THE Senate unanimously approved an amendment to Rule 73-2 of the NMI Supreme Court Rules, Title IX, Rules of Admission to allow CNMI government or Micronesian Legal Services Corporation attorneys with stateside licenses to practice in the Commonwealth for up to eight consecutive years without having to take the local bar examination.
In an administrative order signed by CNMI Chief Justice Alexandro Castro, Associate Justice John Manglona, and Associate Justice Perry Inos, the local Supreme Court found it necessary to amend the rule, granting this one-time extension, pending the Legislature’s approval.
Prior to the amendment, the rule states that an “attorney who is a salaried employee of the Commonwealth government or of Micronesian Legal Services Corporation may practice law before the courts of the Commonwealth without taking any portion of the bar examination for a period of four consecutive years provided that the attorney has been admitted to the practice of law in another jurisdiction of the United States and has maintained good standing.”
The four-year period of admission runs successively and may not be tolled, and admission under Rule 73-2 is limited to legal work performed for the CNMI government or the MLSC.
An attorney seeking admission under this rule must file several documents to complete his or her application, which include evidence of educational qualification, and a certificate of good standing from every jurisdiction that the requesting attorney is admitted to practice law.
Upon approval of admission and payment of all required fees, the attorney will be notified by the bar administrator and will be given a date on which to appear before a justice of the Supreme Court to be sworn in.
The attorney may not practice law for the CNMI government or for MLSC until the application has been approved and he or she has taken the oath of admission.
“My understanding of this particular change of the proposed rule is, I guess, to permit the one-time extension of the existing allowability to practice four years in the CNMI public sector without taking the CNMI bar exam,” Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero said. “I am totally understanding also of the difficulty to recruit and retain attorneys to work in the CNMI government. Similarly, it may seem unfair to work eight years without taking the CNMI bar exam like [the] other attorneys…. Currently, the existing limited admission to practice in the Commonwealth for up to four years without taking the bar exam seems reasonable. Perhaps…an alternative is to enter into a state bar reciprocity agreement for all attorneys to benefit from, to practice in such states without having to take the respective bar exam.”
Sen. Victor B. Hocog, for his part, said he had questioned the fairness of the proposed rule.
“A lot of our local attorneys here have taken the bar examination, but as we spoke to the chief justice, he provided us with comments from the CNMI Bar Association, as well as other attorneys. Although there are comments that supported the idea and comments that [opposed it]…we understand that we need to…provide the extension….”
Prior to the roll call vote, Senate President Jude Hofschneider said, “The procedure is that if we don’t act on this, it becomes a rule, but because we’re acting on something like this in a formal session, we’re going to go ahead and [vote on] it.”
With all seven present members voting “yes,” the Senate passed the proposed rule.
Sens. Paul A. Manglona and Karl King-Nabors were both excused from the Senate session while Sen. Teresita A. Santos appeared virtually via Zoom.
