Under rule 9.49, a PLL is allowed to provide a broad array of legal servicesfor clients, including appearing before a court; drafting legal documents,such as contracts, transactional documents, and pleadings; engaging in negotiations and settlement discussions; and providing other legal advice, provided that the work is performed underthe supervision of their Supervising Lawyer. The limits on what a PLL can do, or what needs to be done under direct versus general supervision, are largely left to the Supervising Lawyer to determine based on the readiness of the PLL.

For those admitted to the program prior to December 31, 2022, the Supreme Court extended the Original PLP to May 31, 2023, or, in some cases, to December 31, 2025. The program will terminate on May 31, 2023, for any participant who has not yet satisfied all of the program requirements other than passing the California Bar Exam. If bar passage is the only remaining requirement to be satisfied, the PLL can continue in the program through December 31, 2025.

No, you can apply for the program before your moral character determination is completed. If your PLP application is based on having submitted a complete Application for Determination of Moral Character, please note that your PLP application will not be considered until the moral character application is deemed complete by the State Bar 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.”

Under rules 9.49 and 9.49.1, a PLL is allowed to provide a broad array of legal services for clients, including appearing before a court; drafting legal documents, contracts, transactional documents, and pleadings; engaging in negotiations and settlement discussions; and providing other legal advice, provided that the work is performed under the supervision of a qualifying supervising lawyer. The limits on what a PLL can do, or what needs to be done under direct versus general supervision, are largely left to the supervising attorney to determine the readiness of the PLL.

• 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. They must not be ineligible to practice, actually 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.

Provide as much responsive information as possible. If you are unable to obtain responsive information after conducting a diligent search and contacting others who might have the information, such as an attorney who represented you, indicate that you have conducted such a search and are unable to obtain certain information, and detail the steps you took. An omission of responsive information with no explanation may delay the processing of your moral character application.

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.

No. There is no act of misconduct that automatically disqualifies an applicant from obtaining a positive moral character determination. The State Bar makes moral character determinations on a case-by-case basis, considering each applicant’s history. When an applicant has criminal history, the State Bar determines whether sufficient rehabilitation has occurred to warrant a positive moral character determination. Please review the Moral Character Guidelines for additional related information.

Yes. A certified copy of each out-of-state driving record must be uploaded to the moral character application prior to submission. An application received without the out-of-state driving record(s) will be considered incomplete and will delay the processing of the moral character application.

Yes. You must disclose all employment that is law-related or is not law-related, occurred during the last five years, and lasted more than six months, even when the employer is no longer operating. You do not need to provide a defunct employer’s address, email address, or phone number; however, if you have contact information for your former supervisor from the business, you must provide this information in your application.