Supreme Court of Florida

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No. SC21-187

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IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO RULE 4-13.4 OF THE RULES OF 

THE SUPREME COURT RELATING TO ADMISSIONS TO THE 

BAR.

February 10, 2022

CORRECTED OPINION

PER CURIAM.

The Court, on its own motion, amends Rule of the Supreme 

Court Relating to Admissions to the Bar 4-13.4 (Alternative Method 

of Educational Qualification). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 

15, Fla. Const.; Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(d).

Under rule 4-12 (Requirement to Submit), all applicants 

seeking admission to The Florida Bar must take the Florida Bar 

Examination, which consists of the General Bar Examination and 

the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. To be 

eligible to take the General Bar Examination under rule 

4-13.1 (Educational Qualifications), an applicant must be a J.D. or 

LL.B. graduate of an ABA-accredited law school or be found 
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educationally qualified under rule 4-13.4 (Alternative Method of 

Educational Qualification). Currently, to be educationally qualified 

under rule 4-13.4(a)(1), foreign-educated applicants must provide 

evidence that they have been practicing law for at least ten years in 

a jurisdiction of the United States, that they are in good standing in 

that jurisdiction, and that they have not been suspended or 

disbarred in the prior ten years. Under rule 4-13.4(a)(2), foreigneducated applicants must provide work-product samples from the 

preceding ten years that are “illustrative of his or her expertise and 

academic and legal training.” Then, under rules 4-13.4(d) and (e), 

the Florida Board of Bar Examiners has broad discretion when 

evaluating whether the submitted material “shows that the 

applicant is a lawyer of high ability whose reputation for 

professional competence is above reproach.”

In the March 2021 edition of The Florida Bar News, the Court 

published for comment amendments it was considering, on its own 

motion, to rule 4-13.4. The Court received two comments and held 

oral argument. Following oral argument, the Court published for 

comment refinements to its previously published proposal and 

received three comments. Having considered the comments and 
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having had the benefit of oral argument, the Court hereby adopts 

the revised proposed amendments to rule 4-13.4 as discussed 

below.

First, after the title of the rule, a sentence is added providing 

that an applicant who does not meet the educational qualifications 

in rule 4-13.1 must meet the requirements of either subdivision (a) 

or subdivision (b).

Next, subdivision (a) is renamed to “Applicants without an 

LL.M.” The current text of subdivision (a) remains the same, except 

that ten years is reduced to five years throughout subdivision (1), 

and the last sentence of subdivision (2), which requires that a 

compilation of work product be confined to the applicant’s most 

recent ten years of practice, is deleted. Thus, as amended, rule 

4-13.4(a) requires a foreign-educated applicant without an LL.M. to 

have practiced for five years in the United States, not have been 

suspended or disbarred in the five years prior to applying for 

admission to The Florida Bar, and to submit a representative 

compilation of work product in the field of law showing the scope 

and character of the applicant’s previous experience and practice.
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Also, a new subdivision (b), titled “Applicants with an LL.M.,” 

is added that outlines the requirements for applicants with an 

LL.M. from an ABA-accredited law school that meets the curricular 

criteria adopted by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. New 

subdivision (b) requires that an applicant with an LL.M. submit 

evidence that the applicant was engaged in the practice of law for at 

least two years in the United States and was not suspended or 

disbarred in the two years prior to applying for admission to The 

Florida Bar. Like amended subdivision (a)(2), it also requires that 

the applicant submit a representative compilation of work product 

showing the scope and character of the applicant’s previous 

experience and practice.

Last, subdivisions (b)-(d) are redesignated (c)-(e) to 

accommodate new subdivision (b), and subdivision (e) (Board 

Discretion) is amended to include a reference to new subdivision (b).

Accordingly, we amend Rule of the Supreme Court Relating to 

Admissions to the Bar 4-13.4 as reflected in the appendix to this 

opinion. New language is indicated by underscoring; deletions are 

indicated by struck-through type. The amendments shall become 

effective immediately upon release of this opinion.
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It is so ordered.

