Admission to the bar in the United States
In the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in the jurisdiction. Each U.S. state and jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules and standards for bar admission. In most cases, a person is admitted or called to the bar of the highest court in the jurisdiction and is thereby authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction. Federal courts, although often overlapping in admission requirements with states, include additional steps for admission.
Typically, lawyers seeking admission to the bar of one of the U.S. states must earn a Juris Doctor degree from a law school approved by the jurisdiction, pass a bar exam and professional responsibility examination, and undergo a character and fitness evaluation, with some exceptions to each requirement.
A lawyer admitted in one state is not automatically allowed to practice in any other. Some states have reciprocal agreements that allow attorneys from other states to practice without sitting for another's bar exam.
Terminology
The use of the term bar comes from English custom. In the early 16th century, a railing divided the hall in the Inns of Court, with students occupying the body of the hall and readers or benchers on the other side. Students who officially became lawyers were "called to the bar", crossing the symbolic physical barrier and thus "admitted to the bar". In modern courtrooms, a railing may still be in place to enclose the space which is occupied by legal counsel as well as the criminal defendants and civil litigants who are before the court.History
The first bar exam in what is now the United States was instituted by Delaware Colony in 1763, as an oral examination before a judge. Many other American colonies soon followed suit. In the early United States, most states' requirements for bar admission included a period of study under a lawyer or judge and a brief examination. Examinations were generally oral, and applicants were sometimes exempted from the examination if they had clerked in a law office for a certain number of years. During the 19th century, admission requirements became lower in many states. Most states continued to require both apprenticeship and examination, but these apprenticeships became shorter and examinations generally brief and casual.After 1870, law schools began to emerge as an alternative to apprenticeship. This rise was accompanied by the practice of diploma privilege, whereby law school graduates received automatic admission to the bar. Diploma privilege reached its peak between 1879 and 1921. In most states, diploma privilege only applied to those who graduated law school in the state where they practiced. Examinations continued to exist for those ineligible for diploma privilege, and were often administered by committees of attorneys. Between 1890 and 1920, most states replaced oral examinations with written bar examinations. Written examinations became commonplace as lawyers began to practice in states other than those where they were trained.
In 1921, the American Bar Association formally expressed a preference for required written bar examinations in place of diploma privilege for law school graduates. In subsequent decades, the prevalence of diploma privilege declined deeply. By 1948, only 13 law schools in 9 states retained diploma privilege. By 1980, only Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin honored diploma privilege. As of 2020, only Wisconsin allows J.D. graduates of accredited law schools to seek admission to the state bar without passing a bar examination.
Admission requirements
Today, each U.S. jurisdiction has its own rules which govern admission to its bar. Generally, admission to a bar requires that a candidate does the following:- Earn a Juris Doctor degree or read law
- Pass a professional responsibility examination or equivalent
- Pass a bar examination
- Undergo a character and fitness certification
- Formally apply for admission and pay required fees
Educational requirement
Four jurisdictions, namely California, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, allow applicants to study under a judge or practicing attorney for an extended period of time rather than attending any law school. This method is known as "reading law" or "reading the law". New York requires bar applicants who have "read law" to also have at least one year of law school study. Maine allows students with two years of law school to serve an apprenticeship in lieu of their third year. New Hampshire's only law school has an alternative licensing program that allows students who have completed certain curricula and a separate exam to bypass the regular bar examination. Until the late 19th century, reading the law was common and law schools were rare. For example, Abraham Lincoln did not attend law school, and did not even read with anyone else.
Unlike some other jurisdictions, the American legal system, generally, has no formal apprenticeship or clinical training requirements for bar admission, with a few exceptions. Delaware requires that applicants serve five months in a clerkship with a lawyer in the state. Vermont had a similar requirement but eliminated it in 2016. Washington requires, since 2005, that applicants complete a minimum of four hours of approved pre-admission education. Some law schools have tried to rectify this lack of experience by requiring supervised "Public Service Requirements" of all graduates. States that encourage law students to undergo clinical training or perform public service in the form of pro bono representation may allow students to appear and practice in limited court settings under the supervision of an admitted attorney.
