Maybe. Please carefully review the instructions and questions to determine the disclosure requirements.

The guidelines contain examples of issues that may be relevant to a moral character determination and do not provide an exhaustive list of all potentially relevant issues. Applications are considered individually. Accordingly, the guidelines neither bind nor limit the discretion of the decision-makers, but rather provide a framework to assist the decision-makers and provide applicants with information about the process. The severity of an act of misconduct, length of time since the act, and the frequency with which the act occurred are among the factors that will be taken into consideration in making a moral character determination.

Yes. You are required to disclose all administrative matters to which you have been a party.

Please submit documentation of your unsuccessful attempts to obtain law enforcement or court records, such as a letter from the relevant entity confirming why the record is unavailable.

Maybe. 

For the Determination Application, you must report all driver’s licenses ever issued to you in the application. For each jurisdiction, other than California, in which you have held a driver’s license within the last 10 years or since the age of 18, whichever is shorter, you must provide a copy of your driving record that meets the following requirements: an original and certified copy, issued within 6 months of the date on which the current application is submitted, and contains at least 5 years of your driving history or the longest timeframe provided by the jurisdiction, whichever is shorter. 

For the Extension Application, you must report all driver’s licenses held since your prior application. For each jurisdiction, other than California, in which you have held a driver’s license since your prior application, you must provide a copy of your driving record that meets the following requirements: an original and certified copy, issued within 6 months of the date on which the current application is submitted, and contains at least 5 years of your driving history or the longest timeframe provided by the jurisdiction, whichever is shorter. 

If a driving record is in a language other than English, you must provide a certified English translation with the driving record. You may not translate your own documents. 

If the jurisdiction that issued the driver’s license will not provide a copy of a driving record, a letter from the agency stating that no record will be provided should be submitted in lieu of the driving record.

Provide the name of your direct supervisor. If you had more than one supervisor, provide the name of the individual most familiar with your conduct. If your supervisor is no longer at the company and you do not have their contact information, please list “Human Resources.” 

If your supervisor is related to you by blood or marriage, please list a non-related colleague who is familiar with your work. If no such person is available, you may list your relative as your supervisor. Please note how the supervisor is related to you on your application.

Some applicants have traveled extensively in the past eight years and have numerous addresses to report on the moral character application. You are encouraged to provide as much information pertaining to each residence as can be reasonably recalled. You are responsible for the complete and accurate reporting of information on the application to the best of your ability, and the failure to provide complete responses could result in a delay in the processing of the application.

No. However, you can view the documents you have successfully uploaded to your case in the Applicant Portal. You will receive confirmation once staff reviews the information.

The State Bar takes reasonable precautions and has security measures in place to protect the personal information we collect and maintain against loss, unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure. We take the following measures to secure the information that is stored within our applications: 

• Protecting the security of individuals’ personal information during transmission by using encryption protocols and software.
• Storing personal information in secure locations in an encrypted format.
• Ensuring staff is trained on procedures for the management and release of personal information. This information can only be accessed by staff whose work requires it.
• Conducting periodic audits to ensure that proper information management policies and procedures are being followed.

If you do not maintain a trust account, a trust account is not maintained on your behalf, and you do not need a trust account because you are not responsible for complying with any of the requirements or prohibitions in rule 1.15—other than the disclosure and agreement requirements in rule 1.15(b) pertaining to depositing a flat fee paid in advance into a lawyer’s or law firm’s operating account—you can answer “no” to the Screening Question: “At any point during the reporting period of January 1, 2025–December 31, 2025, or, if you are a new licensee who must pay your initial license fees pursuant to rule 2.12 of the Rules of the State Bar, from your date of admission through the following December 31, 2025, or the due date for payment of fees, whichever is earlier, were you responsible for complying with any of the requirements or prohibitions governing the safekeeping of funds of clients and other persons under rule 1.15 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct?” After submitting that response and declaring the information is true, your compliance with CTAPP will be deemed complete.

If your practice does not require a client trust account, you do not need to open one to report it to the State Bar as part of the CTAPP requirements. If you have questions about using trust accounts, including whether you are responsible for complying with any of the requirements or prohibitions in rule 1.15 or whether you need a trust account, please contact the State Bar’s Ethics Hotline research service at 800-238-4427 (toll-free in California). The Ethics Hotline might be able to provide helpful citations and resource references. The Ethics Hotline cannot provide legal advice, nor tell you how to comply with any of the CTAPP requirements, including the self-assessment.

