September 2001

Reciprocal Admission Between Washington, Idaho and Oregon

by Robert D. Welden, WSBA General Counsel

Has the prospect of taking another bar exam caused you to think twice about practicing law in another state? Do you have clients who have legal business in Idaho or Oregon that requires them to hire out-of-state counsel? Does the nature of your law practice transcend the political boundaries of state lines? If so, this may be for you.

Idaho and Oregon have now made it possible for Washington lawyers to be admitted in their states without passing their respective bar exams. This is the result of a two-year project by a tri-state study group initiated by George Riemer, general counsel of the Oregon State Bar and a member of the Washington State Bar. Washington representatives to the study group included WSBA Governor Stephen J. Henderson, Chair of the Committee of Law Examiners Frank V. Slak Jr., and WSBA General Counsel Robert D. Welden.

Until recently, there were effectively only two ways a Washington lawyer could practice law in Idaho or Oregon. If the matter were in litigation, he could seek admission pro hac vice, i.e., associate in a particular case with a local lawyer who would be present at all proceedings. This form of limited admission is only available for lawyers handling matters in litigation; there is no comparable pro hac vice admission for a lawyer handling a multistate transactional matter. The only alternative was to take and pass the Idaho or Oregon bar exam. The same was true for an Idaho or Oregon lawyer wanting to handle a legal matter in Washington.

In 1999, Washington adopted a broad reciprocity admission rule. Now Idaho and Oregon have adopted reciprocal admission rules, limited to reciprocity between Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Idaho…s rule will be effective October 1, 2001; Oregon…s rule will be effective January 1, 2002. What does this mean for Washington lawyers who want to practice law in Idaho or Oregon?

Foremost, it means that it will be possible for Washington lawyers to become regularly admitted to practice in these states without taking the Idaho or Oregon bar examination. There are, however, other conditions that must be met:

As with any applicant to any bar, the Washington lawyer must be of good moral character.
To qualify for admission under the Idaho and Oregon rules, the applicant lawyer must have been admitted in Washington and practiced law in this state for a minimum of three years.
The applicant lawyer must complete 15 hours of continuing legal education in the other state…s practice, procedure and ethics. Idaho will require that this CLE be completed within six months of admission; Oregon will require completion of this CLE before admission.
The applicant must be a graduate of an ABA-approved law school, which means that Washington lawyers who qualified for our bar exam through the Law Clerk Program will not qualify for reciprocal admission in these two states.
The applicant must have passed the Washington, Idaho or Oregon bar exam, which means that a lawyer who is reciprocally admitted in Washington from some other state without taking the Washington bar exam will not qualify for reciprocal admission in Idaho or Oregon.
Oregon, which is the only state with a mandatory malpractice insurance rule, will require reciprocal admittees to comply with that rule.

Any lawyer who becomes admitted in more than one state will be subject to the Rules of Professional Conduct or their equivalent in each state. Disciplinary action taken in one state may result in similar or reciprocal discipline in any other state in which the lawyer is admitted.

Washington lawyers with questions about reciprocal admission in these other states should contact Idaho or Oregon for further information. For Idaho, call 208-334-4500 (ask for the admissions administrator or for Executive Director Diane Minnich). The Idaho rule is also posted on the Idaho State Bar Web site at http://www.state.id.us/isb. For Oregon, call General Counsel George Riemer at 503-431-6405.

Reciprocal admission is one aspect of a broader issue which is currently being studied by the WSBA, as well as by many other states and the ABA 좿 multijurisdictional practice. Many persons advocate for a change in the restrictions on lawyers practicing across state lines. The WSBA Future of the Legal Profession Study Group has spent the last year studying this issue as well as issues of multidisciplinary practice. Their recommendations, submitted to the Board of Governors in July, generally support the multijurisdictional practice rule changes in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct that will be submitted to the House of Delegates in August to provide "safe harbors" for certain types of interstate practice. They also propose similar amendments to Washington…s Admission to Practice Rules and the Rules of Professional Conduct. This debate likely will continue for the foreseeable future, and interested lawyers should watch Bar News and the WSBA Web site (www.wsba.org) for further developments. 긪

More Information

http://www.crossingthebar.com/JASGReport.htm

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