Me. Bar. Admiss. R. 11B

As amended through November 25, 2024

Rule 11B - Admission by Transferred Uniform Bar Examination Score

(a)General Requirements. An applicant for admission to the Maine bar may transfer a Uniform Bar Examination score earned in another jurisdiction upon filing of an application and payment of the fees required by Rule 6.

(b)Qualifying Scores. A Uniform Bar Examination score qualifies for transfer if it meets the most recent passing score for the Maine bar examination set by the Board pursuant to Rule 10(c)(3) and was earned in an administration of the Uniform Bar Examination that occurred within 3 years before the applicant's application for admission to the Maine bar.

(c)Educational Qualifications. Before transferring any Uniform Bar Examination score, each applicant shall produce to the Board satisfactory evidence that the applicant meets the educational qualifications required for admission to the Maine bar by examination.

(d)Admission Within One Year of Application Filing Date. The applicant must be admitted to practice within one year from the time that the application is filed with the Board. This one-year period may be enlarged by successive one-year periods by a Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court on motion for good cause shown during the period. The procedure for filing a motion to enlarge under this section is the same as in Rule 10(g).

Me. Bar. Admiss. R. 11B

Added effective 5/3/2017; amended February 27, 2023, effective 3/1/2023.

Advisory Note - March 2023

New subdivision (d) clarifies that the one-year deadline for applicants taking the Uniform Bar Examination in Maine, see 4 M.R.S. § 805-A(3), also applies to applicants transferring a Uniform Bar Examination score from another jurisdiction. This is an adoption of the Board's current practice of applying the deadline to both categories of applicants.

Advisory Notes - May 2017

In June 2016, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court created an Advisory Commission to study the merits of adopting the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE). After six month of study, on November 18, 2016, the Commission issued the Report and Recommendations of the Advisory Commission on the Uniform Bar Examination. Among other things, that Report recommended adoption of the UBE, acceptance of transferred UBE scores for a three-year period, and amendment of the admission by motion rule to make it more consistent with the ABA Model Rule for Admission by Motion.

On January 25, 2017, the Supreme Judicial Court indicated its acceptance of the Commission's recommendations and its intent to adopt the UBE, effective with the July 2017 administration of the bar examination. Rule 11B implements the Court's adoption of the UBE and its directive that qualifying UBE scores may be transferred in support of an application for admission to the Maine bar for no more than three years after the applicant takes the UBE.