All applicants requesting testing accommodations through the streamlined approval process must submit a complete Testing Accommodations Application through their Applicant Portal, certify they are currently experiencing the same functional limitations as when they took the high-stakes exam, and upload a copy of their accommodation verification letter. Please keep in mind that the testing accommodations application is a separate application from the bar exam application. 

Certain prior accommodations will be approved by the State Bar without the need for further documentation if all the following are satisfied:

• The prior accommodations were approved for a permanent disability;
• You are requesting the same (or lesser) accommodations granted on the high-stakes exam;
• The State Bar offers equivalent testing accommodations deemed eligible for the automatic approval process;
• You submit proof of the prior approval of accommodations granted by the testing entity;
• You certify you are experiencing the same function limitations by the permanent disability;
• You submit a testing accommodations application with all sections completed; and
• Your request is not for more than 100 percent extra time, and/or a private room.

For all applicants, the Admittance Ticket will reflect whether they are approved to take the 1-day Attorneys’ Examination or the 2-day General Bar Examination. Your Admittance Ticket will not reflect extended testing days. Applicants should refer to their Testing Accommodations Notice, which will be provided to applicants with approved testing accommodations once logistics are confirmed for the exam.

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

Pursuant to the California Rules of Court, rule 9.49(d)(1)(C), you must complete the legal ethics courses of the New Attorney Training Program within 30 days of the date of approval of your PLP application if you did not have a passing MPRE score on file when you submit your PLP application.

If you take the MPRE in August 2025, you may wish to apply for the PLP once your passing MPRE score has been uploaded to your Applicant Portal. We anticipate that scores from the August 2025 administration of the MPRE will be uploaded by the end of September. Please note that you must have designated California to receive your MPRE score and have your accurate NCBE number and Social Security Number in the Applicant Portal for the State Bar of California to upload your MPRE score.

No. You must have a Supervising Lawyer who is committed to supervising you by May 31, 2026. However, you are still permitted to change supervisors, if the need arises, and in compliance with rules 9.49(e)(7)-(8), by submitting a PLP Employment Update application in the Applicant Portal with a declaration from each new Supervising Lawyer. 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 your PLP Employment Update.

No. However, you may submit Certificates of Admission or Certificates of Good Standing for each court to which you are admitted in lieu of listing each court and your standing in that court.

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. A positive moral character determination expires after three years unless you apply for an extension and it is approved by the State Bar. If your positive determination has expired, you must take action to participate in the PLP. You need to have either a current, nonexpired positive moral character determination or you need to submit a new Application for Determination of Moral Character, which is deemed complete and placed in filed status. Filed status means that our office has all the preliminary documentation required to begin the background investigation. Moral Character Applications are processed in the order received and can take up to two to three months for the initial review. If you submit your PLP application before the Moral Character Application is in filed status, your PLP application will say “Pending Internal Review.”

Participants in the Original PLP must, by May 31, 2023:

• Have an active positive moral character determination.
• Have achieved a score of 86 or above on the MPRE.
• Have completed the 10-Hour New Attorney Training Program (for participants who have been in the program for one year or more, this training is required to have been completed within 12 months of entry into the program).
• For those who did not have an 86 or above on the MPRE at the time of entry into the program, have completed within the first 30 days of provisional licensure the ethics portion of the New Attorney Training Program.

Participants in the Pathway PLP must, prior to the termination of the program, satisfy those same requirements, in addition to completing and documenting completion of 300 hours of supervised legal practice and receiving a positive evaluation from the supervisor as required by the State Bar. Only hours completed while an active participant in the PLP will count toward the 300 hours.

The California Lawyers Association (CLA) is collecting information about matching programs from around the state and has a provisional licensure e-community available to members where prospective supervisors and provisional licensees can connect. While the cost of joining CLA is minimal, if price is an obstacle to joining, CLA will provide assistance to individuals facing hardship if asked. Read more on the CLA resource page and find out how to join here.

