Certification or Licensing
The National Board of Trial Advocacy offers voluntary board certification in civil law, family law, social security disability advocacy law, and other areas. Contact the board for more information, https://www.nbtalawyers.org. Board certification is also provided by specialty legal associations such as the American Board of Certification (https://www.abcworld.org), which offers voluntary certification to bankruptcy attorneys in business bankruptcy, consumer bankruptcy, and creditors’ rights law.
Every state requires that lawyers be admitted to the bar of that state before they can practice. They require that applicants graduate from an approved law school and that they pass a written examination in the state in which they intend to practice. In a few states, graduates of law schools within the state are excused from these written examinations. After lawyers have been admitted to the bar in one state, they can practice in another state without taking a written examination if the states have reciprocity agreements; however, they will be required to meet certain state standards of good character and legal experience and pay any applicable fees.
Federal courts and agencies have their own rules regulating admission to practice. Other requirements vary among the states. For example, the states of California, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington allow a person who has spent several years reading law (through a structured apprenticeship program known as a bar apprentice) in a law office but has no college training or who has a combination of reading and law school experience to take the state bar examination. Few people now enter law practice in this manner.
A few states accept the study of law by correspondence. Some states require that newly graduated lawyers serve a period of clerkship in an established law firm before they are eligible to take the bar examination.
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