Kentucky
Common questions
Can a lawyer be admitted in Kentucky without taking the bar exam (admission on motion)?
Reciprocal states only. Admitted in another jurisdiction; active practice 5 of 7 yrs immediately preceding application (full-time ABA law school teaching counts) in a reciprocal jurisdiction; MPRE scaled score 80 (SCR 2.015); standard admission/C&F requirements; fee $1,500 nonrefundable
Does Kentucky accept a transferred Uniform Bar Exam score?
Accepted under SCR 2.090: UBE 266 or higher in 5 or fewer attempts; obtained within 5 yrs of application; MPRE 80; good standing everywhere; no pending disciplinary complaints; C&F; fee $875 if score reported within 12 months, $1,200 if more than 12 months
What are the pro hac vice requirements and fee in Kentucky state courts?
Local counsel: Yes. Must engage a KBA member as co-counsel whose presence is necessary at all trials and other times required by court Fee: $310 per case/per attorney plus $9.30 administrative processing fee
Admission on motion
- Requirements
- Admitted in another jurisdiction; active practice 5 of 7 yrs immediately preceding application (full-time ABA law school teaching counts) in a reciprocal jurisdiction; MPRE scaled score 80 (SCR 2.015); standard admission/C&F requirements; fee $1,500 nonrefundable
- Years of practice
- five of the seven years next preceding filing
- Reciprocity
- Applicant's jurisdiction must have rules no more restrictive than Kentucky's (VERBATIM: 'no more restrictive than the rules of this Commonwealth')
- Fee
- $1500.00
- Rule
- Ky. SCR 2.110
- UBE score transfer
- Accepted under SCR 2.090: UBE 266 or higher in 5 or fewer attempts; obtained within 5 yrs of application; MPRE 80; good standing everywhere; no pending disciplinary complaints; C&F; fee $875 if score reported within 12 months, $1,200 if more than 12 months
- UBE minimum
- 266
- UBE score window
- within five years of the date of application
- MPRE
- scaled score of at least 80, no recency stated
- Other routes
- Limited certificate (SCR 2.111); defender/legal services/public attorney program (SCR 2.112); military spouse provisional admission (SCR 2.113)
- Military spouse
- Yes - dependent spouse of active-duty service member on military orders stationed in Kentucky may be provisionally admitted
2 not found in the pulled documents
- Reciprocity states
- Not in the pulled documents
- Foreign attorneys
- Not in the pulled documents
State-court pro hac vice
- Rule
- Ky. SCR 3.030(2)
- Local counsel
- Yes. Must engage a KBA member as co-counsel whose presence is necessary at all trials and other times required by court
- Limits
- No cap found; per-case fee
- Fee
- $310 per case/per attorney plus $9.30 administrative processing fee
- Procedure
- Create KBA account, submit form online with payment, get permanent PHV ID and KBA certification letter; court may not grant motion without KBA certification of fee receipt (VERBATIM from KBA page); submit to Kentucky Supreme Court jurisdiction
Language from the source documents
14 quoted passages
On motion
who has been engaged in the active practice of law as defined in SCR 3.020 and 3.022, in a jurisdiction which has reciprocity or comity with Kentucky, for five of the seven years next preceding the filing of an applicationkycourts.gov
UBE transfer
(a) has earned a UBE score 266 or higher in five or fewer attempts on the UBE taken in any jurisdiction; (b) has earned the score required in subparagraph (2)(a) in an administration of the UBE that occurred within five years of the date of application for admission pursuant to this Rule;kycourts.gov
Other routes
SCR 2.112 Limited admission for attorney participants in a public defender, legal services programs, or office of a Commonwealth's or county attorneykycourts.gov
Local counsel
and engages a member of the association as co-counsel, whose presence shall be necessary at all trials and at other times when required by the court.kybar.org
Pro hac vice fee
submit the form online with a debit or credit card with the per case/per attorney fee of $310 plus an administrative processing fee of $9.30kybar.org
On-motion fee
such information as shall be requested thereon accompanied by a fee of $1500.00, no part of which shall be refunded.kycourts.gov
Years of practice
for five of the seven years next preceding the filing of an application may be admitted to the Bar of this Commonwealth without examinationkycourts.gov
UBE minimum score
(a) has earned a UBE score 266 or higher in five or fewer attempts on the UBE taken in any jurisdiction;kycourts.gov
UBE score window
(b) has earned the score required in subparagraph (2)(a) in an administration of the UBE that occurred within five years of the date of application for admission pursuant to this Rule;kycourts.gov
MPRE
(1) No person shall be eligible for admission to the Kentucky Bar until that person has first passed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) administered by the National Conference of Bar Examiners by attaining a scaled score thereon of at least 80.kycourts.gov
Military spouse
(g) is the dependent spouse of an active-duty service member of the United States Uniformed Services as defined by the Department of Defensekycourts.gov