Bill Text: MI HB4489 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Chaptered
Bill Title: Occupations: attorneys; qualifications for admission to state bar; clarify good moral character requirement. Amends sec. 934 of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.934). TIE BAR WITH: HB 4488'19
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-2)
Status: (Passed) 2020-12-31 - Assigned Pa 369'20 With Immediate Effect [HB4489 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-HB4489-Chaptered.html
Act No. 369
Public Acts of 2020
Approved by the Governor
January 4, 2021
Filed with the Secretary of State
January 4, 2021
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 4, 2021
state of michigan
100th Legislature
Regular session of 2020
Introduced by Reps. Bellino, Iden, Warren, LaGrand, Gay-Dagnogo and Sowerby
ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4489
AN ACT to amend 1961 PA 236, entitled “An act to revise and consolidate the statutes relating to the organization and jurisdiction of the courts of this state; the powers and duties of the courts, and of the judges and other officers of the courts; the forms and attributes of civil claims and actions; the time within which civil actions and proceedings may be brought in the courts; pleading, evidence, practice, and procedure in civil and criminal actions and proceedings in the courts; to provide for the powers and duties of certain state governmental officers and entities; to provide remedies and penalties for the violation of certain provisions of this act; to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with or contravening any of the provisions of this act; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,” by amending section 934 (MCL 600.934), as amended by 2004 PA 558.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Sec. 934. (1) An individual is qualified for admission to the bar of this state if he or she proves to the satisfaction of the board of law examiners that he or she is an individual of good moral character, is 18 years of age or older, has the required general education, learning in the law, and fitness and ability to enable him or her to practice law in the courts of record of this state, and that he or she intends in good faith to practice or teach law in this state. Additional requirements concerning the qualifications for admission are contained in subsequent sections of this chapter. For purposes of this subsection, good moral character is determined by the board of law examiners and 1974 PA 381, MCL 338.41 to 338.47, does not apply to that determination.
(2) An individual may elect to use the multi-state bar examination scaled score that he or she achieved on a multi-state bar examination administered in another state or territory when applying for admission to the bar of this state, but only if all of the following are met:
(a) The score that the individual elects to use was achieved on a multi-state examination administered within the 3 years immediately preceding the multi-state bar examination in this state for which the individual would otherwise sit.
(b) The individual achieved a passing grade on the bar examination of which the multi-state examination the score of which the individual elects to use was a part.
(c) The multi-state examination the score of which the individual elects to use was administered in a state or territory that provides a reciprocal right to elect to use the score achieved on the multi-state examination administered in this state to Michigan residents who are seeking admission to the bar of that state or territory.
(d) The individual earns a grade on the essay portion of the bar examination that when combined with the transferred multi-state scaled score constitutes a passing grade for that bar examination.
(e) The individual otherwise meets all requirements for admission to the bar of this state.
(3) The state board of law examiners shall disclose to an individual who elects under subsection (2) to transfer the multi-state bar examination scaled score achieved on an examination administered in another state or territory the score the individual achieved as soon as that score is received by the board regardless of whether the individual could have obtained that score in the jurisdiction in which the examination was administered. This subsection does not require disclosure by the board of the score achieved on a multi-state bar examination administered in another state or territory until the scores achieved on that examination administered in Michigan are released.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days after the date it is enacted into law.
Enacting section 2. This amendatory act does not take effect unless House Bill No. 4488 of the 100th Legislature is enacted into law.
This act
is ordered to take immediate effect.
Clerk of the House of Representatives
Secretary of the Senate
Approved___________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Governor
