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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.
Contact the LAP office for details about the income eligibility requirements and the application process. Financial assistance can cover up to one year of LAP group fees and one year of lab testing fees.
For more information, see the LAP Growth Grant Criteria.
There is no set time for Support LAP. It is completely voluntary. Participants can enroll, withdraw, and re-enroll whenever they want to.
After submitting your completed membership enrollment card, allow one to two weeks for delivery, then check Attorney Search to confirm your enrollment and find your bar number. If you do not see your name on the State Bar website after two weeks from the date you submitted the card, call 888-800-3400 or email AttorneyRegulation@calbar.ca.gov.
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 First-Year Law Students’ Exam (FYLSX) will be administered primarily in person at various Prometric test centers. Once approved to take the exam, you will receive an email detailing how to make your exam appointment with Prometric.
At the joint meeting on August 14, 2025, the Board of Trustees and the Committee of Bar Examiners set the new fees for the PLP. Please find them below.
A PLL must:
• Expressly refer to themselves orally and in writing as a Provisionally Licensed Lawyer and/or participant in the State Bar’s Provisional Licensure Program and not describe themselves as a fully licensed lawyer or imply in any way orally or in writing that they are a fully licensed lawyer.
• Follow the same professional conduct rules as all fully licensed lawyers.
• Agree to be subject to the disciplinary authority of the Supreme Court of California and the State Bar with respect to the laws and rules governing the conduct of lawyers.
• Attest that they will not practice California law other than under the supervision of an approved Supervising Lawyer during the time they are provisionally licensed.
• Be employed by or volunteering at the firm (as defined in rule 9.49) where the Supervising Lawyer works, which must have an office located in California.
• Immediately report the termination of supervision by their Supervising Lawyer to the State Bar.
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:
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.
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.
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