In the Supreme Court of Georgia

Decided: September 8, 2021

S21Z0781. IN THE MATTER OF BARRY DEAN CAROTHERS.

 PER CURIAM.

Barry Dean Carothers appeals the decision of the Georgia 

Board of Bar Examiners denying his motion for admission to the 

State Bar of Georgia on motion without examination. Because we 

agree with Carothers that the Board erred by concluding that he has

not been “admitted by examination” to the bar of a reciprocal 

jurisdiction, we reverse the Board’s decision.

1. Background

Carothers was admitted to the Florida Bar by examination in 

1990. He was also later admitted by motion (without examination)

to the bars of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and West 

Virginia. Then, in February 2020, Carothers took the Uniform Bar 
2

Examination (“UBE”) in South Carolina and received a score of 267.1

Based on that examination score and his completion of that state’s

other admission requirements, he was admitted to the South 

Carolina Bar. Carothers also applied for admission to the Alabama 

Bar by transferring his score on the same UBE. Because he met 

Alabama’s UBE score requirement and completed the state’s other 

admission requirements, he was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 

January 2021.

Carothers then applied to be admitted to the Georgia Bar on 

motion without examination based on Georgia’s reciprocity with 

 

1 The UBE is a uniformly administered, graded, and scored bar 

examination that results in a score that is portable, or transferable, between 

the jurisdictions using the UBE. See Chart 5: Uniform Bar Examination 

Jurisdictions – Admission by Examination or by Transferred UBE Score,

https://reports.ncbex.org/comp-guide/charts/chart-5 (hereafter “Chart 5”). The 

UBE includes the Multistate Essay Examination, the Multistate Performance 

Test (“MPT”), and the Multistate Bar Examination (“MBE”). See

Understanding the Uniform Bar Examination, 

https://www.ncbex.org/pdfviewer/?file=%2Fdmsdocument%2F209. The UBE is 

used or will soon be used in 40 states and territories. See Chart 5. Each UBE 

jurisdiction sets its own passing score (varying from 260 to 280) and 

determines how long a UBE score remains eligible for transfer (varying from 

two years to five years). See id.

All websites referenced in this opinion were last visited on August 27, 

2021.
3

Alabama for bar admissions purposes. The Georgia Board denied his

application on February 8, 2021, on the ground he had not been 

“admitted by examination” to membership in the bar of a jurisdiction

that has reciprocity with Georgia, citing Part C, Section 2 (b) of this 

Court’s Rules Governing Admission to the Practice of Law (“Georgia 

Rules”). See In the Matter of O’Neal, 304 Ga. 449, 451 (819 SE2d 1)

(2018) (“This Court has the inherent and exclusive power to 

prescribe requirements for admission to the practice of law in order 

to promote the State’s fundamental interest in ensuring that 

members of the legal profession are competent.”).2 Carothers 

appeals that decision.

2. The Georgia Rule for Admission on Motion

Part C of the Georgia Rules allows applicants to be admitted to 

the Georgia Bar on motion rather than by passing the Georgia bar

examination if they meet certain requirements. The only 

requirement at issue in this case mandates that the applicant 

 

2 The Georgia Rules can be found online at 

https://www.gabaradmissions.org/rules-governing-admission.
4

[h]as been admitted by examination to membership in the 

bar of the highest court of another United States 

jurisdiction which has reciprocity for bar admissions 

purposes with the State of Georgia[.]

