Colorado

Civil Procedure

Civil Procedure

Rule 203.2 – Applications for Admission on Motion by Qualified Out-of-State Attorneys

(1) An applicant who meets the following requirements may, upon motion, be admitted by the Supreme Court to the practice of law in Colorado. An applicant under this rule shall:

(a) Have been admitted to practice law in another jurisdiction of the United States (FN1 For purposes of these rules, a “jurisdiction of the United States” is defined as another state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia) that allows admission to licensed Colorado attorneys on motion without the requirement of taking that jurisdiction’s bar examination;
(b) Hold a J.D. or LL.B. degree from a law school approved by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association at the time the applicant matriculated or graduated;
(c) Have been primarily engaged in the active practice of law in one or more other jurisdictions in the United States for three of the five years immediately preceding the date upon which the application is filed;
(d) Establish that the applicant is currently a member in good standing in all jurisdictions where admitted;
(e) Establish that the applicant is not currently subject to attorney discipline or the subject of a pending disciplinary matter in any jurisdiction, and is current with all continuing legal education requirements;
(f) Establish that the applicant possesses the character and fitness required of all applicants for admission to the practice of law in Colorado as set forth in C.R.C.P. 208; and
(g) Pay the required application fee.
(2) For purposes of this rule, the “active practice of law” shall include the following activities, if performed in a jurisdiction in which the applicant is admitted and authorized to practice law, or if performed in a jurisdiction that affirmatively permits such activity by a lawyer not admitted in that jurisdiction; however, in no event shall any activities performed pursuant to any rule regarding the practice of law pending admission or in advance of bar admission in another jurisdiction be accepted toward the durational requirement:

(a) Representation of one or more clients in the private practice of law;
(b) Service as a lawyer with a local, state, territorial or federal agency, or governmental branch, including military service;
(c) Teaching law at a law school approved by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association;
(d) Service as a judicial officer in a federal, state, territorial or local court of record;
(e) Service as a judicial law clerk; or
(f) Service as legal counsel to the lawyer’s employer or its organizational affiliates.
(3) For purposes of this rule, the active practice of law shall not include work that, as undertaken, constituted the unauthorized practice of law in the jurisdiction in which it was performed or in the jurisdiction in which the clients receiving the unauthorized services were located.
(4) Reserved – There is no subsection (4).
(5) For purposes of this rule, all applicants must pass the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) prior to admission. A passing score will be valid if it was achieved at an examination taken not more than two years before acceptance of the application for admission in Colorado. The Supreme Court shall review and determine the passing score for the MPRE.
(6) All applicants under this rule must complete the course on professionalism as described in C.R.C.P. 203.1(8), within six months following admission.

C.R.C.P. 203.2

Source: Entire rule added and effective July 1, 2014; amended May 11, 2017, effective immediately; amended and adopted January 24, 2019, effective January 24, 2019.