Bar Certification
For more information one these topics, please see the State Bar of California website at www.calbar.org
If you want to practice law in California, you have to start early in your legal education. The first thing you have to do is register with the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State of California within 90 days of beginning law school. This will establish your identity with the Bar and enable the people there to put all of the papers and the results of the following three steps together so that everything is in order for you to be sworn in as an attorney. The registration materials are available only online at www.calbar.org.
The three steps subsequent to registration (not necessarily in the order in which you will take them) as stated by the Committee in their "Summary Requirements for Admission to Practice Law in California " are as follows:
- File an Application for Determination of Moral Character and receive a positive determination from the Committee of Bar Examiners;
- File an Application to take the California Bar Examination and after having been found eligible to do so, take and pass the examination;
- And take and pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination administered and graded by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
The "Moral Character" application can be filed at any time after registering with the Committee and up to 180 days after the results of the bar exam you sit for are released. It is up to you to determine the optimal time for you to submit this application. The timing is up to you. You won't want to wait that long; however, you won't want to do it too soon either. The application is only good for 18 months and must be renewed every 18 months at an additional cost. Applications are available only online at www.calbar.org.
Applications to take the July bar exam are usually available only online at www.calbar.org on March 1st and the timely filing deadline is usually April 1st. Those for February are usually available only online on October 1st and timely filing deadline is usually November 1st. Please be aware that testing sites are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis, so register as close to March 1st or October 1st as possible. Results of the July exam are usually released to the examinees the Friday before Thanksgiving and those for the February exam are usually released the Friday before Memorial Day.
The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination is administered three times a year in March, August and November with filing application deadlines a month earlier. Many law students take and pass this test while still in law school, shortly after they complete the Professional Responsibility course, while others take the exam after graduation. Your Professional Responsibility professor may be able to give you more information regarding the exam. Applications are available in the Records Office or register online at www.ncbex.org.
Students seeking accommodations on the California State Bar Examination should refer to the pamphlet "Testing Accommodations for Applicants with Disabilities." Please visit the State Bar of California Office of Admissions website (www.calbar.org) for more detailed information.
Information regarding other jurisdictions is posted on the wall next to room 206 in Warren Hall as it is received. The information is neither complete nor comprehensive. If you wish to seek admission to a jurisdiction other than California, it is advised that you make contact yourself. Each jurisdiction should have information on its own website and be linked to the Law Student Resources section of www.abanet.org.
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