Georgia Rules Part C, Section 2 (b).3 It is undisputed that Carothers 

 

3 Part C, Section 2 says in full:

In order to petition the Board of Bar Examiners to be admitted 

without examination, an attorney licensed in a state other than 

Georgia must meet the following eligibility criteria. The attorney: 

(a) Must meet the educational eligibility requirements 

established in Part B, Section 4 of these Rules, including holding 

a first professional degree in law (JD or LL.B) from a law school 

approved by the American Bar Association; 

(b) Has been admitted by examination to membership in the 

bar of the highest court of another United States jurisdiction which

has reciprocity for bar admissions purposes with the State of 

Georgia; provided, however, that if the former jurisdiction of the 

applicant permits the admission of Georgia judges and lawyers 

upon motion but that jurisdiction’s rules are more stringent and

exacting and contain other limitations, restrictions and conditions, 

the admission of the applicant from that jurisdiction shall be 

governed by the same rules that would apply to an applicant from 

Georgia seeking admission to the Bar in the applicant’s former 

jurisdiction; 

(c) Has never been denied certification of fitness to practice 

law in Georgia or any other state; 

(d) Has never taken and failed the Georgia Bar Examination 

or the Georgia Attorneys’ Examination; 

(e) Has been primarily engaged in the active practice of law 

for five of the seven years immediately preceding the date upon 

which the application is filed; 

(f) Is currently or resigned while in good professional 

standing in every jurisdiction in which the applicant has been 

licensed to practice law; 

(g) Must receive Certification of Fitness to Practice Law in 

Georgia from the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants. 
5

has been admitted to the bar of the highest court of Alabama and 

that Alabama is a jurisdiction which has reciprocity with Georgia 

for bar admissions purposes.4 The Board contends, however, that 

Carothers was not “admitted by examination” to the Alabama Bar.

In considering the meaning of bar admission rules, we must 

afford the text its “‘plain and ordinary meaning,’” view it “in the 

context in which it appears,” and read it “in its most natural and 

reasonable way, as an ordinary speaker of the English language 

would.” Deal v. Coleman, 294 Ga. 170, 172-173 (751 SE2d 337) 

(2013) (citation omitted). See also City of Guyton v. Barrow, 305 Ga. 

799, 805 (828 SE2d 366) (2019) (noting that statutory interpretation

principles from Deal “apply to all positive legal rules”). We begin 

with the recognition that the Uniform Bar Examination is 

undeniably an “examination” under the ordinary meaning of that 

 

(h) Must state that he or she intends to engage in the 

practice of law in Georgia. 

(i) Must state that he or she has not engaged in the 

unauthorized practice of law in Georgia.

4 For a list of the 42 jurisdictions with which Georgia has reciprocity, see 

https://www.gabaradmissions.org/appinfo.action?id=3. Georgia does not have 

reciprocity with Florida or South Carolina.
6

word. See, e.g., The American Heritage Dictionary of English 

Language 618 (4th ed. 2000) (defining “examination” as “[a] set of 

questions or exercises testing knowledge or skill”). So the question 

is whether Carothers was “admitted by” this examination “to 

membership in the bar [of the reciprocal state].” Because we must 

determine how Carothers was admitted to the Alabama Bar, we 

must look to the Rules Governing Admission to the Alabama State 

Bar (“Alabama Rules”).

5

3. The Alabama Rules

Applicants may be admitted to the Alabama Bar without 

examination and by examination. As discussed below, under the 

Alabama Rules, Alabama’s bar examination consists of the UBE,

and applicants may take the UBE in Alabama or take the 

examination in a different jurisdiction and transfer the score they 

receive. The Georgia Board argues that using a transferred 

examination score is more akin to being admitted without 

 

5 The Alabama Rules can be found online at 

https://admissions.alabar.org/rules-governing-admission. 
7

examination, rather than by examination. But a review of the 

Alabama Rules refutes that argument.

(a) Admission to the Alabama Bar without examination

Rule III of the Alabama Rules covers “Persons Entitled to 

Admission Without Examination.” Applicants seeking admission

under this rule must show, among other things, that they have been 

admitted to practice law in another state, territory, or the District 

of Columbia; that the jurisdiction where they have had their 

principal place of business for the practice of law or where they have 

been “domiciled and admitted” has reciprocity with Alabama; that 

they have been primarily engaged in the active practice of law for 

five of the last six years; that they have not taken and failed the 

Alabama bar exam within the last 10 years; and that they are a 

permanent resident of Alabama or intend to conduct their primary 

practice of law in Alabama. See Alabama Rules, Rule III, Section A. 

