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ILLINOIS BOARD of ADMISSIONS to THE BAR

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Information & Applications » Rule 716 - Limited Admission of House Counsel » Rule 716 Instructions


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Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar
Limited Admission of House Counsel Under Rule 716
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Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar
625 South College Street
Springfield IL 62704
Phone 217-522-5917;
Fax 217-522-3728 and -6589

INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING APPLICATION FOR LIMITED ADMISSION OF HOUSE COUNSEL UNDER RULE 716

The Board of Admissions to the Bar generally communicates with applicants and others electronically rather than on paper. As an applicant, you are required regularly to review all announcements and information posted on our website www.ILBarAdmissions.org, to maintain at all times a current email address on your personal IL Bar Admission registration page, and regularly to read all email sent to that address. It is your responsibility to add @ILBarAdmissions.org to your email address book and make sure that your internet service provider is not incorrectly filtering correspondence from @ILBarAdmissions.org. Accordingly, you are charged with knowledge of all announcements and information posted on our website and with receipt of all correspondence sent to the email address provided on his or her personal IL Bar Admissions registration page.

The qualifying requirements for limited admission of house counsel are outlined in Illinois Supreme Court Rule 716. Click here to read Rule 716. Please read and understand these requirements before making application under Rule 716.

I. FEE PAYMENT OPTIONS The application fee for limited admission of house counsel is $1,500. Pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 706, the fee is nonrefundable and shall be paid in advance. A fee will not be refunded on any basis, including failure to qualify or change of plans.

The application fee may be paid in one of two ways. First, immediately after electronically filing your application forms, you may charge the fee on our website to an authorized credit card. A $15 convenience fee will be added to each credit card payment. Note that the electronically-filed application is automatically and simultaneously submitted with the credit card payment. If the credit card payment is denied, the application will not be automatically and electronically submitted. It is your responsibility to ensure that both payment and application are processed and received appropriately and timely.

Alternatively, you may submit the fee with the paper portion of your application. The Board will accept a certified check, cashier's check, or money order made payable to the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar in the correct amount only. The Board will not accept cash, personal checks, corporate checks, law firm checks, or travelers' checks. Your name exactly as it appears on your Character and Fitness Questionnaire must be clearly printed on the check or money order. 

II. REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION
Below is a list of the required forms. Further explanation of the forms and contents required will follow.

Forms filed ONLY electronically and NOT in paper form
1. Application for Limited Admission of House Counsel;

2. Character & Fitness Questionnaire;

3. Illinois State Police Criminal History form.

Forms and documents filed ONLY in paper form
1. All external records and other documents, such as court, military, and police records, that are required to be submitted to the Board as a result of your answers to the Character & Fitness Questionnaire;

2. Certification of Juris Doctorate;

3. Certification of Officer, Director, or General Counsel of Applicant's Employer;

4. Certificate(s) of Good Standing from the clerk of the supreme court of each jurisdiction in which you are licensed;

5. Certificate(s) or Letter(s) from the disciplinary authority of each jurisdiction in which you are admitted;

6. Proof from NCBE of your passing the MPRE if you have been licensed and practiced law for fewer than 15 years;

7. If not charged to a credit card from our website immediately prior to the electronic filing of forms, a certified check, cashier's check, or money order in the amount of $1,500 made payable to the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar.

8. Court purpose driving record for the last 10 years in all jurisdictions you have held a driver’s license. 

III. MAKING APPLICATION
Applying for limited admission of house counsel is a two-step process. The first step involves the completion and electronic filing from this website of the Application for Limited Admission of House Counsel form and the full Character & Fitness Questionnaire. The second step involves the printing of additional paper forms, their completion by you, your employer, and your law school, gathering additionally required external documents, and filing these forms and documents with the Board.

A. Here is what you must do at this website.
1. Type your answers onto the Application for Limited Admission of House Counsel form and onto the Rule 716 Character & Fitness Questionnaire. In doing so please note the following:

NAME. Your name will appear on your law license EXACTLY as set forth on the Character & Fitness Questionnaire. Make certain that your name is typed exactly as you wish it to appear on your license; 

MAILING ADDRESS. All communications, when not able to be emailed, will be sent to the mailing address entered on your Character & Fitness Questionnaire. This address will also determine to which judicial district your file will be assigned for purposes of character & fitness review. A personal interview with a member of the Character and Fitness Committee may be required; applications are not subject to geographic reassignment after having been referred to a Committee member. Applicants with Missouri mailing address near St. Louis will be referred to a Committee member in southern Illinois, and all others outside Illinois will be assigned to a Committee member in Cook County (Chicago).

