Go to your Learning page, and then click on the Completed tab. Once there, click the “+” icon for the course you want the certificate for. Click on the ribbon icon to view your completion certificate. Download/save a copy of the certificate for your records. The certificate will be available for only 30 days from the date of completion.

Please visit the Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) page on the State Bar’s website.

Annual registration, or renewal, for the MJP Program is a two-step process you may complete in any order. The MJP renewal period begins in November of the current year and ends in February of the following year. For example, the renewal process for 2023 participants who want to remain in the MJP Program in 2024 must be completed from November 2023 to February 2024. If you do not comply with the annual renewal requirements, you will be suspended from the MJP program. 

• Remit payment: You must submit the annual renewal fee through My State Bar Portal. If you need assistance, please view the My State Bar Profile User Guide or contact the Division of Regulation using the Licensee Records and Compliance Inquiry form. Please see the Schedule of Charges and Deadlines for the current renewal fee. 

• Submit the renewal application: You must submit the annual renewal application in the Applicant Portal by following the steps below. Please note that you must mail a new, original Certificate of Good Standing to the Office of Admissions at 845 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017 for one U.S. jurisdiction in which you are admitted and currently active. If you are unable to access the Applicant Portal, please contact the Office of Admissions at Admissions@calbar.ca.gov or at 800-843-9053. 

• Log in to the Applicant Portal.
• From the home page in the Applicant Portal:
  • Click on “View Forms” under the “Apply” section heading.
  • Scroll down to “Multijurisdictional Practice Program for Out-of-State U.S. Attorneys” and select the MJP renewal application that applies to you (RIHC, RLAA, or RMSA).

Yes. The process for requesting testing accommodations is separate from the application to take an exam. You are not required to wait for a determination regarding your testing accommodations to register for an exam, and doing so is not recommended.

If you are requesting to change your testing accommodation test center to a different testing accommodation location, you may submit the request through the Applicant Portal or by emailing testing.accommodations@calbar.ca.gov by the test center change request deadline. Space is subject to availability, and it is not guaranteed that your request will be available.

In preparation for the PLP application opening on September 1, 2025, you are encouraged to: 

• Submit an Application for Determination of Moral Character as soon as possible in the Applicant Portal if you do not have a valid positive moral character determination or a pending moral character application. 

• Sign up for the MPRE or ensure you have a passing score on file with the State Bar Office of Admissions. Verify your MPRE status via the status screen in the Applicant Portal. 

• Secure a California attorney who is willing to be your Supervising Lawyer and meets the requirements of rule 9.49. 

By December 31, 2025, you must have a passing MPRE score on file and either a valid positive moral character determination, or an adverse moral character determination that is pending on administrative review by the Committee of Bar Examiners or on appeal in the State Bar Court. We recommend that you fulfill these requirements as soon as possible.

Under rule 9.49, a PLL is allowed to provide a broad array of legal servicesfor clients, including appearing before a court; drafting legal documents,such as contracts, transactional documents, and pleadings; engaging in negotiations and settlement discussions; and providing other legal advice, provided that the work is performed underthe supervision of their Supervising Lawyer. The limits on what a PLL can do, or what needs to be done under direct versus general supervision, are largely left to the Supervising Lawyer to determine based on the readiness of the PLL.

An out-of-state attorney, who is in good standing in their jurisdiction, and does not live, work, or conduct regular business in California can request permission from a California state court (superior court, Court of Appeal, or Supreme Court) to represent their client as counsel pro hac vice, which is a Latin term meaning "for this occasion." PHV is approved for a particular case, and an active licensee of the State Bar of California must be associated as attorney of record for the case. Please refer to rule 9.40 of the California Rules of Court.

No. All documentation and fees related to a PHV renewal must be submitted to the court and not the State Bar of California. Please contact the court if you have questions regarding PHV renewals.

Under rule 9.49.1, individuals who scored between 1390 and 1439 on a California Bar Exam administered between July 2015 and February 2020, as determined by the first read score or the final score, may apply so long as they:

• Have an active (unexpired) positive moral character determination or have submitted a complete Application for Determination of Moral Character. Whether the application is complete is determined by the State Bar.
• Have not received an adverse moral character determination, unless more than two years have elapsed from the date of the final determination. If, when the adverse moral character determination was issued, the Committee of Bar Examiners or the State Bar provided a time frame other than two years for when the participant was eligible to reapply, that other time frame shall control here.