Although these applicants must prove that they have received a 

score of at least 75 on the Multistate Professional Responsibility 

Examination (“MPRE”), there is no timing requirement as to when 
8

they must have taken that ethics test. See Alabama Rules, Rule III, 

Section A (j). Most important for our analysis, applicants for 

admission to the Alabama Bar without examination do not have to 

take the UBE, in Alabama or elsewhere. 

(b) Admission to the Alabama Bar by examination

Rule IV of the Alabama Rules covers “Persons Entitled to 

Admission by Examination”; it says that a person who is at least 19 

years old and has fulfilled certain other requirements, including 

education requirements, “is entitled to be examined for admission to 

the Alabama State Bar, at any examination held as prescribed by 

these Rules.” Rule VI (B), which is titled “Bar Examination,” then 

provides the rules governing the Alabama bar examination. 

Subsection C (6) of that rule, “Transfer of UBE Score,” says in part: 

An applicant who has taken the entire UBE in a single 

administration in another jurisdiction and earned a total 

UBE scaled score of 260 or above may transfer his or her 

UBE score and be excused from taking the UBE in 

Alabama, provided that the applicant otherwise satisfies 

the requirements of these Rules applicable to applicants

seeking admission by examination. The transferred UBE 

score will be valid for a period of no longer than 25 months 

after the date of administration of the UBE that resulted 
9

in the transferred score. 

(Emphasis added.) This rule plainly indicates that Alabama treats 

admission with a transferred UBE score as an “admission by 

examination,” and expressly permits applicants to apply under this 

rule even if they do not take the UBE in Alabama.

In terms of the substantive requirements for admission by 

examination, both applicants seeking admission with a transferred 

UBE score and applicants taking the UBE in Alabama must score 

at least a 260 on the UBE, score at least a 75 on the MPRE within 

25 months before or after taking the UBE,

6 and complete a course 

on Alabama law. See Alabama Rules, Rule VI (B), Sections A (2)-(3), 

C (1), E.7

 

6 Applicants taking the UBE in Alabama must take the MPRE within 25 

months before or after receiving a passing score on the UBE, and applicants

seeking to transfer their UBE score “must successfully complete the MPRE no 

earlier than 25 months before the date of administration of the UBE.” Alabama 

Rules, Rule VI (B) E.

7 Some requirements are common to applicants without examination and 

by examination, such as registering as a law student or paying a non-registrant 

fee, see Alabama Rules, Rule I, having proof of legal education, see Rules III, 

Section A (1) (b), and IV, Section B (1), and being approved by the Committee 

on Character and Fitness, see Rule V, B. These commonalities do not affect our 

analysis.
10

(c) Carothers’s Admission to the Alabama Bar

 

As the Board points out, there are some differences in the application 

process within the group of applicants by examination. Applicants taking the 

UBE in Alabama and applicants transferring their UBE scores use different 

application forms. See Information & Applications, 

https://admissions.alabar.org/information-and-applications. Of course, how an 

applicant chooses to take the qualifying examination affects what information 

the applicant needs to provide to the Alabama Board of Bar Examiners, which 

has chosen to use two different forms (rather than one form with two different 

sections) for applicants seeking admission by examination. But this paperwork 

distinction (which is not in the Alabama Rules) does not support the conclusion 

that admission with a transferred UBE score is akin to admission without 

examination, particularly because applicants seeking admission without

examination use a third, different form. Applicants transferring their UBE 

score also must pay a $300 higher application fee than those taking the UBE 

in Alabama. See Alabama Rules, Appendix (1) - (3), (5). And that higher fee 

happens to be the same amount that applicants seeking admission without 

examination must pay, see Alabama Rules, Appendix (4), although the fees are 

listed in different subsections of the Appendix. 

