You must submit a semi-annual report to the State Bar within 30 days after completion of each six-month period of study through the LOS Program. A semi-annual report submitted 31–60 days after completion of the six-month study period is subject to a late fee as set forth in the Schedule of Charges and Deadlines. Semi-annual reports submitted after 60 days will not be accepted nor receive credit. 

Your participation in the LOS Program will be terminated if you fail to submit a semi-annual report within a year of your last provided semi-annual report.

You must submit your semi-annual reports through the Applicant Portal. To submit a semi-annual report (i.e., Law Office Study Session):

• Log in to your Applicant Portal.
• Scroll down to “My Applications.”
• Click on the case number associated with your approved Application for the Law Office Study Program.
• Under Law Office Study Sessions, click “New.”
• Provide the requested information and click “Save.” A LOS Session ID will be created.
• Click on the new LOS Session ID number. Upload a completed LOS Session Semi-Annual Report Cover Sheet; your six graded exams, each with an appended LOS Session Exam Cover Sheet under the files section; and any other supporting documentation. Ensure the LOS Session Semi-Annual Report Cover Sheet has the correct dates and the total hours studied for the period.
• Click “Pay Now” and follow the steps to submit the study session.

An e-learning portal is a personalized website for accessing e-learning courses and other educational content.

If you are still experiencing issues, send an email to elearning@calbar.ca.gov. In your email, please include the following information:

• Name
• Bar Number
• Course you are experiencing issues with
• Screen title (if applicable)
• Screenshot (if applicable)
• Description of the problem

Yes, each installment payment is subject to a 2.5% service fee. However, no additional interest will be charged.

You will automatically receive a receipt via email after you remit payment. Please ensure that you complete the final step and submit the application.  Please do not click "Print Receipt" since it will eject you from the application and prevent you from submitting it. If you accidentally click the link before submitting your application, please contact the Office of Admissions at prohac@calbar.ca.gov or 800-843-9053. 

Yes. Paralegals and assistants must create their own account in the Office of Admissions' Applicant Portal using their own credentials (email address and name). Once the paralegal or assistant has access to the Applicant Portal, they may submit a PHV application with the fee on behalf of the out-of-state attorney.

A licensed California attorney may also submit a PHV application on behalf of the out-ofstate attorney. The California attorney must sign into the Applicant Portal using their credentials or contact the Office of Admissions at 800-843-9053 to reset their login information for the Applicant Portal.  

• 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. 

This is the date you expect to begin employment as a Provisionally Licensed Lawyer (PLL), if your application is approved. A start date on or prior to the date you submit your PLP application will not be accepted. Please ensure the effective date on the Supervising Lawyer Declaration matches the date provided on your PLP application submitted through your Applicant Portal. Note: You are not authorized to work as a PLL until your PLP application is approved. 

No. Arrests are not reportable actions under current law, and the fact that an attorney has been arrested is not an independent basis for disbarment or suspension.

No. An applicant who reported an incident of sexual assault or sexual harassment to an educational institution is not required to disclose the incident on the moral character application as a civil action or administrative proceeding to which the applicant was a party. 

However, if a complaint was filed against you and you were formally or informally dropped, suspended, warned, placed on disciplinary probation, expelled, or requested to resign or allowed to resign in lieu of discipline from the educational institution, you must disclose this information on the moral character application in response to the question about scholastic discipline. 

We accept credit/debit cards. 

Yes. All persons newly admitted to the State Bar of California are required to complete the New Attorney Training Program.

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.

The Office of Chief Trial Counsel handles complaints from both clients, members of the public, and other attorneys over unethical professional conduct. Attorney misconduct complaint form available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, and Chinese.

You may also call the State Bar’s multilingual Contact Center at 800-843-9053 (in California) or 213-765-1200 (outside California) to request the form or discuss the complaint-filing process. There is no fee for filing a complaint, and you do not have to be a U.S. citizen. Be sure to include copies of any documents that will help support your claim.

When you are done filling out the form, mail it to:

The State Bar of California, of Chief Trial Counsel, Intake Unit
845 South Figueroa Street Los Angeles, CA 90017-2515

An inquiry is opened for every written communication that involves a complaint about an attorney's conduct. After the inquiry is evaluated, the accused attorney may be diverted out of the system, or the inquiry may be closed.

If it appears, however, that the attorney may be a repeat offender or have committed a violation where there is a serious likelihood of discipline being imposed, an investigator and a Bar prosecutor from the Enforcement Unit take responsibility for the investigation.

The accused attorney is given an opportunity to respond, witnesses are contacted and documents are reviewed. At the investigation's conclusion, attorneys decide whether to:

• Dismiss the complaint
• Impose an informal confidential resolution, or
• File disciplinary charges.

The Notice of Disciplinary Charges is filed in State Bar Court, where it is assigned to a hearing judge. The accused attorney then must file an answer - or risk a default judgment or involuntary enrollment as an inactive bar member.

If a settlement cannot be reached, the case goes to trial in State Bar Court. After the trial, the hearing judge issues a written decision. Either side may appeal the decision to the State Bar Court's Review Department.

The California Supreme Court is the final arbiter in attorney discipline cases.

In addition to reporting pro bono legal services, Business and Professions Code section 6073.2(b)(2) requires attorneys to report the amount of reduced fee legal services hours performed for low-income individuals, nonprofit organizations, or public law libraries established under section 6360. Some examples of reduced fee legal services might include offering affordable help through programs like bar association reduced fee panels or legal clinics that provide services on a sliding scale. 

Per Business and Professions Code section 6073.1(d), reduced fee legal services means “providing or enabling direct delivery of legal services at a substantially reduced rate affordable to persons of limited means to either a person of limited means or a person or organization identified in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1) in subdivision (c) of section 6073.1.”  

You can reach the Ethics Hotline in two ways:

• By phone: Call 1-800-238-4427 (within California) or 415-538-2150 (outside of California). Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. to noon (PST). You may speak with a live agent or leave a callback number. Calls are returned in the order received.
• Online request form: Submit a Research Assistance Request Form at any time. A staff member will respond by phone within one to two business days in the order received.

Staff will compile and summarize comments for the Working Group, which may then revise its tentative proposal. Staff will submit the Working Group and staff recommendations to the Board.

Supervising Attorneys are required to notify the State Bar within 30 days if the supervision of a CLS is ending before the period stated in the CLS’s Notice. Please email special.admissions@calbar.ca.gov to provide this notification.

Generally, when you submit a complete and accurate CLS application through the Applicant Portal, the State Bar will process it within 30 days of receipt.

Incomplete applications will take longer to process. If your application is deemed incomplete, you will have 60 days from the date you received notification of the missing information or documentation to bring it to a complete status. If your application is not deemed complete within this period, your application will be abandoned without a refund of any fees paid, absent a showing of good cause.

Applicants enrolled in both programs, along with their respective supervisors, are expected to take proactive steps to avoid or address any actual or potential conflicts of interest or ethical issues. This includes exercising good judgment in situations where their dual roles may overlap. For example, an applicant who studies in the Law Office Study Program under the supervision of a judge should avoid appearing before that same judge when representing a client in the Certified Law Student Program.