No; however, if you obtain new employment while your moral character application is pending or after you have received a positive moral character determination, but before you take the attorney’s oath, you must provide the new employment information to the State Bar within 30 days.

You must disclose all residences for the past three years, regardless of how long you resided at the location.

Post the completed Live Scan Form to your moral character case feed. Do not submit the Live Scan Form as a General Request or as a Fingerprint Request, or there may be a delay in processing.

The CTAPP reporting deadline is the same as the licensee’s deadline for paying their license fees (Rule 2.5(C) of the Rules of the State Bar). The annual renewal cycle deadline is March 30. This is also the deadline for other requirements (e.g., MCLE compliance, etc.). (Rule 2.11 of the Rules of the State Bar.) For new attorneys, the deadline is 45 days from the invoice date for their fees (Rule 2.12 of the Rules of the State Bar).

If a lawyer is a signatory on a trust account, exercises managerial or primary administrative oversight for a trust account, or is otherwise responsible for complying with any of the requirements or prohibitions in rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct—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—the lawyer is responsible for those funds. The lawyer remains responsible even if other lawyers are also responsible for the safekeeping of funds. The lawyer is ultimately responsible even if nonlawyers are assigned certain accounting tasks for those funds; for example, bookkeeping and banking related to client trust accounts. (See Rules Prof. Conduct, rule 5.3.)

Accounting and recordkeeping activities are only one part of a lawyer’s duties to properly handle entrusted funds. Other duties include, for example, the responsibility for giving notice to the client or other person that funds were received on behalf of the client or other person and identifying and resolving disputes about entitlement to trust funds. These duties ordinarily are not the job of a firm’s bookkeeper. All of these responsibilities are considered nondelegable duties. The proactive regulation, reporting, and monitoring of CTAPP are intended to promote a lawyer’s compliance and prevent avoidable financial harm to clients. The only aspect of CTAPP reporting that can be fulfilled by the lawyer’s firm is the annual registration of client trust accounts by a firm or organization that is registered with the State Bar’s Agency Billing platform.

A licensee is “responsible for client funds and funds entrusted by others under the provisions of rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct” within the meaning of this rule if, at any point during the reporting period, they acted as a signatory on a trust account—even if there was no money in the account, exercised managerial or primary administrative oversight for a trust account, or were otherwise responsible for complying with any of the requirements or prohibitions in rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct—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. The requirements and prohibitions in rule 1.15 are not limited to banking and recordkeeping duties and include, for example, the responsibility for giving notice to the client or other person that funds were received on behalf of the client or other person and the duty to identify and discharge liens.

Lawyers who were responsible for entrusted funds in the reporting period must also register, or have their firm register through the State Bar’s Agency Billing application, all client trust accounts, take a self-assessment of client trust account management practices, and certify their compliance with requirements of rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

If you need to disassociate a client trust account that is no longer active or held by a firm by which you are no longer employed or in practice with, you should:

1. Log in to your My State Bar Profile.
2. Navigate to the CTAPP reporting section.
3. Locate the account you wish to disassociate in your list of accounts.
4. Click on the plus sign (+) on the right-hand side of the screen to expand options.
5. Select the “Update Connection” tab on the account details pop-up.
6. Change the “Connection to Attorney” to “Disassociated/Added in Error.”
7. You will need to provide a disassociation reason and a disassociation effective date.
8. If you are reporting a disassociation effective date more than 30 days after the disassociation date, the system will prompt you for a reason why you are reporting it after the 30-day update deadline. At this time, there is no penalty for noncompliance with the 30-day update requirement. Answering this question truthfully will not result in an increased likelihood of a CTAPP compliance review or investigatory audit. The State Bar’s current focus is on gathering accurate information, educating licensees about their trust account responsibilities (including the 30-day update requirement), and improving overall compliance. There is a 50-character limit on this field.
9. Click the “Save” button.

This process removes the account from your profile for future reporting periods but maintains the historical record as required.

In general, under rule 1.15(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, a licensee’s trust accounts must be maintained in California, or, with the written consent of the client, in another jurisdiction where there is a substantial relationship between the client or the client’s business and that other jurisdiction. Therefore, if licensees are entitled to hold IOLTA accounts outside of California, they will need to register those accounts as non-CA IOLTA accounts by selecting “Add Account” in My State Bar Profile, or, if using the Agency Billing application, selecting “Manage Accounts.”

Pro bono opportunities vary depending on the needs of the client community. Examples of pro bono legal services to indigent clients may include, but are not limited to: 

• Representation (full or limited scope)
• Negotiation and settlement
• Screening and intake
• Brief service by phone or in person
• Legal information or “Know Your Rights” workshops
• Document preparation and review
• Legal research and writing
• Litigation support
• Legislative research and legal analysis

Generally, the State Bar will process your LOS application within two to three weeks of receipt if you submit a complete and accurate application.

Incomplete applications will take longer to process. If your application is deemed incomplete, you will have 60 days from the date of the incomplete notice to provide the missing information or documentation. If your application is not deemed complete within this period, your application will be abandoned without a refund of any fees paid.

All students in the LOS Program are required to take and pass the FYLSX after completing their first year of study, unless you establish an exemption, as specified in rule 4.55(A) of the Rules of the State Bar.

You must take and pass the FYLSX within the first three consecutive administrations of first becoming eligible to receive credit for your law study completed to date. If you fail to take or pass it after the first three consecutive administrations of first becoming eligible to take the exam, upon passage, you will only receive credit for your first year of legal studies.

If you completed law study at an accredited or registered law school prior to beginning the LOS Program, you are required to provide official, sealed law school transcripts. The Office of Admissions will evaluate your prior completed law study to determine if you are exempt from the FYLSX. In addition, the Office of Admissions will advise how much credit has been recognized for the prior law school study and let you know how much more study you need to complete in the LOS Program to qualify for the California Bar Exam.

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