Admission to the bar
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- This article deals with admission to the bar in the United States.
- For admission to practice law in other countries see Admission to the bar (non-U.S.)
In the United States, admission to the bar is permission granted to a lawyer to practice law. Since courts in the U.S. make no distinction between barristers and solicitors, all lawyers are "admitted to the bar". In nearly all states, admission to the bar requires that the candidate pass three hurdles:
- The candidate must first earn a Juris Doctor from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association;
- The candidate must pass a state-administered bar examination which usually consists of several parts administered over two to three days. Most states also require the candidate to pass a separate professional responsibility exam, administered on a separate date; and
- The candidate must be certified by the appropriate body (often the state bar association) as having the good moral character and fitness to practice law.
General requirements for admission
Depending on the state, there are a number of methods by which an individual can obtain admission to the bar.
Bar examination
The most fundamental method of admission to the bar of a state is to sit for the examination. The bar examination may include the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE), and state-specific examinations. In addition to the bar examination, states generally require the applicant to submit to procedures for verifying the candidates "character and fitness."
Admission on Motion
Many states allow practicing attorneys to obtain admission to the state's bar through reciprocity provisions. Normally, these provisions allow attorneys who have practiced law in other jurisdictions for a certain period of time (often a minimum of five years) to be admitted to the bar on proof of that practice. Depending on the state, there may be limitations on reciprocity, such as requiring a minimum score on the MPRE, or even that the applicant have taken a bar examination in the previous jusrisdiction (which, for example, would prevent attorneys who gained admission through the diploma privilege to be admitted to the new jurisdiction on motion).
Waiver
Minnesota, North Dakota and the District of Columbia allow attorneys who recently passed the bar exam of another state, and who were subsequently admitted to the bar of that state while scoring a certain minimum score on the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), to "waive" into admission rather than sitting for that jurisdiction's exam (though they still must attend to other formalities in order to practice in the jursidiction). Attorneys who passed the bars of Louisiana and Washington cannot "waive in" using this method, since these are the two jurisdictions in the United States that do not use the Multistate Bar Examination.
Diploma privilege
Currently, Wisconsin is the only state that offers the diploma privilege for admission to the state bar. Graduates of ABA-accredited law schools in the state—currently, the Marquette University Law School and the University of Wisconsin Law School—may obtain admission to the bar of Wisconsin through the diploma privilege without taking any examination. To qualify for the diploma privilege, the graduate must have met certain criteria with regard to the courses taken in law school and the graduate's performance in those courses. Law graduates seeking the diploma privilege must still meet the state's character and fitness requirements.
Graduates of out-of-state law schools, even if they are Wisconsin residents, must still take the Wisconsin bar exam to be admitted in Wisconsin. Likewise, graduates of Wisconsin law schools must take the bar exam for other states in which they are going to practice.
In 2005, New Hampshire launched the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, an alternative bar certification program, at the state's only law school, Franklin Pierce Law Center. Students apply to the program during the spring of their 1L (first) year, and only 25 are accepted annually. Webster Scholars go through an intensive, practice-based program under the supervision of New Hampshire judges, attorneys, and bar examiners. Students who graduate from the program are exempt from taking the New Hampshire bar examination, although they must still pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination and also meet character and fitness requirements. The first class of Webster Scholars will graduate in 2008.
A number of U.S. states do not grant reciprocal admission for attorneys who obtained their bar admission through the diploma privilege, requiring those attorneys to take that state's bar exam, regardless of the length of that attorney's practice.
Reciprocity
Many states allow for reciprocal admission to the bar of that state if an individual is licensed to practice in another state and has actively practiced law for a number years. For example, Rule XIII of the Texas Board of Law Examiners allows attorneys practicing full-time 5 of the last 7 years in another state and who meet minimum scores on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) to be admitted to the Texas bar without having to sit for the Texas Bar Examination.
Law schools not accredited by the ABA
Only four states—Alabama, California, Massachusetts, and Tennessee—allow individuals to take the bar exam upon graduation from a non-ABA-accredited law school. Usually these schools are accredited by state bodies.
Admission without law school education
In a handful of states, including California, Virginia and Vermont, an applicant who has not attended law school may take the exam after study under a judge or practicing attorney for an extended period of time.
