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No. The State Bar is unable to extend the period to request administrative review. The CBE will decide whether to accept an untimely request for administrative review.
The CBE will review your request and your application. The CBE may take any action it deems appropriate, including but not limited to granting you a positive determination, requesting more information, extending an offer of abeyance, or rendering an adverse determination.
If the CBE declines to grant you a positive determination, it will decide how long you must wait before you may submit a new Application for Determination of Moral Character, which could be the same or different from the time that was set by State Bar staff when it made the initial determination.
The notice of the adverse determination will provide you with the date on which you may submit a new Application for Determination of Moral Character. You are encouraged to engage in affirmative rehabilitative activities during the period you must wait to reapply.
Alternatively, you may choose to request administrative review by the Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE). If you request review by the CBE, the date on which you will be eligible to reapply may change, as it will be determined by the CBE in the event it issues an adverse determination.
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.
Some applicants have traveled extensively in the past three 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.
You must disclose all residences for the past three years, regardless of how long you resided at the location.
No. You are only required to disclose the addresses of the places you have lived within the past three years, including college and law school residences.
No. Some references may not be contacted. You may wish to remind your references to check their email spam folders periodically and to use the Google Chrome internet browser, if possible, when submitting the questionnaires to avoid potential technical issues.
Report military enlistment in the “Current/Previous Employment section” and the “Military Services” section of the moral character application. List your last duty station, supervisor, date of enlistment, and date of discharge (or the date you left active duty if you are currently on inactive status). An applicant who is discharged from active duty must also provide a DD-214 military discharge document that clearly indicates the type of discharge.
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.
The State Bar does not refer clients to lawyers or provide legal advice. We provide a directory of certified Lawyer Referral Services in your area who may be able to help you find a lawyer. Please see our Find Legal Professionals section for resources. The State Bar also publishes free legal information for consumers.
If you believe your lawyer has done something wrong, you can file a complaint with the State Bar. Complaints may be submitted online or by mail. If you have questions or need assistance in completing the form, call the State Bar’s Attorney Complaint Hotline at 800-843-9053. For more information on reporting a lawyer to the State Bar and handling other problems, read the legal guide If You Have a Problem with an Attorney.
If you have a complaint about a certified or uncertified LRS, you can file a complaint against the service with the State Bar. In order to promote public protection, the State Bar will review your complaint to determine if the LRS has violated Business and Professions Code Section 6155 and State Bar Rules.
For more information on certified lawyer referral services, contact LRS@calbar.ca.gov.
The due date is by March 30, or the next business day if that date falls on a weekend or holiday, each year during the annual license renewal process. The 2025 annual deadline is April 1, 2025. If you miss the deadline, you will be charged a penalty ($103 for active attorneys, $31 for inactive attorneys).
Activities that qualify for general MCLE credit must: (1) relate to legal subjects that are directly relevant to California attorneys, and (2) offer current, significant educational, professional, or practical content with the specific objective of increasing each participant’s professional competency as an attorney. Programs created primarily for nonattorney audiences (for example, general public, clients, or business staff) do not qualify and will not be approved for general MCLE credit. More on Standards for MCLE activity Approval.
IOLTA stands for Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts. Attorneys deposit client funds that they plan to hold briefly, or that are too small to earn interest for the client, into larger shared accounts. Over 73,000 attorneys make deposits in approximately 49,000 IOLTA accounts in California. As of September 2019, IOLTA accounts hold nearly $5 billion. Any interest earned on these accounts is paid by financial institutions to the State Bar, which in turn distributes those funds as grants to qualified nonprofit civil legal organizations throughout the state.
Refer to the State Bar’s IOLTA FAQ page for more information.
The State Bar’s mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system. Additionally, the State Bar of California’s strategic goals include “promot[ing] diversity and inclusion in the legal system.”
The State Bar encourages individual licensees to pay their annual fees online through My State Bar Profile. When it is necessary to mail a payment, you must include either a copy of your invoice which can be generated online in your profile, or a copy of your fee statement, which is available to download in My State Bar Profile. The only exception to this is if your payment clearly indicates your bar number and VAK (your VAK is an additional bank validation code provided on your invoice and fee statement).
