requires that licensure supervision come from an LCSW who is also a board-approved clinical supervisor (BACS).

Supervision for the LCSW license can begin once the MSW has obtained the LMSW (rule §503A).

A BACS holds the LCSW, verifies three years of full-time LCSW-level experience, supplies references, completes board orientation and a supervision workshop, and keeps three CE hours in clinical supervision every two years (rule §507).

The 2020 rule caps group supervision at one-half of its 96-hour supervision requirement — 48 hours, up to 72 with board approval on a written request showing the rationale, no more than five supervisees per group (rule §503F).

Because it is not confirmed whether the 96-hour figure survives the 2021 statute, confirm the group limit with LABSWE.

Since 2024 the statute allows supervision in person or remotely through telesupervision — real-time, face-to-face synchronous interactive conferencing (Acts 2024, No. 457).

The statute lets the LCSW work as an employee in a practice setting or independently in private practice, and the rule states it flatly: only a licensed clinical social worker may engage in the independent and private practice of social work.

The LMSW may practice clinical social work and psychotherapy within an agency under LCSW supervision, in person or virtually, and may work as an employee only in an agency setting; the rule adds that LMSWs and CSWs may not contract directly, bill (except government contracts) or receive direct payment.

A statutory exception permits an LMSW to provide services on contract for a federal, state or local governmental agency.

An out-of-state social worker comes in through endorsement, in its current form since Acts 2021, No. 215.

The statute's elements: be credentialed and in good standing with the other jurisdiction's board based on substantially equivalent educational, supervision and examination requirements; pass an open-book examination on the Louisiana Social Work Practice Act; and pay the fee.

Louisiana's supervision clock is portable in a specific way — the rule accepts out-of-state supervision where the supervisor was licensed, at the time of supervision, at a level substantially equivalent to an LCSW-BACS, using the board's forms (rule §503O).

Louisiana enacted the Social Work Licensure Compact through 2024 Regular Session Act No. 791 (HB 888), codified at La.

R.S.

37:2731.

The act's approval date is not legible in the enrolled copy read, and the compact was not operational at the research date.

The compact commission was issuing no multistate social work licenses as of September 2026, so a Louisiana license keeps its holder practicing on the single-state credential and moving jurisdictions by endorsement.

Compact status is time-sensitive — verify current operational status with the commission and LABSWE before relying on it.

Every Louisiana social work license, certificate and registration lapses annually on August 31 (rule §311).

The statute requires twenty clock hours of board-approved continuing education before each renewal date, including three hours of ethics every two years, and sets a clinical floor for the LCSW: no less than ten clock hours of the continuing education requirement shall be clinical content including diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

The rule collects CE on a July 1 to June 30 cycle and caps distance-learning hours at ten.

A lapse of six months or less renews at a doubled fee; longer lapses add the Practice Act examination and additional continuing education.

Acts 2021, No. 215 rewrote the LCSW experience requirement to 3,000 hours over two to four years, effective January 1, 2022.

Acts 2024, No. 457 put telesupervision into the statute and rewrote the LMSW scope so clinical practice inside an agency can be supervised in person or virtually.

2025 Act No. 431 (SB 153) amends R.S.

37:2724(B) so that a CSW who has provided CPST services pursuant to R.S.

40:2162 and meets every LMSW qualification except the examination may petition, at least sixty days before the certification expires, for an extension of up to three years solely to provide CPST services; the board shall approve qualifying petitions.

Per its Section 2, the act takes effect upon the governor's signature — or, if not signed, when the constitutional time for bills to become law without signature expires (Article III, Section 18).

The signature line was blank in the copy read, so the effective date: Not stated in the sources read.

The rule section on LCSW supervision was last amended in 2020 (LR 46:791).

Rule §503(C) sets a filing deadline, not a waiting period.

The supervisee files the supervision contract — signed by the supervisor, the supervisee and the agency supervisor, with an employment verification — with the board office within 60 days of the first supervision session, and a contract filed on time takes credit from that first session.

If it is filed late, supervision is credited only from the date that is 60 days from the date the board received it.

A new contract is due within 60 days of any change of employer, supervisor or agency supervisor.

On format, the rule still carries §503(H), which allows remote supervision only by board approval for hardship; that provision pre-dates the 2024 telesupervision statute, which supersedes it — follow the statute and confirm any unusual arrangement with LABSWE before counting hours.