The differences in paperwork and fees may explain why in the 

“Frequently Asked Questions” section of the Alabama Bar Admissions website, 

the answer to the question “What are the different types of admission to the 

Alabama State Bar?” says “Individuals may be admitted to the Alabama State 

Bar in three ways: (1) by examination; (2) without examination by transfer of 

an acceptable Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) score; and (3) without 

examination through reciprocity.” Frequently Asked Questions, 

https://admissions.alabar.org/faq. However, the header on the FAQ section 

cautions that “[n]o information provided on this website overrides, waives, or 

amends the provisions of the rules and regulations.” And these administrative 

differences do not affect the substantive requirements of the examination that 

Alabama uses for admission to its bar “by examination” or the fact that the 

transfer of UBE scores is a component of the Alabama Rule entitled “Bar 

Examination.” Indeed, because the UBE is uniformly administered, graded, 

and scored, if Carothers had taken the UBE in Alabama instead of South 

Carolina, he would have taken the exact same bar examination. The Georgia

Board does not suggest that it would have denied Carothers’s application in 

that situation. 
11

The application requirements set forth in Rules III, IV, and VI 

(B) of the Alabama Rules illustrate how different applicants prove 

their worthiness to be admitted as members of the Alabama Bar. 

Applicants seeking admission without examination establish their 

legal competency through their prior admission to the bar of another 

state, territory, or the District of Columbia and their multi-year 

experience in the active practice of law. Applicants transferring a 

UBE score or taking the UBE in Alabama, on the other hand,

establish their legal competency through their performance on that 

bar examination. Under the Alabama Rules, applicants who are 

admitted to the Alabama Bar based on a transferred UBE score are

“admitted by examination” just as much as those who take the UBE 

in Alabama, and those applicants are quite clearly not admitted 

under the rule for admission “without examination.”

Neither Carothers nor the Georgia Bar contends that he met

the criteria for admission to the Alabama Bar without examination. 

Instead, he followed the requirements for admission by 

examination: he took the UBE, which is the bar examination used 
12

by Alabama; he achieved a passing score under the Alabama Rules; 

he timely transferred that score to Alabama; and he successfully 

completed the other requirements for admission by examination.

Thus, under the plain language of the Alabama Rules, Carothers

was “admitted by examination” to the Alabama Bar.

3. The Board’s Arguments

The Board argues, however, that the above analysis is flawed

because “admitted by examination” as that phrase is used in Part C, 

Section 2 (b) of the Georgia Rules should not be construed by 

considering the bar admission rules of the jurisdiction where the 

applicant was allegedly admitted by examination. Instead, the 

Board argues, this phrase should be defined by looking at certain 

provisions governing how applicants are “admitted by examination”

to the Georgia Bar. Part B of the Georgia Rules addresses admission 

requirements for people seeking to be admitted to the Georgia Bar 

by taking the Georgia bar examination. Based on its reading of Part 

B, the Board asserts that the Georgia bar examination must be 

administered in Georgia by Georgia officials, so for a person to be 
13

“admitted by examination” to another state’s bar, that person must 

have been admitted “by taking a bar examination in and 

administered by that state.” (Emphasis added.) 

The fundamental flaw in the Board’s argument, however, is 

that the text and context of Parts B and C of the Georgia Rules make 

clear that they address different means of admission to the Georgia 

Bar. There are a few overlapping requirements in Parts B and C, 

but in those few instances, the text of Part C expressly states which 

sections of Part B apply. See Part C, Section 2 (a) (explaining that 

applicants under Part C “[m]ust meet the educational eligibility 

requirements established in Part B, Section 4 of these Rules”); Part 

C, Section 4 (c) (explaining that once applicants have been issued a 

Certification of Eligibility for Admission to the Practice of Law, they

must “follow the procedures specified in Part B, Sections 14, 15, 16 

and 17 of these Rules in order to be sworn in by a judge of the 

Superior Court”). So the Georgia Rules are explicit when provisions 

of Part B are meant to be applied to applicants under Part C. See 

Turner v. Georgia River Network, 297 Ga. 306, 308 (773 SE2d 706)
14

(2015) (noting the longstanding tenet of statutory construction that 

“‘if some things are expressly mentioned, the inference is stronger 

that those not mentioned were intended to be excluded’” (citation 

omitted)). 

