Update: Florida BAR EXAM

 

COURT AMENDS ADMISSION RULES FOR FOREIGN-EDUCATED BAR APPLICANTS

he Supreme Court amended Bar admission rules February 10 to reduce from 10 years to five the amount of time foreign-educated applicants must provide evidence they have been practicing law in a jurisdiction of the United States as part of The Florida Bar admissions process.

The per curiam court acted on its own motion in In Re: Amendments to Rule 4-13.4 of The Rules of The Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to the Bar, Case No. SC21-187.

Under Rule 4-12 (Requirement to Submit), all applicants seeking admission to the Bar must take the Florida bar examination, which consists of the General Bar Examination and  the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. To be eligible to take the General Bar Examination under Rule

4-13.1 (Educational Qualifications), an applicant must be a J.D. or  LL.B. graduate of an ABA-accredited law school or be found educationally qualified under Rule 4-13.4 (Alternative Method of Educational Qualification).

Currently, to be educationally qualified  under Rule 4-13.4(a)(1), foreign-educated applicants must provide evidence that they have been practicing law for at least 10 years in  a U.S. jurisdiction, are in good standing in  that jurisdiction, and have not been suspended or disbarred in the prior 10 years. Each applicant also must provide work-product samples from the preceding 10 years that are “illustrative of his or her expertise and academic and legal training.” Then the Florida Board of Bar Examiners has broad discretion when evaluating whether the submitted material “shows that the applicant is a lawyer of high ability whose reputation for professional competence is above reproach.”

After  publishing the amendment for comments and holding oral argument on the issue, the court adopted revisions to Rule 4-13.4.

“Thus, as amended, Rule  4-13.4(a) requires a foreign-educated applicant without an LL.M. to  have practiced for five years in the United States, not have been suspended or disbarred in the five years prior to applying for admission to The Florida Bar, and to submit a representative compilation of work product in the field of law showing the scope and character of the applicant’s previous experience and practice.”

The court also added a new subdivision (b), titled “Applicants with an LL.M.,” that outlines the requirements for applicants with an LL.M. from an ABA-accredited law school that meets the curricular criteria adopted by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. That new subdivision requires an applicant with an LL.M. submit evidence that the applicant was engaged in the practice of law for at  least two years in the U.S. and was not suspended or disbarred in the two years prior to applying for Florida Bar admission. It also requires that the applicant submit a representative compilation of work product showing the scope and character of the applicant’s previous experience and practice.

Justice John Couriel recused himself from the case.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/court-amends-admission-rules-for-foreign-educated-bar-applicants/

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