A lawyer who has no responsibility to comply with any of the requirements or prohibitions in rule 1.15 and a lawyer who is responsible for complying only with the disclosure and agreement requirements in rule 1.15(b) pertaining to depositing a flat fee paid in advance into a lawyer’s or law firm’s operating account, can comply with their reporting requirements by answering “no” to the screening question as to whether they were responsible for complying with any of the requirements or prohibitions governing the safekeeping of funds of clients and other persons under rule 1.15 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct and thereafter submitting their declaration. Lawyers who have no such responsibilities include:

• A government lawyer-employee who is not responsible for the safe keeping of entrusted funds;
• An in-house counsel who is employed by their client and does not receive or hold client funds or funds entrusted by others;
• Law professors who do not represent clients that involve any entrusted funds and do not otherwise receive or hold entrusted funds;
• A lawyer in a large firm who only performs document review, has no interaction with any clients, and has no responsibilities to carry out any of the duties under rule 1.15;
• A lawyer who bills for fees and costs after completion of the work and therefore does not take advance fees and their practice does not involve the receipt of any other funds in which a client or third party has an interest (e.g., client settlement funds, etc.); and
• A lawyer who does not receive or hold any entrusted funds except for flat fees paid in advance and properly deposited into a lawyer’s or law firm’s operating account in accordance with the disclosure and agreement requirements in rule 1.15(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Please check column 2 (Application Type) of the Step 2 account grid. If the account was registered through Agency Billing you can only update the Account Connection to “Disassociated/Added in Error.” To do so, please see FAQ 3.3.4. For all other changes, including adding a balance, firm name changes, etc., please contact your firm administrator. 

If your account was previously registered as a “Ind. CTA or Non-CA IOLTA” account type, you will be required to update your account type to “IOLTA,” “non-CA IOLTA,” or “non-IOLTA.” 

If you were not previously required to provide an open date, you will be required to provide the open date for each of your registered accounts. 

If the account was registered through My State Bar Profile, you can edit some details of an existing account. To do so, you should:

1. Locate the account you wish to disassociate in your list of accounts.
2. Click on the plus sign (+) on the right-hand side of the screen to expand options.
3. Select the “Edit Balance,” “Update Connection,” “Update Account Type,” “Edit Close Date,” “Edit Open Date,” or “Edit Firm Name” tab depending on what information you want to update.
4. Update the information.
5. Click the “Save” button.

Under Business and Professions Code section 6212, attorneys that established an IOLTA account pursuant to subdivision (a) of Business and Professions Code section 6211, may hold IOLTA accounts only at eligible financial institutions. Rule 1.15(a) of the California Rules of Professional Conduct generally requires that trust accounts for California clients be maintained in California. You are permitted to hold client funds in an IOLTA account outside California if your client is from somewhere other than California or if your California client has a substantial relationship with the other jurisdiction and has provided written consent. If your practice meets those criteria and you do not have a California IOLTA, you may select “I do not have a California IOLTA” as your response.

For purposes of this reporting requirement, board service for a legal aid nonprofit would qualify because all board work with such an organization is enabling the delivery of legal services to the indigent (since these organizations primarily serve indigent California residents). Please note that some legal aid providers and other nonprofits for which attorneys provide pro bono legal services may also ask attorneys to report pro bono hours, but the definition for pro bono legal services may vary for their purposes. Attorneys should confirm definitions with the entity before reporting pro bono hours to the entity.  

No. Working in a law office or judge’s chambers is insufficient to get credit for legal study under the LOS Program.

An applicant becomes eligible to take the FYLSX after completion of their first year of law study. If your second session, which completes the first year, ends prior to the final eligibility deadline for the current FYLSX, you are strongly encouraged to apply for the FYLSX, as it will be considered your first eligible administration in the calculation of your legal study credit.

The final eligibility deadline is two weeks prior to the exam. All deadlines for the FYLSX can be found on our First-Year Law Students’ Examination webpage.

Make sure that you have completed all interactive elements on the screen. The “NEXT” button will only activate once all of the screen elements have been completed. In addition, please allow the screen seek bar to progress on its own. If you manually drag it to complete the course, the “NEXT” button may not activate properly.

Yes, however, access to a course completion certificate and resource materials for a course that you have completed will be available for only 30 days from the date of completion.

E-Bill Express accepts debit cards, credit cards, and ACH payments.

Rule 9.40 of the California Rules of Court does not set a limit on the number of appearances an out-of-state attorney may make as PHV. However, the court determines if the applicant is ineligible for PHV due to multiple appearances.  

No. The license is suspended to give the PLL the opportunity to contest the determination. If no request for review or appeal is timely filed, the provisional license is terminated. If a request for review or appeal is timely filed, the provisional license will remain suspended until the final outcome, unless the provisional license is terminated as a result of other factors (such as failing to timely meet other program requirements).