Conversely, it is clear that other provisions in Part B are not 

meant to apply in Part C. Part B, Section 2, for example, is entitled 

“Applications for Examinations” and has guidelines for when and 

how to file applications to take the Georgia bar examination. See, 

e.g., Georgia Rules, Part B, Section 2 (a) (“An application to take the 

February administration of the Georgia Bar Examination must be 

filed with the Office of Bar Admissions not later than the first 

Wednesday of the preceding January . . . .”). And Part B, Section 8 

provides the grading requirements of the Georgia bar examination. 

See, e.g., Part B, Section 8 (a) (“An applicant shall have passed the 

Georgia Bar Examination if he or she obtains a total score of 270 on 

the exam.”). Plainly, these procedures do not apply to applicants –

like Carothers – who are not seeking to take the Georgia bar 

examination but who had to meet the examination application 
15

deadlines and score requirements of a different jurisdiction. 

Part B also provides the substantive, content requirements for 

the Georgia bar examination, and those rules do not govern the 

content requirements of bar examinations in other jurisdictions, 

even those with which Georgia has reciprocity. For example, Part B, 

Section 6 (b) says that the Georgia bar exam includes “four essay 

questions prepared and graded by the Board of Bar Examiners,” and 

Section 6 (c) provides the possible topics of those Georgia-specific 

essays, including “Georgia Practice and Procedure.”

8 This 

examination requirement of four essays prepared by the Georgia 

Board on topics drawn from a Georgia-specific list is not present in 

any of the examinations used by the 42 jurisdictions with which 

Georgia has reciprocity.

In addition, the Board reads too much into the two Part B 

provisions on which it relies. It argues that Part B, Section 6 (a) 

 

8 The other parts of the Georgia bar examination are the MBE and the 

MPT. See Georgia Rules Part B, Section 6 (b). Georgia also allows attorneys 

who meet certain requirements to take the “Attorneys’ Examination,” which is 

composed of the essay portion and the MPT but does not include the MBE. See 

Georgia Rules Part D.
16

requires the Georgia bar examination to be taken in Georgia. But 

Part B, Section 6 (a) does not actually mandate that applicants be 

physically present in Georgia when they take the Georgia bar 

examination; it says that the exam will be administered “in Atlanta 

or such other location as the Board may designate.” (Emphasis 

added.) In fact, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Board 

designated the last three Georgia bar examinations to be 

administered remotely, meaning that applicants could take the 

exam from anywhere the internet reaches. See, e.g., July Bar Exam 

to be Remote, https://www.gasupreme.us/july-2021-bar-exam/. So 

the Board’s assertion that Georgia has an inflexible in-state 

examination requirement for our own bar exam is incorrect.

As support for its assertion that the Georgia bar examination 

must be taken in Georgia and be administered by Georgia officials,

the Board also relies on Part B, Section 8 (a), which says: “In 

determining whether an applicant has achieved 270 on the 

examination, the Board shall not use an MBE score from any prior 

examination, or an MBE score from an examination taken in any 
17

other jurisdiction.” However, this rule prohibiting the use of 

transferred MBE scores does not reflect an overarching policy 

against the use of any transferred scores as part of admission to the 

Georgia Bar by examination. For example, passage of the MPRE, 

which tests the applicant’s knowledge and understanding related to 

a lawyer’s professional conduct, is required for admission to the 

Georgia Bar by examination, see Georgia Rules Part B, Section 6 (f), 

and an applicant may take that ethics examination “at established 

test centers across the country,” Bar Examination Information, 

https://www.gabaradmissions.org/bar-examination-information.

