You start to review the Rules for the Admission of Attorneys and Counselors at Law. You see that you don’t strictly comply with the rules. You think you will need to submit a Verified Petition requesting a waiver of strict compliance but want help.
22 NYCRR 520.14 Application for Waiver of Rules provides:
The Court of Appeals, upon application, may in its discretion vary the application of or waive any provision of these rules where strict compliance will cause undue hardship to the applicant. Such application shall be in the form of a verified petition setting forth the applicant’s name, age and residence address, the facts relied upon and a prayer for relief.
You need to obtain an Order from the Court of Appeals granting a waiver of strict compliance with the bar examination eligibility rules.
Your reason for requesting a waiver of strict compliance could include any of the following:
- Time to File Admission Application Has Expired
- You passed the New York Bar Examination but did not timely submit your Proof of Moral Character. You are now ready to seek admission to practice law but can’t imagine having to actually sit through the exam again. What are your options?
- Admission Without Examination (sometimes referred to as waiving in or reciprocity)
- You want to be eligible to waive into New York to practice law based on reciprocity. You do not want to take the bar exam again. You wonder if your experience meets the strict time eligibility criteria. Does all your past professional experience constitute the actual practice law if it did not take place in the jurisdiction to which you were admitted? Will remote legal practice qualify? Are there any concerns about the unauthorized practice of law?
- Impediments to Eligibility for the New York Bar Exam
- Foreign Law School Graduate: You’re a foreign law school graduate whose school is not an ABA accredited law school. What are your options?
- Your Law School course of study: You’re a law school graduate whose course of study has been deemed to not strictly comply with the law school educational requirements in New York. What can you do?
By its very nature this area is extremely fact sensitive. You want advice from a waiver of compliance lawyer with extensive experience who has worked on many of these matters over the years to help guide you as to what has and has not qualified.
Here’s how I work to help.
We first work through your specific circumstance to determine the most efficient way to set forth the facts and do so in the most compelling manner possible consistent with the rules.
You benefit from working with someone who has extensive experience with submitting these types of Verified Petitions to the Court of Appeals for numerous clients over the course of many years. This experience will also allow me to first provide a good faith estimate of the chances for success prior to moving forward.
Clients then hire me to draft and file a verified petition that seeks a waiver of strict compliance based on their unique circumstances.