While a licensee is on inactive status, that licensee cannot practice law. An inactive licensee who engages in the practice of law may be guilty of a misdemeanor. (See Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 6125–6126, 6068, subd.(a), & 6106. See also In the Matter of Burke (Review Dept. 2016) 5 Cal. State Bar Ct. Rptr. 448.) Additionally, a licensee on inactive status may have a duty to inform their client(s) or a tribunal that they are ineligible to practice law. (See Rules of Professional Conduct 1.4 and 3.3.) If you have further questions about the unauthorized practice of law, 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. 

Reinstatement of your license requires payment of any applicable fees, completion of the past due CTAPP reporting requirements, and applying for reinstatement. To submit payment of applicable fees, please log in to My State Bar Profile and click the “Pay Fee” link on the CTAPP Annual Reporting tile on your Compliance Dashboard or click the blue “Make a payment” button on the Profile Summary page to go to the “Annual Fee” page. You should go to the Annual Fee page to pay outstanding fees even if you have already paid your annual licensing fee for 2026. From there, click the blue “Calculate and pay my fees” button to see a breakdown of the fees owed. Click continue and follow the steps to complete your payment.

If you were involuntarily enrolled as inactive for noncompliance in 2026, you can complete your CTAPP reporting in My State Bar Profile and then complete and submit the first page of the CTAPP Noncompliance Reinstatement Form. If you were involuntarily enrolled as inactive for CTAPP noncompliance in 2023, 2024, or 2025, you will need to complete and submit the first page of the CTAPP Noncompliance Reinstatement Form and the attached CTAPP reporting forms for all missing years.

Prior to the March 30, 2026, deadline, you can make changes to your pro bono hours reporting by going to My State Bar Profile, navigating to the Summary tab (located on the top navigation bar), and selecting “Edit your Pro Bono Hours” from the Pro Bono Hours tile (located about three-quarters of the way down the page).

Committed participating employers that applied and were approved in 2024 must implement at least 5 of the 10 Action Items by September 23, 2025. Please use the DEI Leadership Seal Tier Advancement Application to submit this material by the September 23 deadline.

See Title 3, Division 3, Chapter 4 of the Rules of the State Bar. 

The evidence of security for claims may be a certificate of insurance, a letter of credit, a written guarantee, or a written agreement executed by the applicant. It must be provided in a form acceptable to the State Bar and must be computed in U.S. dollars.

A Certificate of Good Standing must:

• Be issued by the entity that has the highest regulating bar admissions authority for that jurisdiction
• Contain your license number
• Indicate the date you were admitted to practice law in that jurisdiction
• State that you are currently in good standing
• Indicate your disciplinary history
• Contain an original ink signature, stamp, or seal from the jurisdiction
• Be issued within six months of the current application's submission

The MJP Program allows an attorney licensed in a U.S. jurisdiction other than California to receive limited rights to practice law in California, under one of the three destinations: Registered In-House Counsel (RIHC), Registered Legal Aid Attorney (RLAA), or Registered Military Spouse Attorney (RMSA). 

You can participate in the program if you are active, in good standing, and licensed to practice law in another U.S. jurisdiction and meet the other requirements pursuant to rules 9.41.1 and 9.45-9.48 of the California Rules of Court and Title 3 Division 3 Chapter 1 Articles 1-3 of the Rules of the State Bar. Other requirements to participate in the program include but are not limited to: 

• RIHC: reside in California and work at a qualifying institution, as defined by rule 9.46 of the California Rules of Court. 

• RLAA: work at an eligible legal aid organization, as defined by rule 9.45 of the California Rules of Court, and not have taken and failed the California bar exam within five years immediately preceding the initial application to register under the rule. 

• RMSA: reside in California; be married to, in a civil union with, or a registered domestic partner of, a Service Member; and not have taken and failed the California bar exam within five years immediately preceding the initial application to register as defied in rule 9.41.1 of the California Rules of Court. 

You are ineligible to participate in the MJP Program if you are only licensed in a foreign jurisdiction

All foreign-language documents must be accompanied by an English translation by a certified translator; the original foreign-language documents must also be submitted. 

No. Pursuant to rule 9.46 of the California Rules of Court and Title 3 Division 3 Chapter 1 Article 3 of the Rules of the State Bar, you must reside in California. As defined in rule 3.370(D), this means that you must live or be located in California on more than a temporary or transient basis.

The legal services you are authorized to provide are limited to advice regarding the law of the jurisdiction in which you are licensed and identified in the Foreign Legal Consultant application.