In Re: Rules Governing Admission to The Mississippi Bar
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Serial: 156169
IN THE SUPREM E COURT OF M ISSISSIPPI
No. 89-R-99012-SCT
IN RE: RULES GOVERNING
ADMISSION TO THE MISSISSIPPI BAR
ORDER
This matter is before the Court en banc on the Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions’
petition to amend Rule VI of the Rules Governing Admission to the Mississippi Bar to
eliminate the “permanent office” requirement. After due consideration, the Court finds that the
amendment of Rule VI and the Comments as set forth in Exhibit “A” will promote the fair and
efficient administration of justice.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Rule VI of the Rules Governing Admission to the
Mississippi Bar is amended as set forth in Exhibit “A” hereto. This amendment is effective on
August 1, 2009.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of this Court shall spread this order upon
the minutes of the Court and shall forward a true certified copy to West Publishing Company
for publication as soon as practical in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter, Third Series
(Mississippi Edition) and in the next edition of Mississippi Rules of Court.
SO ORDERED, this the 22 nd day of July, 2009.
/s/ Jess H. Dickinson
JESS H. DICKINSON, JUSTICE
FOR THE COURT
Exhibit A
RULE VI. ADM ISSION BY COM ITY AND RECIPROCITY
Section 1. Qualification of Applicant.
A. Provided that the laws of the state from which the applicant comes grant similar
privileges to attorney applicants from this state, any lawyer from another state whose
requirements for admission to the bar are equivalent to those of this state, who has practiced
not less than five (5) years and who certifies his intention to establish, within no more than
thirty (30) days after admission, a permanent office for the active practice of law in
Mississippi, may be admitted to practice in this state without passing the general bar
examination as to the applicant’s knowledge of law required of all other applicants by Rule IX
and upon complying with the other requirements as set out in these Rules Governing Admission
to the Mississippi Bar. The Board shall determine whether another jurisdiction grants "similar
privileges" to applicants from this state.
B. "A permanent office for the active practice of law" under Subpart A of this Section
is a place where the subject attorney intends to perform legal services on a regular basis as a
sole practitioner or in association with other attorneys, as a legal officer for a government
agency, corporation or other business organization, as a judge or other judicial officer, or as
a full-time teacher in a law school, and where he will be personally accessible to Courts, other
attorneys, and the public.
B. C. An applicant who has failed a bar examination administered in this jurisdiction
within five (5) years of the date of filing an application under this rule shall not be eligible for
admission under this Rule VI.
C. D. An applicant who has been subject to discipline in another state for conduct which
would make the applicant ineligible for admission in this state shall not be eligible for
admission under this Rule VI.
[Effective November 1, 1991; amended effective October 1, 2008 as set forth in the
Comment.; amended effective August 1, 2009.]
...
Comment
This amended rule does away with the requirement of a one (1) day attorney’s examination on
topics of Mississippi law for attorneys seeking to establish a practice in Mississippi and returns
the rule to its pre-1979 format of allowing complete reciprocity with other states granting
similar privileges to M ississippi lawyers. The amended rule requires that any lawyer from
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another state which requires Mississippi attorneys to be examined before admission must take
the entire Mississippi Bar Examination.
The rule retains the requirement that an out-of-state lawyer establish a permanent office in
Mississippi for the practice of law. It is not the intention of this rule to provide an alternative
means of admission for temporary practice in Mississippi, which is governed by the pro hac
vice admission rules of the Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure.
The five (5) year practice of law requirement contemplates that the work done by the applicant
be of a general legal nature but not work that is very narrow in scope, is of a type which need
not be performed by an attorney, or does not generally require the services of an attorney. An
attorney's five (5) years of prior practice must have constituted a full-time or regular
undertaking and not have been on only an occasional or haphazard basis.
For the purposes of this Rule, the active practice of law does not include work that, as
undertaken, constituted the unauthorized practice of law in the jurisdiction in which it was
performed or in the jurisdiction in which the clients receiving the unauthorized services were
located.
[Amended effective August 1, 2009.]
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