A Motion that Improves Lawyer Mobility

Published August 13, 2013

Before they start to make a living as lawyers, law school graduates must pass the bar examination in one specific state and begin their legal practice there. If the young lawyer has the opportunity to move to another state and practice, passing the bar exam there is required. However, there is a way around this difficulty. It is called admission by motion, in which an experienced lawyer applies for admission to the state bar association of a new state “by motion,” provided that the lawyer has graduated from an accredited law school and has passed the bar in at least one state.

Admission by motion procedures now exist in about 40 jurisdictions, most of them requiring that a lawyer’s previous state reciprocally allow the practice. However, the states that allow admission by motion typically require seven years of fulltime practice in another jurisdiction, including five of the most recent years preceding application. This obviously restricts the lawyer who is new in practice and has the chance to move to different state and practice law.

This situation is changing, though. In 2012 the ABA House of Delegates approved a revision to a model ethics rule makes it easier for young lawyers to be admitted in new jurisdictions without taking the bar exam. This was formally referred to as Resolution 105E, the change to the ABA Model Rule for Admission by Motion. As a result of the amendment, lawyers seeking to practice in a new jurisdiction through admission by motion need to have actively practiced law for only three of the past five years rather than five of the last seven years. An accompanying resolution passed by the House urges jurisdictions that have not adopted the model rule governing admission by motion to do so.

Ultimately not just young lawyers but lawyers in solo or small practice should benefit from this change. Small firm lawyers typically cannot afford engaging local counsel in another jurisdiction, and their only other option is a pro hac vice admission for a single matter by the local court – never a guaranteed thing. Greater use of admission by motion could make the whole admission process more flexible – meaning both lawyers and clients benefit.

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Audience type: Administrators, Associates, Large Law Firms, Small Law Firms, Sole Practitioners