Professional responsibility requirement
In all jurisdictions except Puerto Rico and Wisconsin, candidates must pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, which covers the professional responsibility rules governing lawyers. This test is not administered separately from bar examinations, and most candidates usually sit for the MPRE while still in law school, right after studying professional responsibility. Some states require that a candidate pass the MPRE before being allowed to sit for the bar exam. Connecticut and New Jersey waive the MPRE for candidates who have received a grade of C or better in a law school professional ethics class.Bar examination requirement
In all jurisdictions except Wisconsin and Oregon, candidates are required to pass a bar examination, usually administered by the state bar association or under the authority of the supreme court of the particular state. Wisconsin and Oregon are the only states that do not require the bar examination. In Wisconsin, graduates of ABA-accredited law schools in the state may be admitted to the state bar through diploma privilege. Oregon permits students who have completed a Juris Doctor program with certain required coursework to obtain bar admission through a Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination.State bar examinations are usually administered by the state bar association or under the authority of the supreme court of the particular state. In 2011, the National Conference of Bar Examiners created the Uniform Bar Examination, which has since been adopted by 37 jurisdictions. The UBE consists of three parts: the Multistate Bar Examination, a standardized test consisting of 200 multiple-choice questions; the Multistate Essay Examination, a uniform though not standardized test that examines a candidate's ability to analyze legal issues and communicate them effectively in writing; and the Multistate Performance Test, a "closed-universe" test in which each candidate is required to perform a standard lawyering task, such as a memo or brief.
Non-UBE jurisdictions usually also include a combination of multiple-choice questions, essay questions, and performance tests. Many jurisdictions use some NCBE-created components. For example, all jurisdictions except Louisiana and Puerto Rico use the MBE. Many states also use state-specific content is usually included in the examination, such as essays in Washington, Minnesota and Massachusetts. Some states, such as Florida, include both essays and multiple-choice questions in their state-specific sections; Virginia uses full essays and short-answer questions in its state-specific section.
Character and fitness requirement
Most states also require an applicant to demonstrate good moral character. Character Committees look to an applicant's history to determine whether the person will be fit to practice law in the future. This history may include prior criminal arrests or convictions, academic honor code violations, prior bankruptcies or evidence of financial irresponsibility, addictions or psychiatric disorders, sexual misconduct, prior civil lawsuits or driving history. In recent years, such investigations have increasingly focused on the extent of an applicant's financial debt, as increased student loans have prompted concern for whether a new lawyer will honor legal or financial obligations. For example, in early 2009, a person who had passed the New York bar and had over $400,000 in unpaid student loans was denied admission by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division due to excessive indebtedness, despite being recommended for admission by the state's character and fitness committee. He moved to void the denial, but the court upheld its original decision in November 2009, by which time his debt had accumulated to nearly $500,000. More recently, the Court of Appeals of Maryland rejected the application of a candidate who displayed a pattern of financial irresponsibility, applied for a car loan with false information, and failed to disclose a recent bankruptcy. Most states require an applicant to secure character certification from the law school attended and also provide additional character references.When applying to take a state's bar examination, applicants are required to complete extensive questionnaires seeking the disclosure of significant personal, financial and professional information. For example, in Virginia, each applicant must complete a 24-page questionnaire and may appear before a committee for an interview if the committee initially rejects their application. The same is true in the State of Maryland, and in many other jurisdictions, where the state's supreme court has the ultimate authority to determine whether an applicant will be admitted to the bar. In completing the bar application, and at all stages of this process, honesty is paramount. An applicant who fails to disclose material facts, no matter how embarrassing or problematic, will greatly jeopardize the applicant's chance of practicing law.