What Others Are Saying

"I am well familiar with the problem that the petition addresses. Based on that experience, I support the view that experienced lawyers who are moving their law practices to another state should be able to gain admission to the bar without sitting for the bar examination if they have sufficient experience and are in good standing in their home states. The considerations that led the ABA to develop its model Admission by Motion rule are as relevant today as their were in 2002. Most states now have a comparable rule, and it is important that efforts be made, as you are now doing, to bring this issue to the attention of the courts of the remaining states."

Bruce Green
Professor of Law
Fordham University Law School
Reporter to the ABA Commission on Multijurisdictional Practice

“Requirements by federal district courts for local admission are vestiges of time long gone and their major effect is to protect locally admitted lawyers from competition by those admitted elsewhere.  Such protection is contrary to the policies of federal law, and requirements that serve no other substantial purpose should be abolished.”

               
William T. Barker
Partner, SNR Denton US LLP
Author, Extrajurisdictional Practice by Lawyers, 56 Bus. Law. 1501 (2001)
        

"The California bar exam is not a valid or reliable test according to experts. There is even less correlation between passing the exam and practicing successfully as evidenced by the fact that two out of three experienced attorneys are failed. This test does not protect the public. It simply protects California attorneys from competition and perpetuates endless exam application fees and test preparation fees from experienced attorneys who must take the exam multiple times to pass. This "industry" is wasteful and must be stopped.”  

Kenneth N. Klee
Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
Co-author of Business Reorganization in Bankruptcy (West 1996; 2d ed. 2001; 3d ed. 2006) and Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Law (ALI-ABA 4th Ed. 1996).
Partner, Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP 

"The ABA, since 2002, has officially encouraged the adoption of a model rule on Admission by Motion. Europe has established a similar system without complications, and, given our modern, mobile society such a rule is an appropriate and realistic approach to our multijurisdictional nation."

Robert E. Lutz
Professor of Law
Southwestern Law School
Former Chairman of ABA International Law Section