Rule V Admission by Practicing Attorney ( 2020 )

ORIGINAL 06/30/2020 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA Case Number: PR 20-0005 PR 20-0005 ALED JUN 30 2020 Bowen Greenwood Clerk of Supreme Court IN RE PETITION OF JOHN C. BOYD FOR State nf Montana CONDITIONAL ADMISSION TO THE BAR OF ORDER THE STATE OF MONTANA. John C. Boyd has petitioned for conditional admission to the practice of law in Montana. Boyd is applying for employment with the Missoula Office of the Montana Public Defender, and seeks conditional or temPorary admission to practice until he can complete the process of admission by motion. He will complete the process upon taking the Montana Law Seminar, but "believes conditional early admission would strengthen his candidacy for that position or any other attorney positions that may become available before the Montana Law Seminar scheduled to be held on July 30, 2020." We previously waived the requirement that Boyd sit for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. We have routinely denied such petitions for temporary admission. See Petition of Gosch, 07-0303, issued March 7, 2016. We have explained that the Court has made substantial revisions to the rules of admission over the past several years to open and streamline the process of entering the practice oflaw in Montana by admission on inotion or by transfer of a UBE score. Those rules are now in effect and applicants are being processed routinely. The Court's intention was that the implementation of these rule revisions would eliminate the necessity for consideration of many of the ad hoc petitions for temporary admission or for waiver ofadmission requirements that were received in the past. Granting temporary admission as a matter of course to lawyers intending to seek admission on motion or admission by UBE score transfer would burden the Court and Clerk of Court with duplicative consideration and processing of each applicant. Further, no system exists to formally monitor those who are admitted temporarily to ensure they are advancing their intention to be admitted on motion or have remained in the employment for which they sought admission. Because rules now exist for the expeditious admission of qualified candidates to the practice of law in Montana, we decline to pursue a practice of granting temporary admission to applicants who intend to seek admission thereunder. As we stated in Petition of Gosch, "Temporary admission until sitting for the bar exam may be appropriate in circumstances where a candidate does not qualify for admission on motion or for transfer of a UBE score." Therefore, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for conditional admission to the practice oflaw is DENIED. The Clerk is directed to provide copies of this order to Petitioner and to the State Bar of Montana. DATED this it day of June, 2020. Chief Justice Justices