Re: Waiving into Georgia from MD?

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On 1/23/08, Joeseph Smith wrote:
> Does anyone have any experience waiving into the Georgia
> Bar? Also does anyone have any insight into the Georgia
> Attorney's Exam?
>
> Any advice even remotely related is appreciated.

You can see the requirements for Admission on Motion without
Examination on the Georgia bar website at:
[www.gabaradmissions.org]

I also ran across an interesting article about a bill to
eliminate the educational requirements to sit for the
Georgia bar exam. I don't know how old the article is as
there is no date on it. It may have already been defeated.
********
H.B. 150 – Bar Exam Requirements
HB 150 was introduced in an attempt to address the growing
number of students wishing to take
the Bar Exam, but who have completed non-traditional
educational programs and/or non-ABA
approved law schools. While this is a legitimate and
important issue for discussion, HB 150 is
not an appropriate or desirable solution.
To be eligible to take the bar exam in Georgia, an applicant
must have an undergraduate degree
from an accredited institution and a J.D. degree from an ABA-
approved law school. The
Supreme Court of Georgia has established those standards and
rules, and the bar admissions and
exam process is administered by the Board of Bar Examiners,
an agency of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, the Board of Bar Examiners and the State
Bar believe that legal education is
very important to the development of the skills, abilities
and values of prospective lawyers.
Simply passing a bar exam, a test for minimal competency,
does not assure the public that an
applicant has all the training (in substantive law, in
ethics and in practice skills) that is required
and expected of a newly admitted lawyer. The practice of law
is becoming more complicated
and more demanding, thus justifying the requirement that
applicants be better trained and more
acclimated to the personal and professional demands placed
upon them. Requiring an accredited
undergraduate degree and an ABA-approved legal education
assures future clients and the public
that a newly admitted lawyer is well prepared to represent
clients competently and ethically. The
Bar Admissions rules exist solely to protect the public. The
Supreme Court of Georgia has
established rules that are explicit to the needs and
expectations of Georgians. Making Georgia
subject to the standards of other states, some of which have
decided to admit foreign-trained
lawyers or lawyers who did not attend any law school, much
less an ABA-approved school, is
not in the best interests of the people of Georgia.
H.B. 150 proposes to drastically lower the educational
requirements for becoming a lawyer in
Georgia by eliminating all educational requirements for
taking the Georgia Bar.
The State Bar of Georgia supports the Board of Bar Examiners
and the Supreme Court in their
opposition to H.B. 150 on constitutional and practical
grounds:
1) The Georgia Constitution and supporting case law vests
the authority to regulate the
practice of law in the judicial branch of government.
Therefore, adoption of H.B. 150
would be a violation of the constitutionally imposed
separation of powers. See Wallace v.
Wallace, 225 Ga. 102 (1969), Sams v. Olah, 225 Ga. 497
(1969).
2) Practically, if the elimination of all educational
requirements as proposed in H.B. 150 were
approved, on average each year, an additional 2250
applicants would be eligible for
admission to the bar in Georgia. (Georgia has approximately
1800 eligible applicants take
the bar exam each year under current standards.)