The ethical competency of members of the Georgia Bar is no less 

important than their legal competency.

But the Board’s over-reading of these Part B rules is really 

beside the point, because where to administer the Georgia bar 

examination and whether to use transferred scores for the Georgia 

bar examination are rules found in Part B about the Georgia bar 

examination – an examination that is not at issue in this case, in 

which Carothers seeks to be admitted to the Georgia Bar under Part 
18

C on motion without taking the Georgia bar examination.9

 

9 The dissent begins with the assertion that it is applying the same 

canons of construction as we do, but then declines to construe “admitted by 

examination” as that phrase is used in Part C based on “its plain and ordinary 

meaning . . . in the context in which it appears.” Deal, 294 Ga. at 172-173. 

Instead, the dissent concludes that the phrase is a “term of art” referring to 

admission by examination “akin” to the type of examination that Georgia 

requires in a different context (Part B). There is nothing to support that

conclusion. The phrase is not defined in the Georgia Rules or even used 

anywhere in Part B, nor does the dissent point to any specific and precise

definition of this phrase customarily used by American bar admissions 

authorities. See Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019) (defining “term of art” 

as “[a] word or phrase having a specific, precise meaning in a given specialty, 

apart from its general meaning in ordinary contexts”). 

Moreover, as discussed in Division 2 above, the actual phrase at issue is 

not just “admitted by examination” but rather “admitted by examination to 

membership in the bar of the highest court of another United States jurisdiction 

which has reciprocity for bar admissions purposes with the State of Georgia,” 

which when read naturally, reasonably, and in its Part C context directs the 

reader to how the applicant was admitted to the bar of the reciprocal

jurisdiction, not to the Part B rules on admission by examination to the Georgia

Bar. And even if we mistakenly looked to Part B, the dissent, like the Board,

offers no textual justification for cherry-picking particular components of the 

Georgia bar examination process as the ones supposedly essential for 

“admission by examination” to the Alabama Bar. As to the main component 

that the Board cites – that the Georgia bar exam must be taken in Georgia –

the dissent properly acknowledges that the Georgia bar exam actually may be 

taken elsewhere if the Board so designates. And Alabama’s bar authorities 

have done exactly that – the Alabama Rules expressly authorize applicants for 

admission by examination to the Alabama Bar to take that state’s bar exam 

(which is the UBE) in other places. It may well be that more applicants seeking 

admission to the Alabama Bar by examination take the UBE in Alabama than 

outside Alabama, but that does not mean that those who take the exam outside 

Alabama, as the Alabama Rule on “bar examination” expressly allows, are not 

“admitted by examination” to that state’s bar.
19

4. Conclusion

As currently formulated, the plain language of the Georgia 

Rules does not require that every reciprocal jurisdiction’s standards 

for “admission by examination” mirror Georgia’s. Nor do our rules 

state or imply that differences, such as allowing the use of certain 

transferred exam scores, will render another jurisdiction’s process 

for admission by examination invalid. In short, the rule in Part C

allowing admission to the Georgia Bar on motion credits the 

examination processes of the jurisdictions with which Georgia has 

reciprocity, and the Board has no authority to alter or disregard that 

rule. See O’Neal, 304 Ga. at 451.10

 