The deadline to submit the Pathway PLP application is December 31, 2023. No applications will be accepted after the deadline. Applicants for the Pathway PLP must have 1) an active positive moral character determination, or 2) have submitted a moral character application that has not resulted in the issuance of an adverse moral character determination. If you have not submitted a moral character application and do not have an active positive determination, you must submit a moral character application no later than December 31, 2023. Please note that your PLP application will not be considered until the moral character application is deemed complete and filed by the State Bar. If you fail to submit a moral character application by December 31, 2023, your PLP application will not be processed.

Under the program for 2020 law graduates, PLLs who attempt the bar exam but do not pass it may continue in the Provisional Licensure Program until the program terminates. Furthermore, they are not required to sit for the bar exam. No further extensions of the program are anticipated. By the end of the program, they must have passed the bar exam to continue in the practice of law.

Please review the information regarding the Moral Character requirement, including the instructions for the Application for Determination of Moral Character and Application for Extension of Determination of Moral Character.

No. You are not eligible to file a moral character application until you commence the study of law and register as a law student with the State Bar. The State Bar has published Moral Character Guidelines to assist applicants for law school and the State Bar in understanding whether their past conduct might impact getting a positive moral character determination, which is a prerequisite for admission to the practice of law.

Maybe. You are required to disclose criminal matters in which you entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere (no contest), even if the matter ultimately was dismissed without a judgment of conviction being entered or sentence imposed after you completed the terms of a diversion agreement. You are not required to disclose an arrest or charges that did not result in a misdemeanor or felony conviction unless you entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere (no contest) or the matter is pending when you submit your application or during the processing of your application.

Yes. If you have been found to have violated a college, university, or law school honor code; or have been dropped, suspended, warned, placed on disciplinary probation, expelled, or requested to resign or allowed to resign in lieu of discipline by any college, university, or law school; or otherwise have been subjected to discipline by any such institution or been requested or advised by any such institution to discontinue your studies, you must disclose the incident on the moral character application.

The moral character application requires that at least one of your personal references be an attorney; the attorney may be retired or inactive. If you do not know an attorney who knows you well enough to comment on your character, you may submit the name and contact information of a nonattorney who knows you well enough to complete a questionnaire concerning your character. Neither the attorney nor other personal references may be related to you by blood or marriage, nor can they be reported as a supervisor under the employment section of the moral character application or as a verifying reference under the self-employment section of the moral character application.

No. You are only required to disclose the addresses of the places you have lived within the past eight years, including college and law school residences. If a residence gap is identified due to your extended periods of travel abroad, please report this information in the “Accounting for Gaps in Residence History” section of the moral character application.

Yes. A copy of your moral character application can be requested by submitting a Service Request Form with the applicable fee as a General Request in the Applicant Portal. Please allow approximately 30−45 days to process the request.

All funds received by a lawyer in connection with legal representation in which a client or a third party has an interest are funds that must be deposited in a trust account. Examples include advances for fees received from clients (until they are earned by the lawyer), funds of others that are being held for disbursement at a later time, personal injury awards, and litigation settlements. 

Client and third-party funds must be held in either an IOLTA or non-IOLTA type client trust account. The definitions of each are as follows: 

IOLTA—An attorney or firm that holds funds for a client or third party that are nominal in amount or are held for too short a time to earn interest income for the benefit of the client or third party in excess of the cost to hold the funds in a separate account is required to place those funds in an IOLTA account. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6211, subd. (a)). A California IOLTA account must be established and maintained with an eligible institution that offers IOLTA accounts that meet certain requirements. The State Bar website has a list of IOLTA-eligible institutions. 

Non-IOLTA—An attorney or firm that holds funds for a client or the benefit of a single party in a matter that is large enough to generate more than nominal interest, or an attorney who holds funds for a single party for an extended period must hold such funds in a non-IOLTA trust account. An example would be funds held by the administrator of a family trust. The attorney must use a non-IOLTA account because these entrusted funds will earn interest in excess of the costs to maintain the account. The interest earned goes to the client or third party. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6211, subd. (b)).

When registering a client trust account as part of CTAPP, you must identify the trust account type. The account will either be IOLTA or non-IOLTA; an account will never be both. The account type was established at the time the account was opened and does not change. A California IOLTA must bear the State Bar of California’s Taxpayer Identification Number to ensure that interest or dividends generated by this account will be paid to the State Bar’s IOLTA program. A non-IOLTA will bear the Social Security Number or Tax ID number of the client or third party.