THE BAR
I. Admission to the Bar
a. General Requirements
i. Education: All states impose educational requirements on applications for admission to practice law
1. ABA accreditation: All but a few states require graduation from an ABA-accredited law school for admission to practice
2. State-accredited schools: A few states, most notable California, permit applications from graduates of state-accredited law schools that are not ABA accredited.
3. Reading the law: A few states allow, as a substitution for law school graduation, “reading the law” in the offices of a licensed lawyer on a prescribed and approved schedule.
ii. Knowledge: Bar examined administered in each state
1. Bar Exam: States determine whether or not an applicant has satisfied the knowledge requirement based on exam results
2. Diploma Privilege: A few states, dwindling in number, provide for a waiver of the bar exam requirement for graduates of selected, in-state law schools.
iii. Good character
1. Form of the character inquiry: States require completion of questionnaires from applicants and, in some states, recommendations from law school personnel or currently licensed lawyers.
2. Central character issue: Does this individual have the good character necessary to the practice of law?
a. Wide range of past conduct may be considered: including convictions, arrests, and civil litigation. The questions asked and the information gathered, however, must bear a relationship to the purpose of the inquiry: the applicant’s fitness for the practice of law.
b. Crimes involving moral turpitude: Some crimes, because of their attributes involving intention to defraud or engage in dishonesty, are sufficient grounds, standing alone, for denial of an application for bar admission.
own bar exam.
c. Admission pro hac vice
i. When lawyer licensed in one state has an occasional, nonrecurring need to rep client before courts of another state.
1. Reciprocity: For such a motion to be granted, states typically require that the lawyer’s home state have a policy of reciprocating when its lawyers have similar need.
2. Local counsel: Many states require that the applying lawyer associate with lawyer licensed in the state. Requirement is based on expectation that locally licensed lawyer will inform the visiting lawyer about local norms, including ethics requirements.
3. Broad discretion: A judge has broad discretion in ruling on an application to practice pro hac vice.
No due process right to be granted pro hac vice admission
