Rule 9 Legal Interns
Frequently Asked Questions
Rule 9 of the Admission to Practice Rules (APR) grants a limited license to practice law under the supervision of an attorney for law students and recent law school graduates. Read: APR 9 Legal Interns
The applicant must be a student enrolled and in good academic standing at an ABA-approved law school or in the Law Clerk Program and have completed two-thirds of a three-year program or five-eighths of a four-year program. Law school graduates may apply up to nine months after graduation from an approved law school.
A review for good moral character is also required. The applicant is expected to list ALL instances of citations, arrests, charges or convictions for a violation of any law including minor traffic violations, juvenile offenses and sealed records. For all instances other than minor traffic violations, provide a full description of the matter and documentation as described in the application. For minor traffic violations you may simply list the infraction, location and date.
The responsibility of full disclosure rests entirely upon the applicant. Failure to fully disclose as requested in this application may be considered a reflection on the applicant's moral character and may itself result in denial of the license. There cannot be too much disclosure. See APR 21-24 for more information. The supervising lawyer may be asked to review the completed application and acknowledge that he or she is aware of any disclosures. If you have any questions, contact the WSBA.
There is a $50 processing and administration fee to be paid upon the filing of the application. However, for applicants who will be practicing solely in the course of enrollment in a law school clinical education program that provides free legal services for low income clients the fee is waived.
There is no fee to apply for a change of supervisor unless the application fee was waived as above and the legal intern's new supervisor is not part of the law school clinic.
The applicant must complete and file two applications together with the $50 fee. One of the applications may be a photocopy. Applications by fax are not accepted. Instructions are included with the Legal Intern Application.
The WSBA reviews the applications and, when appropriate, sends a recommendation to the Supreme Court for the legal intern's license. The Supreme Court shall issue or refuse to issue the limited license of a legal intern. The Supreme Court's decision will be forwarded to the WSBA and the applicant will be informed of the Supreme Court's decision.
Completed applications for applicants who have already completed the required amount of legal study to qualify may take approximately two to three weeks for the license to be issued. In most instances, delayed processing of applications is due to missing information or incomplete forms. We will contact you for additional information if necessary.
If an application is filed prior to the applicant being fully qualified to be a Rule 9 Legal Intern (before the end of the term in which he or she will be qualified), the application will not be submitted to the Supreme Court until the applicant meets the requirements of APR 9. Generally, the applications are sent to the Court for licensing upon the qualifying date.
ONE CANNOT ACT AS A RULE 9 LEGAL INTERN UNTIL ORDERED BY THE COURT. Notification will be sent to the Legal Intern c/o Supervising Lawyer at the supervisor's mailing address on file with the WSBA.
The scope of practice can be found in APR 9(c) and (d). Note that the supervising lawyer must direct, supervise and review all of the work of the legal intern and both shall assume personal professional responsibility for any work undertaken by the legal intern while under the lawyer's supervision. Generally, if the function is not specified in APR 9, it should be assumed that the legal intern is not permitted to do it. Questions about scope of practice can also be referred to the court having jurisdiction over the matter.
The limited license as a legal intern is valid for a period of not more than 24 consecutive months, or 12 months after graduation from law school, whichever comes first.
Passing (or failing) the bar exam does not affect a Rule 9 limited license. Only completion of one's full admission to the bar would supersede the Rule 9 limited license. There is no extension of a Rule 9 license if it expires before one is admitted as a lawyer to the WSBA.
No. A Rule 9 license cannot be renewed or extended. Only the supervision can be updated and only within the eligible license period.
A proposed supervising lawyer must be an active member in good standing with the WSBA and have been actively engaged in the practice of law in the State of Washington or elsewhere for at least three years at the time the application is filed. If a disciplinary sanction has been imposed upon the lawyer within the five years immediately preceding approval of the application, the Board of Governors shall have the discretion to accept or reject the lawyer as a supervising lawyer.
The supervising lawyer must be willing to be responsible for the legal intern's work and provide training and oversight. Providing adequate supervision is the ethical duty of a supervising lawyer and failure to do so may be grounds for discipline.
Up to two supervising lawyers at different offices may be approved. Supervision by a lawyer in the same office is already authorized by the rule.
In most circumstances, a lawyer may supervise only one legal intern at a time. However, if the lawyer is employed with a recognized institution of legal aid, legal assistance, public defender or similar program furnishing legal assistance to indigents, or legal departments of a state, county or municipality, then the lawyer may supervise two legal interns at one time. In the case of a clinical course offered by an approved law school where such course has been approved by its dean and is directed by a member of its faculty and conducted within institutions or legal departments described above or the law school, each full-time clinical supervising lawyer may have supervision over 10 legal interns at one time.
No legal intern may receive payment from a client for the intern's services. However, nothing prevents a legal intern from being paid for services by the intern's employer or to prevent the employer from making such charges for the service of the legal intern as may otherwise be proper.
You will need to complete and file the Change of Supervision Form. The changes will be processed in one to two weeks.
You will need to complete and file the change of supervising lawyer form pay the $50 application fee.
When an intern leaves earlier than indicated on the supervising lawyer's declaration, the supervising lawyer should inform the WSBA in writing that the intern is no longer under his/her supervision. The supervising lawyer may use this form or write a letter with substantially the same information to amend his or her original declaration.
