New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 22 - JUDICIARY
Subtitle B - Courts
Chapter I - Court of Appeals
Subchapter C - Rules for Admission of Attorneys and Counselors-at-Law
Part 520 - Rules of the Court of Appeals for the Admission of Attorneys and Counselors-at-Law
Section 520.5 - Study of law in law school and actual practice

Universal Citation: 22 NY Comp Codes Rules and Regs § 520.5

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024

(a) General. An applicant who has studied law in any law school in any other state or territory of the United States or in the District of Columbia, other than an approved law school as defined in section 520.3(b) of this Part, and has received a degree from such law school that qualifies the applicant to practice law in such state, territory or in the District of Columbia, may qualify to take the New York State bar examination by submitting to the New York State Board of Law Examiners satisfactory proof that:

(1) the applicant possesses the legal education required by this Part;

(2) the applicant's course of study complies with the instructional requirements of section 520.3(c) through (e) of this Part and with the curriculum, academic program and academic calendar requirements for an approved law school; and

(3) while admitted to the bar in the highest court in any state or territory of the United States or in the District of Columbia, the applicant has actually practiced therein for at least five years of the seven years immediately preceding the application to sit for the bar examination.

(b) Proof required. The applicant shall submit to the State Board of Law Examiners such proof of compliance with the provisions of this section as the board may require.

(c) The academic program, calendar and instructional requirements contained in the American Bar Association Standards and Rules of Procedure for the Approval of Law Schools shall apply with the exception of distance education provisions, which are as follows:

(1) Distance education course. A distance education course is a course in which students are separated from all faculty members for more than one-third of the course instruction and the instruction involves the use of technology to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and all the faculty members, either synchronously or asynchronously; and

(2) Up to 15 credit hours for distance education courses may be counted toward both the credit hours required for graduation and the classroom credit hours required; and

(3) No credit shall be allowed for distance education courses until the student has completed the equivalent of 28 credit hours toward the first degree in law; and

(4) Remote participation in a non-distance education course by a student as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act or any other law requiring accommodation will not cause the course to count toward the distance education credit limits in this section for the accommodated student. The law school must document all instances in which it permits a student's remote participation in a nondistance education course for which credits will not be counted toward distance education credit limits in this section.

(d) Law school certificate of attendance. The applicant shall file a law school certificate of attendance with the State Board of Law Examiners that must include:

(1) a certification that the applicant has successfully completed the prescribed course of instruction for the J.D. degree at a law school approved by the ABA at all times during the period of the applicant's attendance;

(2) the date of graduation or the date on which the J.D. degree will be conferred;

(3) the number of credits completed in distance education courses under section 520.3(c)(1) of this Part; and;

(4) a certification that the applicant did not complete any credits in distance education courses during the first 28 credit hours toward the first degree in law.

(e) Credit for law study in foreign country. An approved law school may, in its discretion, grant such credit as it may deem appropriate toward the total credits required for a first degree in law, but not exceeding one-third of the total credits required for the degree, to an applicant who has studied law in a law school in a foreign country. No such credit shall be allowed for law study in a foreign country that was undertaken in a distance education course as defined in section 520.3(c)(1) of this Part, nor shall any credit be allowed for correspondence courses.

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