Sample schedules for extended time are posted online. Detailed testing schedules for each administration of the CBX will be sent to applicants via a Testing Accommodations Notice once logistics are finalized. Please note that schedules for subsequent exam administrations are subject to change.

For the FYLSX, applicants receive the multiple-choice questions electronically and must select their answers using a computer.

“IOLTA” stands for Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts. IOLTA is a method of raising money, primarily for providing legal services to those unable to afford them. 

The State Bar’s Legal Services Trust Fund Program collects the interest generated by IOLTA accounts and distributes the funds to more than 100 nonprofit legal aid organizations that provide civil legal aid to indigent Californians. 

You can look up the IOLTA-funded organizations, and you can learn more about IOLTA accounts on the State Bar’s website.

• To qualify to supervise a PLL, the supervisor must have practiced law for at least four years and have actively practiced law in California or taught law at a California Law School for at least two years immediately preceding the period of supervision.
• Supervising lawyers may also be judges of a court of record in the California judicial branch.
• Registered In-House Counsel and Registered Military Spouse Attorneys and others “specially admitted” are not California licensed attorneys and cannot act as supervisors for a PLL.
• Supervising lawyers must be active licensees in good standing, and must not be ineligible to practice, suspended, under a stayed suspension order, or have resigned or been disbarred in any jurisdiction.
• • Supervising lawyers must agree to assume professional responsibility for any work of the PLL and must be prepared to assume personal representation of the PLL’s clients.

The program will terminate on May 31, 2023, for any participant who: 

• Has not completed the State Bar’s 10-hour New Attorney Training; or
• Has not received an 86 or higher on the MPRE; or
• Does not have an active positive moral character determination*; or
• Does not submit all documentation required by the State Bar; or
• Does not have an eligible supervisor committed to supervise the participant through the end of 2023.

*If you have received a negative determination, you will be immediately suspended from the PLP and cannot practice as a PLL. However, you will not be terminated from the program until time has passed to request a review or final appeal, or the review or appeal has concluded. If following the review or appeal you are issued a positive moral character determination, you can continue in the program through December 31, 2025, while you seek to pass the bar exam. If you had other outstanding requirements as of May 31, 2023 (for example, you hadn’t yet received an 86 or higher on the MPRE), you will be terminated from the program as of May 31, 2023, regardless of the status of your moral character determination.

No, but once your positive moral character determination expires, if you don’t have a completed application for extension on file, you will be suspended from the program. Applications for Extension of Moral Character Determination are simpler and can be filed up to six months before the expiration of your positive determination.

Hours must be tracked and submitted to the Office of Admissions on a weekly basis. Specifically, PLLs will be required to note the total number of hours worked, the total number of hours spent performing legal services (whether paid or unpaid), and a description of the supervised legal practice duties assigned that specific week. When the hours are submitted, the State Bar will contact the supervising lawyer to sign that week’s completed log. To access the time-tracking log:

• Log in to the Applicant Portal.
• At the top, click “Applications.”
• Then click “Timesheet.”
• Click “New” to create a new timesheet.
• Enter all information and click “Save.”

Once that timesheet record has been saved, the applicant will receive an email with a link to capture their electronic signature. After receipt of that electronic signature, an email will be sent to the supervising attorney to confirm the hours reported.

Once a PLL has logged a total of 300 hours of supervised legal practice, an email will be sent to the supervising lawyer requesting an evaluation of the PLL’s overall work performance. Once that evaluation has been completed, it will be reviewed by the eligibility team to determine whether the PLL has satisfactorily met the requirements of California Rule of Court 9.49.1 (i).

Yes, the rules allow for multiple supervisors. The supervisors may work within the same law firm or at a different law firm if you will be employed or volunteer at more than one organization. You must submit a declaration from each supervising lawyer with your application in the Applicant Portal. You may not work at any organization unless you have submitted a declaration from a supervising lawyer with that organization, and the State Bar has approved the supervisor as eligible.

You are required under rule 4.42 of the Rules of the State Bar of California to update your responses within 30 days when information provided in the application has changed or there is new information relevant to the application until you have taken the attorney’s oath. To update your application, please log in to the Applicant Portal and access your moral character case. Use the feed on your moral character case to post an update or upload a document.

Figure 1: Posting an update or document to a Moral Character Case

Image

The State Bar is unable to provide advice concerning the completion requirements of law school applications, including whether disclosure of certain criminal matters is required. An applicant should consult the law school concerning the completion requirements for its application.