Admission of foreign-educated lawyers
Many states allow some foreign-educated lawyers to take the bar examination. In New York, individuals with at least three years of formal education in the common law (such as British or Australian law) are qualified to take the bar exam. Individuals with two years of common law training or three years of civil law training may take the bar exam after completing a one-year Master of Laws (LL.M.) program at an American institution.
Admission to the bar is regulated by state government. A person who has met these criteria applies to that state's authority responsible for licensing lawyers: typically the authority will hold a simple ceremony at which the admittee takes an oath to comply with the rules governing the practice of law in that state, and receives a certificate of admission. If an attorney says "I was admitted in year X" he or she is referring to the year in which he or she was actually sworn into the bar of the first state that he or she was admitted.
To practice law in a particular state, one generally must be a member of the bar of that state. A state bar is a branch of its judicial system and is distinguished from a voluntary bar association, such as the ABA and/or the bar association of a town, county, or state, which have social, educational, and lobbying functions but do not regulate the practice of law or admit lawyers to practice.
"Integrated bar"
Some states, such as California, Florida, Texas and Louisiana, have an "integrated bar," in which a J.D. holder is required to be member of the bar association of the state in which he or she practices law. In Texas, for example, the "State Bar of Texas" is an agency of the judiciary and is under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. See Tex. Gov’t Code section 81.011. The State Bar of Texas is composed of those persons licensed to practice law in Texas, and each such person is required by law to join the State Bar by registering with the clerk of the Texas Supreme Court. See Tex. Gov’t Code section 81.051. See also State Bar of California.
Some states, however, do not require membership in a bar association. In such states, however, there is often a high rate of bar association participation among lawyers.
Practice before state appellate courts
In many states of the U.S., admission to the bar of a state does not entitle the admitted attorney to appear and plead before the appellate courts of the state. However, admission to the bar of the appellate court is usually a fairly simple matter of paying a nominal application fee and taking an oath of admission.
Federal district and appellate courts
Admission to a state bar does not entitle the admitted attorney to appear and plead before the United States district courts or any United States Court of Appeals. As with State appellate courts, admission to the bar of a federal district or appellate court is granted upon payment of a fee and taking an oath of admission. These requirements are often different (such as not requiring a fee) for attorneys who appear before federal courts on behalf of the United States government, such as Assistant United States Attorneys.
An attorney must apply to each district separately. For instance, a Texas attorney who practices in federal courts throughout the state would have to get admitted separately to the Northern District of Texas, the Eastern District, the Southern District, and the Western District. To handle a federal appeal the attorney would also be required to be admitted separately to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Some federal district courts have extra admission requirements. For instance, the Southern District of Texas requires attorneys seeking admission to attend a class on practice and procedures in that District, while the Southern District of Florida administers an entrance exam.
United States Supreme Court
An attorney wishing to practice before the United States Supreme Court must apply to do so. The attorney must have been admitted to a state bar for at least three years, and the application must be sponsored by two attorneys already admitted to the Supreme Court bar. A fee and a written oath are also required. [1]
United States Tax Court
Various other specialized courts, e.g., the United States Tax Court, have separate admission requirements. The United States Tax Court is unusual in that a non-attorney may be admitted to practice. However, the non-attorney must take and pass an examination administered by the Court to be admitted, while attorneys are not required to take the exam. Most members of the Tax Court bar are attorneys.
Patent law
An attorney wishing to prosecute patents before the United States Patent and Trademark Office must pass a separate examination (the "patent bar exam"). The exam is not required to prosecute trademarks, only patents.
A Juris Doctor degree is not required to sit for the patent bar. Lawyers who pass the patent bar exam may refer to themselves as Patent attorney; non-lawyers are referred to as "Patent agent". To sit for the patent bar, an individual must have earned a bachelor's degree in a "hard science" or engineering, or accrued a certain number of credits in undergraduate science courses (the number of credits depends on the specific discipline). A computer science degree is acceptable, so long as it is received from an ABET accredited program. Although the admission requirements do allow substitution of technical experience for technical education, in practice that is rarely done.
External link
- Comprehensive chart of all 56 US jurisdictions' bar admission requirements, published by the ABA