Failure to include a copy of your invoice or fee statement with your mailed payment may result in your payment being rejected and subject you to nonconforming payment penalties.
The State Bar no longer accepts cash payments, and we do not accept payments in person or over the phone.
The commission explored policy issues relating to public access to attorney discipline history and expungement of discipline records.
With regards to posting discipline history, the Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System found that:
With regards to discipline record expungement, the Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System found that:
As a result, the commission recommended that the Board of Trustees:
Eligibility for expungement of the attorney discipline record would be based on no new discipline or active investigations during the period, and payment of all restitution.
The Contact webpage lists offices and phone numbers.
You can use the Attorney Search feature. Each attorney profile provides contact information, indicates whether the attorney is currently active and entitled to practice law, and has information on whether the attorney has ever been disciplined by the State Bar for professional misconduct.
If you feel that you have been victimized by someone who is not licensed to practice law, you can file a complaint with the State Bar so that we can investigate. There is no charge to file a complaint. You do not need to be a U.S. citizen, and the State Bar will not ask about your citizenship or immigration status.
The commission investigates all statements made in the candidate's Application for Appointment that the candidate submits to the Governor's office. In addition, confidential comment forms are sent to the following:
a. 50 to 75 names of persons provided by the candidate, who are reasonably likely to have knowledge of the candidate's qualifications (personal list);
b. a broad cross-section of the names of attorneys in the counties and the areas of law in which the candidate practices;
c. all judicial officers in each county where a candidate practices and seeks appointment, except for the County of Los Angeles;
d. at least 50 percent of all judicial officers if the candidate practices in the County of Los Angeles, and all judicial officers in any other county where the candidate seeks appointment;
e. all names listed in the candidate's Application for Appointment;
f. all justices of any appellate district where a candidate practices and all justices of the California Supreme Court;
g. all or at least 50 randomly selected prosecutors and criminal defenders, whichever number is less, in any county where a candidate practices criminal law and any other county where the candidate seeks appointment.
h. 75 names selected at random from the commission's mailing list.
The objective is to obtain a return of at least 50 Confidential Comment Forms that provide information that is sufficient and credible for a fair evaluation.
JNE was a pilot program in 1979. It was established pursuant to Government Code section 12011.5, effective January 1, 1980. Prior to creation of the commission, the Board of Trustees evaluated candidates.
Courses required by AB 1825 (mandatory sexual harassment awareness and prevention training for personnel managers) are approved for recognition and elimination of bias MCLE credit.
Yes, however, a live podcast can only be approved retroactively. A prerecorded podcast may be approved in advance of air date if a transcript of the podcast is submitted as part of the application.
No, the same instruction time cannot be allocated to more than one subfield. The instruction time can, however, be divided among multiple subfields.
Any active status attorney who can demonstrate total 2024 gross annual individual income from all sources of less than ($60,478.35) may qualify for a 25 percent reduction in their annual license fee.
The State Bar may conduct a random audit of scaling applications during the billing year and applicants may be required to submit tax forms and other proof of financial condition.
No, only those paying the active rate qualify for fee scaling.
The State Bar is using eConciliador to administer the Program. eConciliador is a secure online platform that helps settle claims efficiently and quickly.
No, you don’t need to provide any financial documents to receive an offer to settle for less than what you owe. For attorneys not allowed to practice law as of January 1, 2025 and who cannot afford the settlement offer, the State Bar will ask for more information to determine if extreme financial hardship should be considered in accepting a lower settlement for collections purposes only.
When you sign the Settlement Agreement, the State Bar will recall your debt from FTB within two weeks. Any payments already in transit from FTB to the State Bar at that time belong to the State Bar and will not be refunded to you.
Please email collections@calbar.ca.gov for information on how the outcome of your bankruptcy proceeding affected debt owed to the State Bar.
Employers, regardless of sector, that employ California-licensed attorneys are eligible to participate in the DEI Leadership Seal Program. This includes, but is not limited to, law firms of all sizes, in-house legal departments, legal academia, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies with attorney staff.
DEI Leadership Seal recipients must submit an annual attestation form to confirm that they continue to have at least five of the ten Action Items implemented. Current seal recipients must submit the DEI Leadership Seal Attestation form annually.
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