• If you plan to pursue a provisional license, you should let prospective employers know that and work with them to identify a potential supervising lawyer.
• You must submit a signed declaration from your supervising lawyer with your application for provisional licensure. The declaration must confirm that you will be employed by, or volunteer at, the firm or organization of the supervising lawyer. The declaration must be submitted through the Applicant Portal; declarations sent via email and USPS are not automatically associated with the online application, which may delay processing.

The State Bar receives a large volume of moral character applications, which are processed in the order in which they are received and deemed complete. The State Bar is unable to expedite applications. The duration of a moral character investigation varies due to factors such as the volume of applications received in a given time period, and whether timely responses to requests for information are received from the applicant or third parties. Generally, it takes a minimum of approximately 180 days, or six months, from the date the application is deemed complete and filed, to process a moral character application.

Yes. Eligibility to sit for the California Bar Examination is based upon your legal education. An applicant’s criminal history is addressed in the moral character application, which is separate and distinct from the bar exam application.

Maybe. You are required to disclose traffic violations that resulted in a misdemeanor or felony conviction; any alcohol or drug-related traffic violation, regardless of its classification; and convictions for driving with a suspended or revoked license, or failure to appear in court.

You are required to account for all education after high school. Please disclose each school you attended regardless of the duration of your attendance. If you attended a school during different periods of time, please disclose the school once and indicate each period of attendance at the school. You must upload a separate document to list each period of attendance.

Contact the employer and attempt to obtain the information. If you do not remember your supervisor’s name or your supervisor is no longer with the business, please enter "Human Resources" into the Full Name of Supervisor field and enter the appropriate information into the Email Address of Supervisor and Phone Number of Supervisor fields.

If the company is no longer in business (defunct), contact information will not be required once you indicate that the company is no longer in business.

Do NOT use your own email address or phone number.

Please use a personal email address other than your law school email address. If you use a law school or work email address to which you lose access, you may not receive communications from the Office of Admissions.

Please call 415-538-2450 and ask to speak with the Moral Character Person of the Day. Please be prepared to email a screenshot if the issue cannot be resolved over the phone. Some issues may take more time to resolve if technical assistance is necessary.

The only licensees who are exempt from the annual reporting requirement are licensees who were on voluntary inactive status for the entirety of the reportable time period. All other licensees, including those who were active, suspended, or not entitled to practice law at any point in the reportable time period, are required to complete the CTAPP reporting requirements for that reportable time period.

When a licensee performs both legal and non-legal professional services for a client, the licensee is subject to the Rules of Professional Conduct with respect to all of those services. (See Cal. State Bar Formal Opn. Nos. 1982-69, 1995-141, and 1999-154.) 

Therefore, a key question is whether the licensee is performing legal services and, as a result, is subject to rule 1.15 and the other Rules of Professional Conduct. If not, and the licensee is merely a real estate broker who happens to be a lawyer, rule 1.15 may not apply. Similarly, if the licensee is a trustee but did not perform any legal services related to the creation of the trust and does not perform any legal services related to the trust, rule 1.15 may not apply. On the other hand, if the licensee is acting as both the real estate lawyer and broker, and the lawyer receives entrusted funds from, or for, the transaction, rule 1.15 would apply, and any accounts need to be reported and registered as part of the licensee’s CTAPP compliance. The same is true of lawyers providing other non-legal professional services, regardless of whether they, as a trustee, for example, report to the probate court.

If you have further questions on dual capacity, including whether you are responsible for complying with any of the requirements or prohibitions in rule 1.15, please contact the State Bar’s Ethics Hotline research service at 800-238-4427 (toll-free in California). The Ethics Hotline cannot provide legal advice, nor tell you how to comply with any of the CTAPP requirements, including whether to answer “yes” or “no” in any portion of the CTAPP reporting requirements.

The State Bar collects information on attorneys’ pro bono and reduced fee hours to better understand how these services are being provided across the profession. The data will be analyzed to identify trends, support efforts to expand access to legal services, and help address the justice gap. All reported data will be aggregated and not linked to individual attorneys.