CANADY, C.J., and POLSTON, LABARGA, LAWSON, MUÑIZ, and 

GROSSHANS, JJ., concur.

COURIEL, J., recused.

THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER 

THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS.

Original Proceeding – Rules of the Supreme Court of Florida 

Relating to Admissions to the Florida Bar

Jennifer Martinez Mooney, Chair, Michele A. Gavagni Executive 

Director, and James T. Almon, General Counsel, Florida Board of 

Bar Examiners, Tallahassee, Florida; Samantha Abeysekera, 

Sarasota, Florida; James M. Meyer and Ana M. Barton on behalf of 

the International Law Section of the Florida Bar, Miami, Florida; 

and Antony Page, Dean, Florida International University College of 

Law, Miami, Florida, Erin O’Hara O’Connor, Dean, Florida State 

University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida, and Nell Jessup 

Newton, Interim Dean, University of Miami School of Law, Coral 

Gables, Florida,

Responding with comments
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APPENDIX

4-13.4 Alternative Method of Educational Qualification. An 

applicant who does not meet the educational qualifications in rule 

4-13.1 must meet the requirements of either subdivision (a) or 

subdivision (b). 

(a) Applicants without an LL.M.Not Meeting Educational 

Qualifications. An applicant who does not meet the educational 

qualifications in rule 4-13.1, must meet the following requirements:

(1) evidence as the board may require that the applicant 

was engaged in the practice of law for at least 105 years in the 

District of Columbia, in other states of the United States of America, 

or in federal courts of the United States or its territories, 

possessions, or protectorates (federal courts are not limited to 

Article III Courts), was in good standing at the bar of the 

jurisdictions in which the applicant practiced, and was not 

suspended or disbarred from the practice of law in the 105 years 

prior to applying for admission to The Florida Bar; and

(2) a representative compilation of the work product in 

the field of law showing the scope and character of the applicant’s 

previous experience and practice at the bar, including samples of 

the quality of the applicant’s work, including pleadings, briefs, legal 

memoranda, contracts, or other working papers that the applicant 

considers illustrative of his or her expertise and academic and legal 

training. The representative compilation of the work product must 

be confined to the applicant’s most recent 10 years of practice and 

must be complete and include all supplemental documents 

requested.

(b) Applicants with an LL.M. 

(1) an LL.M. degree from an accredited law school, or 

within 12 months of accreditation, where the program meets the 

curricular criteria for the practice of law in the United States of 

America adopted by the board and published on board’s website;
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(2) evidence as the board may require that the applicant 

was engaged in the practice of law for at least 2 years in the District 

of Columbia, in other states of the United States of America, or in 

federal courts of the United States or its territories, possessions, or 

protectorates (federal courts are not limited to Article III Courts), 

was in good standing at the bar of the jurisdictions in which the 

applicant practiced, and was not suspended or disbarred from the 

practice of law in the 2 years prior to applying for admission to The 

Florida Bar; and

(3) a representative compilation of the work product in 

the field of law showing the scope and character of the applicant’s 

previous experience and practice at the bar, including samples of 

the quality of the applicant’s work, including pleadings, briefs, legal 

memoranda, contracts, or other working papers that the applicant 

considers illustrative of his or her expertise and academic and legal 

training.

(bc) Deadline for Filing Work Product. To be considered timely 

filed, the work product must be complete with all required 

supplemental documentation and filed by the filing deadline of the 

General Bar Examination as required by rule 4-42. Work product 

initially filed incomplete and perfected after the deadline will not be 

considered timely filed. Late or incomplete work product will be 

given consideration for admission into the next administration of 

the bar examination for which the deadline has not passed.

(cd) Acceptance of Work Product. If a thorough review of the 

representative compilation of the work product and other materials 

submitted by the applicant shows that the applicant is a lawyer of 

high ability whose reputation for professional competence is above 

reproach, the board may admit the applicant to the General Bar 

Examination and accept score reports from the National Conference 

of Bar Examiners or its designee.

(de) Board Discretion. In evaluating academic and legal 

scholarship under subdivision (a) and subdivision (b), the board is 

clothed with broad discretion.