2. Type your answers onto the Illinois State Police Criminal History form.

3. After completing the Application for Limited Admission of House Counsel form, the Character & Fitness Questionnaire, and the ISP Criminal History form, print one paper copy of each form for your records; you will NOT file paper copies of these forms with the Board, and the Board will NOT at any time provide paper copies to you.

4. Collectively and electronically file the completed Application for Limited Admission of House Counsel form, the Character & Fitness Questionnaire, and the ISP Criminal History form. Once again, these forms are NOT filed in paper form.

5. Type your name onto the Illinois Authorization and Release. The Authorization and Release is filed electronically, NOT in paper form. 

6. Type your name following the words 'the employer of' on the third line of the Certification of Officer, Director, or General Counsel of Applicant's Employer form. Print and send one copy of the form to your employer for completion and return to you for filing with the balance of the paper portion of your application. The Certification of Officer, Director, or General Counsel form is NOT electronically filed.

7. Type your name following the words 'and that' on the second line of the Certification of Juris Doctorate. Print and send one copy of the Certificate to the dean of your law school for completion and return to you for filing with the balance of the paper portion of your application; the Certification of Juris Doctorate is NOT electronically filed.

B. Here is what else you must do to prepare the necessary PAPER forms and any external PAPER documents for filing with the Board.
1. Gather all external records and other documents, such as court and police records, required to be submitted to the Board as a result of your answers to the Character & Fitness Questionnaire.

2. For the Certification of Officer, Director or General Counsel of Applicant's Employer form, once you have filled in your own name on the third line of the Certification form, you will print one copy and forward the original to your employer for completion and return to you for filing. The Certification form is NOT electronically filed. 

3. The Certification of Juris Doctorate must be completed by the dean of your law school and returned to you for filing. The Certificate must evidence your receipt of a first degree in law from a law school approved by the American Bar Association at the time you graduated. The completed Certification of Juris Doctorate is to be filed as part of the PAPER portion of your application, NOT electronically. 
Forward the Certification of Juris Doctorate to the dean of your law school for completion and return to you for filing.

4. Obtain from the clerk of the supreme court in every jurisdiction in which you have ever been licensed a Certificate of Good Standing, certifying that you have been admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction, and your current standing with that bar. The form will be supplied by each such jurisdiction. Such certificates must be obtained from the supreme court of each country, US State, US Territory, and the District of Columbia in which you are admitted; you need not obtain such certificates from the system of federal courts. You must be on active status in at least one jurisdiction.

If you have ever held a limited license in any jurisdiction (such as an in-house counsel license), obtain from the clerk of the supreme court of that jurisdiction certification of your admission and the current status of that license.

5. Obtain from the disciplinary authority of each jurisdiction in which you have ever been admitted a certificate or letter either stating that you have not been suspended, disbarred, or disciplined, and that a) no charges of professional misconduct are pending, OR b) identifying any suspensions, disbarments, or disciplinary sanctions, and any pending charges. The form will be supplied by each such authority. This applies to both full licenses and limited licenses.

6. For applicants who have been licensed and practiced law in a US jurisdiction for fewer than 15 years, obtain from the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) proof that you have passed the MPRE in Illinois or in any jurisdiction in which it was administered.

You must have achieved a scaled score of 80 or more points.

You must have your MPRE score sent to the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar at 625 South College Street, Springfield, IL 62704, by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which administers the examination. You can register for the MPRE online at http://www.ncbex.org/multistate-tests/mpre/.

If you have previously taken the MPRE and wish to transfer your score to Illinois, you can download the MPRE Score Report Request form at http://www.ncbex.org/fileadmin/mediafiles/downloads/Test_PDFs/MPRE_PDFs/MPRE-ScoreReportRequestForm.pdf.

Alternatively, you may forward a check for $15 made payable to the NCBE with a written request for transfer to MPRE Records Department, 301 ACT Drive, PO Box 451, Iowa City IA 52243-0451. Include the following info in your request: full name, address, SSN, date of birth, MPRE test date, signature, and the request that your score is sent to ILLINOIS. Score reports with valid scores sent to Illinois stamped "unofficial" by the NCBE will be accepted. If you have questions regarding the MPRE, please call 319-341-2500. E-mail mpre.registration@act.org for registration information or mpre.score@act.org for scoring information. 

7. For applicants holding foreign law degrees and licenses only, attach proof of completion of the course on ethics for foreign lawyers approved by the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.

8. For your own records, make copies of all paper documents submitted. These copies should be retained with all forms and documents submitted electronically to the Board. Copies of forms and documents submitted to the Board electronically and/or in paper form will not be subsequently available to you. 
I have read and understand Rule 716 and these instructions.
Yes
No