News Releases

Board of Trustees Approves Options for Supreme Court Review to Extend Provisional Licensure Program

At its November meeting Thursday, the Board of Trustees approved proposing to the Supreme Court a series of options for extending the highly successful provisional licensure program (PLP). This program, directed by the Supreme Court in July 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has enabled nearly 1,200 attorneys to achieve licensure since its launch in November 2020.  It is currently due to sunset on December 31, 2022. 

The original program offered 2020 law graduates the ability to enter practice with a provisional license and postpone taking the California Bar Exam to complete their full licensure. The pathway to licensure component, added in February 2021, enabled those who had taken a bar exam in the previous five years and received a score between 1390 and 1439 (a now-passing score) to achieve full licensure without retaking the bar exam after 300 hours of supervised practice. Both programs have a limited number of remaining participants. However, the State Bar determined through surveys that more than 1,000 more individuals who were eligible for the pathway program never applied because they were unaware of the opportunity. 

The proposed options include: 

• Extending the original PLP for remaining participants to provide more opportunities to pass the bar exam, allow development of a pilot supervised practice pathway to licensure, or allow development of a permanent alternative licensure status; 
• Extending the original PLP for remaining participants and allowing them to take the one-day Attorneys’ Exam instead of the full two-day Bar Exam;  
• Extending the Pathway PLP for remaining participants and reopening it to new participants. 

“The options adopted by the Board of Trustees reflect a measured approach to addressing the complex issues implicated by the impending sunset of the provisional licensure program,” said Executive Director Leah Wilson. “These include the need to protect the public, the benefits that  provisionally licensed lawyers, their clients, and their employers have realized from the program, and the potential opportunity this juncture presents for us now to pilot and evaluate new permanent alternative pathways to licensure.”   

In a related action, the Board approved submission to the Supreme Court a rule change to eliminate the five-year expiration date on a passing bar exam score for completing all other admissions requirements and achieving full licensure. The five-year requirement is seen as an unnecessary hurdle to admission to the State Bar that does not serve to further public protection.  

In other actions, the Board approved to circulate for public comment several proposals for rule changes, including: 

• A revamped process for applicants seeking testing accommodations; 
• Several other admissions-related rule changes intended to improve the administration of the Moral Character Determination process, the requirements and application procedures for the Practical Training of Law Students program, and the requirements for studying law in the Law Office Study program. 
• Rule change proposals resulting from the work of the California Civility Task Force, which made recommendations to improve civility in California’s legal profession. The task force was a joint project of the California Judges Association and the California Lawyers Association. These include a proposal for attorneys to retake their oath of office with civility language that was added in 2014, as well as ways to reinforce civility in the Rules of Professional Conduct.  
• Enhancements in Minimum Continuing Legal Education requirements for lawyers. 

The Board also approved policy changes designed to standardize and improve public comment procedures at all public meetings as well as to make Board meetings run more smoothly. 

###

Follow the State Bar online
LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

The State Bar of California's mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.