10 The Board appears to be troubled by Alabama’s acceptance of 

transferred UBE scores. However, of the 42 jurisdictions with which Georgia 

has reciprocity, 36 jurisdictions use the UBE as a major component of their bar 

examinations, which means that they will accept transferred UBE scores. See 

Admission on Motion Without Examination, 

https://www.gabaradmissions.org/appinfo.action?id=3. Indeed, the whole point 

of the UBE is to provide “a portable score that can be transferred to other UBE 

jurisdictions.” Chart 5. Moreover, of the six reciprocity jurisdictions not 

currently using the UBE, all but Pennsylvania will accept transferred MBE 

scores. See Chart 8: Non–Uniform Bar Examination Jurisdictions – MPRE 

Requirements, MBE Score Transfers, and Attorneys’ Exams, 

https://reports.ncbex.org/comp-guide/charts/chart-8/#1610477606447-

d0d0e420-5067. And Pennsylvania will begin using the UBE in July 2022. See 
20

As made clear above, Carothers met Alabama’s requirements 

to be “admitted by examination” to the Alabama Bar, and he thereby 

fulfilled the requirement in Part C, Section 2 (b) of the Georgia Rules 

that he be “admitted by examination” to the bar of a state with which 

Georgia has reciprocity for purposes of bar admissions. Accordingly,

we reverse the Board’s decision denying Carothers’s motion for 

admission to the Georgia Bar without examination.

Decision reversed. All the Justices concur, except McMillian, 

Ellington, and Colvin, JJ., who dissent. 

 

Chart 5.

Thus, almost all (and soon all) of the jurisdictions with which Georgia 

has reciprocity allow at least some kind of score transfer to be used in their bar 

examination process. If the Georgia rule for admission on motion was meant 

to exclude applicants who were admitted elsewhere based on this nearly 

universal score-transfer practice, the rule would presumably say so explicitly.

If the Board has concerns about the examination standards of reciprocal 

jurisdictions, there may be valid policy reasons for the Georgia Rules to have 

additional requirements for applicants seeking admission on motion without 

examination. But no such requirements appear in the Georgia Rules now, nor 

is it clear why we should be concerned about transferred UBE scores but have

no concern when the exact same, widely used bar exam is physically taken in 

a reciprocal jurisdiction. In any event, if the Board believes that our rules

should be different, it can propose that the Court amend them for future 

applicants.
21

 MCMILLIAN, Justice, dissenting.

Because I believe that the Board correctly interpreted the plain 

text of the Georgia Rules to find that Carothers has not been 

admitted by examination to the bar of a reciprocal jurisdiction, I 

must respectfully dissent. 

The majority and I agree on the same starting point for our 

analysis of the Georgia Rules: we apply the same canons of 

construction that we do for other legal texts. That is, “we must afford 

the [legal] text its plain and ordinary meaning, we must view the 

[legal] text in the context in which it appears, and we must read the 

[legal] text in its most natural and reasonable way, as an ordinary 

speaker of the English language would.” Deal v. Coleman, 294 Ga. 

170, 172-73 (1) (a) (751 SE2d 337) (2013) (cleaned up).

But our analysis diverges after this point. At its essence, the 

majority’s analysis focuses on the dictionary definition of 

“examination,” looks at the Alabama Rules, and concludes that 

because the UBE falls under the dictionary definition of 

“examination” under the Alabama Rules, then Carothers was 
22

admitted by examination. The fallacy of this reasoning, however, is 

that the majority construes the phrase “admitted by examination” 

in the context of Alabama’s bar examination requirements. Instead, 

the question should be how Georgia defines “admitted by 

examination” in the context of its own Rules. A review of that phrase 

as used in the Georgia Rules shows that it is a term of art referring 

to admission by examination akin to the type of examination that 

Georgia requires. 

Part C, Section 2 (b) of the Georgia Rules does not define what 

it means to be “admitted by examination.” However, Part B, Section 

6 of the Georgia Rules sets out the requirements for what Georgia 

considers to be an examination for persons to be admitted to the 

Georgia Bar. The examination consists of three parts: 

(1) four essay questions prepared and graded by the Board 

of Bar Examiners; (2) the Multistate Bar Examination 

(MBE) prepared and graded by the NCBE;[11] and (3) the 

Multistate Performance Test (MPT) prepared by the 

NCBE and graded by the Board of Bar Examiners.

