How to Order a Certificate of Standing

What is a Certificate of Standing?

The State Bar issues a single-page Certificate of Standing to verify an attorney's name, bar number, admission date, current status, any name or status changes and any public discipline, as of the date of the certificate. The ultimate recipient decides how long they consider the certificate valid. Note that the State Bar does not use the term "good standing" since this may vary by jurisdiction. This document is not the frameable admission certificate issued by the Office of Admissions.

Ordering online

Order your Certificate of Standing online

Read information on the three kinds of certificates you can order.

After entering your online order for a standard, notarized and/or complaint check certificate for an individual attorney, payment options include:

  • Pay online by credit card (U.S. or international)
    OR
  • Pay by mailed check by printing out an order summary page to send with your payment check.

General guidelines

  • For a $25 fee, you may request up to a maximum of three certificates per attorney, in any combination as listed below.
  • Certificates will usually be sent out within 2 to 3 business days of receipt of your request (regardless of shipping method selected).
  • Note: We are not able to fax or email copies of original certificates unless no other delivery option is available.
  • If you choose to pick up your completed certificates (available only in San Francisco),  DO NOT come for them until we notify you, by email or phone, that they are ready.
  • If you pay by check, please include all charges shown as your "Total Cost" in your payment check. Make the check payable to the State Bar of California and note your bar number on it.
  • The online ordering site allows up to nine certificates to be ordered at a time for any one attorney, and will calculate the total cost accordingly.
  • You may enter separate certificate orders for more than one attorney. Select "mail check" for each and mail all their order summary pages together with one check covering their combined costs and listing all bar numbers.
  • Don't send FedEx, Norco or other courier envelopes or waybills. The State Bar uses its own shipping.

Notes for ordering the Certificate of Standing online

  1. If you pay online, have your credit/debit card handy when starting your online order.
  2. Review your final order carefully since payment is non-refundable. Make sure you don't need the California Supreme Court's certificate of standing instead.
  3. Once you click pay online, you will leave the State Bar website and enter a third party vendor's payment site. For security reasons, the payment site may time out due to inactivity, and you will have to fill out the order application again.
  4. After you have paid and the payment is processed, a confirmation notice will appear on your computer. Print out this confirmation notice – it will serve as your receipt. You will not receive a separate email confirming your payment.
  5. If you selected the option to mail a check, you will get an order summary page to print out and send along with your check. Keep a copy of this page as a receipt. If you have already selected a payment method and change your mind, return to the "payment" page to select another option.

For questions or technical problems, email the State Bar at AttorneyRegulation@calbar.ca.gov or call 888-800-3400.

Three types of certificates

  • Standard Certificate of Standing (most commonly required)
    This certificate includes the attorney’s full name, bar number and date of admission, name or status changes (dates of inactive, not eligible, etc. status), administrative actions and public disciplinary history.
     
  • Notarized Certificate of Standing for Foreign (non-U.S.) Jurisdiction (rarely required)
    This is a standard Certificate of Standing that is notarized, as is occasionally required by foreign country jurisdictions. It is NOT required by U.S. state bars or supreme courts. You DO NOT need a separate notarized certificate to accompany a complaint check or standard certificate for another U.S. state bar or supreme court. Please allow slightly longer processing time for certificates requiring notarization.
     
  • Complaint Check Certificate of Standing (order only if it is specifically required by another jurisdiction)
    This is a standard Certificate of Standing with the addition of any confidential complaint information that may have been filed against you (also called "grievance" or "disciplinary history" letter). This information is often required if you are applying for admission to another state bar, so be sure to check the wording of the instructions you have received with your application so that you order the proper type of certificate.

We do not complete other jurisdictions' forms or questionnaires about complaint status or provide separate "disciplinary history" letters apart from our Complaint Check Certificate of Standing. So if complaint information is required for your application, order only the Complaint Check Certificate of Standing.

A complaint check certificate already contains a standard Certificate of Standing. It does NOT need a separate standard or notarized Certificate of Standing to accompany it, and when sent to another U.S jurisdiction, it does NOT require notarization.

A complaint check certificate of standing may only be requested by the attorney who is the subject of the complaint check, and will be released only with his/her signed authorization. When you place your order online, download the authorization form as instructed, and then either email, fax or mail it, as indicated, along with the required identification document.

Alternatively, you can follow the prompts to sign in to your online My State Bar Profile and sign electronically to authorize your complaint check certificate.

For security reasons the complaint check certificate may only be sent to another state bar or supreme court's bar examiners/admissions office or to the attorney who is the subject of the complaint check at his/her official address of record with the State Bar.

For additional questions about the procedure for obtaining State Bar Certificates of Standing, call the State Bar at 888-800-3400 or email AttorneyRegulation@calbar.ca.gov.

California Supreme Court Certificate of Standing

Some jurisdictions (such as the U.S. Supreme Court) require a certificate from the California Supreme Court. The requesting entity will usually use the term, “a certificate from the highest court you are a [licensee] of,” or indicate that it should not be from the State Bar. 

These kinds of certificates are obtained directly from the Supreme Court with a written request and a $1 fee (dollar bill or check payable to Clerk of the Supreme Court of California). Send your request, payment and self-addressed stamped envelope to:

California Supreme Court
350 McAllister St., Rm 1295
San Francisco, CA 94102

For questions call the Supreme Court at 415-865-7000.