An attorney at law in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in court on the retainer of clients. As of January 1, 2023, there were 1,331,290 active lawyers in the United States. In terms of absolute numbers, the American legal profession was the largest in the world as of 2015, and it is thought to be the largest in the world in proportion to domestic population. A 2012 survey conducted by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell determined 58 million consumers in the U.S. sought an attorney in the last year and that 76 percent of consumers used the Internet to search for an attorney.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York is the intermediate appellate court in New York State. The state is geographically divided into four judicial departments of the Appellate Division. The full title of each is, using the "Fourth Department" as an example, the "Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department".
Admission to the bar in the United States is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in the jurisdiction. Each U.S. state and jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules and standards for bar admission. In most cases, a person is admitted or called to the bar of the highest court in the jurisdiction and is thereby authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction. Federal courts, although often overlapping in admission standards with states, set their own requirements.
Legal ethics are principles of conduct that members of the legal profession are expected to observe in their practice. They are an outgrowth of the development of the legal profession itself.
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students; it is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. As of fiscal year 2017, the ABA had 194,000 dues-paying members, constituting approximately 14.4% of American attorneys. In 1979, half of all lawyers in the U.S. were members of the ABA. In 2016, less than one third of the 1.3 million lawyers in the U.S. were included in the ABA membership of 400,000, with figures largely unchanged in 2024.
A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction.
The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate discipline, accepting attorney-member fees, and financially distributing sums paid through attorney trust accounts to fund nonprofit legal entities. It is directly responsible to the Supreme Court of California. Its trustees are appointed by the Supreme Court, the California Legislature, and Governor of California. All attorney admissions are issued as recommendations of the State Bar, which are then routinely ratified by the Supreme Court. Attorney discipline is handled by the State Bar Office of Chief Trial Counsel, which acts as prosecutor before the State Bar Court of California. The State Bar has been cited for its corrupt practices during the 21st century, and is subject to reforms issued by its governing body, the California Supreme Court.
A correspondence law school is a school that offers legal education by distance education, either by correspondence or online by use of the internet, or a combination thereof.
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are distinct practising certificates.
The performance test or "PT" is a section of bar examinations in the United States that is intended to mimic a real-life legal task that future lawyers may face. Of the three parts of most states' bar exams -- MBE, essay, and performance test—the performance test is supposed to be the most reflective of how well a candidate will perform outside of an academic setting.
The Louisiana Bar Exam is a three-day-long bar examination used to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in the state of Louisiana. It is the longest bar exam in the United States, consisting of 21 hours of examination on nine topic areas. To sit for the exam, an applicant must graduate from an ABA-accredited law school and be deemed of good moral character.
Purdue Global Law School, is an online law school based in Los Angeles, California. It is one of several schools within Purdue University Global. Established in 1998, Purdue Global Law was the United States' first fully online law school. The school is approved by the State Bar of California, but it is not accredited by the American Bar Association, making graduates ineligible to take the bar exam in most states other than California.
In the law of the United States, admission on motion refers to a procedure by which an attorney admitted to practice in one state or territory may obtain admission to practice in another state or territory without having to sit for the other jurisdiction's bar examination. Therefore, attorneys seeking admission on motion can be admitted to a jurisdiction without having to undergo any additional testing, except where the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is required. Instead, applicants simply file a motion or application with the state supreme court, board of bar examiners, or state bar association of the other jurisdiction, which typically must be accompanied by certificates of good standing from all other jurisdictions in which they are admitted and sufficient personal information to facilitate a background check of good moral character.
The Arizona Bar Exam is the exam administered by the Admissions Unit of the Certification and Licensing Division of the Supreme Court of Arizona. A satisfactory score on the Arizona Bar Exam is one of numerous requirements for admission to be admitted as an attorney in the State of Arizona.
A bar review is a series of classes that most law school graduates in the United States attend prior to taking a bar examination, in order to prepare for that exam. A typical bar review course will last for several weeks, beginning a few weeks after law school graduation and running until a few weeks before the next administration of the bar examination. "A full service bar review course prepares a student for both portions of a state's bar examination: multistate and state law. A supplemental bar review course prepares a student for only one portion of a state's bar examination". Classes may be held in person, online, or with prerecorded material delivered to the student.
The South Carolina Bar is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of South Carolina.
The American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC) are a set of rules and commentaries on the ethical and professional responsibilities of members of the legal profession in the United States. Although the MRPC generally is not binding law in and of itself, it is intended to be a model for state regulators of the legal profession to adopt, while leaving room for state-specific adaptations. All fifty states and the District of Columbia have adopted legal ethics rules based at least in part on the MRPC.
The Florida Bar is the integrated, or unified bar organization for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar in the United States. Its duties include the regulation and discipline of attorneys and the governance of Florida Registered Paralegals.
In the United States, those seeking to become lawyers must normally pass a bar examination before they can be admitted to the bar and become licensed to practice law. Bar exams are administered by states or territories, usually by agencies under the authority of state supreme courts. Almost all states use some examination components created by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). Forty-one jurisdictions have adopted the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), which is composed entirely of NCBE-created components.