 

11 The Georgia Rules define the NCBE as the National Conference of Bar 

Examiners. See Part B, Section 6 (a).
23

Georgia Rules, Part B, Section 6 (b).12 The examination is to be 

conducted twice a year in Atlanta or such other location as the Board 

may designate. See Georgia Rules, Part B, Section 6 (a). In order to 

pass the Georgia Bar Exam, an applicant must obtain a total score 

of 270 on the examination, and “[i]n determining whether an 

applicant has achieved 270 on the examination, the Board shall not 

use an MBE score from any prior examination, or an MBE score from 

an examination taken in any other jurisdiction.” Georgia Rules, Part 

B, Section 8 (a). Thus, our Rules contemplate that in Georgia, the 

bar examination is to take place in the state or as designated by the 

Board, and scores are not permitted to be transferred from outside 

the jurisdiction.

The Alabama Rules provide that the academic portion of the 

bar examination shall consist of the UBE and notes that the 

UBE is prepared by the National Conference of Bar 

 

12 The majority asserts that only certain portions of Part B apply to 

considering the phrase “admitted by examination,” pointing as an example to 

the required Georgia essay questions. Of course, the requirements for the 

Georgia Bar Examination in Part B do not apply to Alabama or any other state, 

but they do shed light on what the Georgia Rules contemplate for admission 

by examination in our State.
24

Examiners and includes the Multistate Essay 

Examination (‘the MEE’), the Multistate Performance 

Test (‘the MPT’), and the Multistate Bar Examination 

(‘the MBE’).

Alabama Rule VI (B) (A) (1). The Alabama Rules also contemplate 

that

[a]n applicant who has taken the entire UBE in a single 

administration in another jurisdiction and earned a total 

UBE scaled score of 260 or above may transfer his or her 

UBE score and be excused from taking the UBE in 

Alabama, provided that the applicant otherwise satisfies 

the requirements of these Rules applicable to applicants 

seeking admission by examination. The transferred UBE 

score will be valid for a period of no longer than 25 months 

after the date of administration of the UBE that resulted 

in the transferred score.

Alabama Rule VI (B) (C) (6) (emphasis added). And, at the time of 

the UBE transfer application, the applicant must pay a fee that is 

separately delineated and higher than the fee paid by applicants 

taking the bar examination in Alabama. See id. & Appendix. The 

Alabama Rules, thus, make clear that taking the UBE in Alabama 

is the default, admission by transferring a UBE score is distinct from 

taking the UBE in Alabama, and transferring a UBE score excuses 

an applicant from taking the UBE in Alabama, with each process 
25

having a separate application and fee schedule.

Alabama’s default, i.e., to take the UBE within Alabama, is 

akin to what Georgia considers to be a bar examination, as Georgia 

also contemplates that bar applicants take an examination 

administered within the state or some other place designated by the 

Board. And although Alabama allows the transfer of UBE scores to 

excuse the in-state bar examination requirement, Georgia 

recognizes no similar transfer. To the contrary, Georgia prohibits 

the transfer of MBE scores to meet its bar examination 

requirements. Thus, the phrase “admitted by examination” as used 

in the Georgia Rules does not include Alabama’s process of 

admission by transfer of a UBE score. 

Because Carothers was admitted to the Alabama bar by 

transfer of a UBE score, rather than by taking the bar examination 

within Alabama, Carothers has not fulfilled the requirement that he 

be admitted by examination to membership in the bar of the 

highest court of Alabama as required in Georgia in order to be 

eligible for admission without examination. See Georgia Rules, Part 
26

C, Section 2 (b). Although I am sympathetic to Carothers’s complaint 

that in substance he took the same bar examination in South 

Carolina that he would have taken in Alabama for the same testing 

period, it is incumbent on this Court to apply the plain language of 

the Georgia Rules within the context that it is written. I would 

therefore affirm the Board’s denial of Carothers’s admission on 

motion without examination. 

I am authorized to state that Justice Ellington and Justice 

Colvin join this dissent.