Illinois does not have true bar reciprocity, but experienced attorneys licensed elsewhere can be admitted to practice in Illinois without sitting for the Illinois bar exam through a process called admission on motion under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 705. Your home state does not need to offer Illinois lawyers the same courtesy. What matters is your practice history, your law degree, your disciplinary record, and $1,500 in fees. From first filing to taking the oath, plan on well over six months.
Reciprocity vs. Admission on Motion
True reciprocity means State A waives its exam for lawyers from State B only if State B does the same. Illinois dropped that requirement. Rule 705 does not condition your eligibility on how your home state treats Illinois attorneys.1Illinois Courts. Rule 705 – Admission on Motion If you meet the rule’s requirements, you can apply. You don’t need to research whether your jurisdiction has an agreement with Illinois, because there is no such agreement to check.
Who Qualifies Under Rule 705
Practice Experience
You must have been licensed by the highest court of at least one U.S. state, territory, or the District of Columbia for at least three years. Holding the license is not enough on its own. You also need to show active practice for at least three of the five years immediately before your application.1Illinois Courts. Rule 705 – Admission on Motion
Active practice has a numerical floor: at least 80 hours per month and no fewer than 1,000 hours per year, in 36 of the 60 months before you apply.1Illinois Courts. Rule 705 – Admission on Motion That’s roughly 25 hours per week. Purely part-time work may not clear the bar. Private practice, government legal work, in-house corporate counsel positions, judicial clerkships, judgeships, and law professorships at ABA-approved schools all count, in any combination.
Law Degree
Rule 705 pulls in the educational standard of Rule 703: a first professional law degree (J.D. or LL.B.) from an ABA-approved law school.2Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. Admission on Motion Under Rule 705 General Information An LL.M. or S.J.D. alone will not do it. You need the underlying J.D. or LL.B.
You do not, however, need to have passed a bar exam in your home state. If you were admitted through diploma privilege or any other pathway, nothing in Rule 705 disqualifies you. What the rule asks is that you hold a license, meet the education standard, and log the practice hours.
Good Standing and the MPRE
You must be in good disciplinary standing in every jurisdiction where you have ever been admitted, and you must currently hold active status somewhere.1Illinois Courts. Rule 705 – Admission on Motion A pending disciplinary matter, or inactive status across the board, will hold up your application.
If you have been licensed for fewer than 15 years, you also need a passing MPRE score. Attorneys licensed 15 years or more are exempt.1Illinois Courts. Rule 705 – Admission on Motion A passing score from any jurisdiction is accepted; you do not need to take the MPRE again for Illinois.
The Application Process, Step by Step
Preliminary Questionnaire
Before filing the full application, you submit a Preliminary Questionnaire through the Board’s website. This is a screening step: the Board decides whether you appear to meet Rule 705’s threshold requirements before you invest in the rest of the process.3Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. Rule 705 PQ Instructions The fee is $150.4Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 706 – Filing Deadlines and Fees of Registrants and Applicants
The Board responds by email with a provisional approval, a disapproval, or a request for more information. Expect to describe your concrete plans for practicing in Illinois. The Board wants to see an existing job, a stream of Illinois legal work, or plans to open an office in the state.3Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. Rule 705 PQ Instructions If you don’t hear back within 30 days, you have 15 days to follow up by email; miss that and you’ll have to start the questionnaire over. Once provisionally approved, you have 90 days to file the full application, extendable to 120 days if you timely followed up on a delayed response.
Full Application and Documents
Once your questionnaire clears, the remaining $1,350 application fee is due, bringing the total to $1,500.4Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 706 – Filing Deadlines and Fees of Registrants and Applicants The application asks for detailed employment history, any criminal charges, and any professional grievances or discipline.
You’ll also need certificates of good standing from the highest court in every jurisdiction where you hold a license. Order them early. Some state courts take weeks to issue them, and a single missing certificate will stall everything.
Separately, the Board works with the National Conference of Bar Examiners to run a background investigation covering prior residences, credit history, and other personal background. The NCBE charges its own fee and runs on its own schedule.
Character and Fitness Review
After your file is complete, the Character and Fitness Committee conducts its own investigation and can require you to appear in person to answer questions about anything in your background.5Illinois Courts. Rule 708 – Committee on Character and Fitness Employment gaps, past disciplinary complaints even if dismissed, financial trouble, and criminal history commonly trigger extended review. None are automatic disqualifiers, but any of them can add months while you supply documentation and explanation. The worst thing you can do is leave something out. A discovered omission is treated far more seriously than whatever it was hiding.
The Oath
Once the Committee certifies you and the Board sends that certification to the Illinois Supreme Court, you’re assigned to a bar admission ceremony based on your address. The oath must be administered by a Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. Arranging for another judge is not permitted unless a Supreme Court Justice gives prior approval for something like a military deployment.6State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts. Bar Admission Ceremonies If your certification misses the deadline for a scheduled ceremony, you’ll be moved to the next one.
ARDC Registration
After the oath, you register with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. The annual fee is $385.7Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. News and Events Registration puts you on the master roll of attorneys authorized to practice in Illinois. Skip it and you cannot represent clients in the state, oath or no oath.
How Long the Process Takes
Admission on motion applications generally take longer than applications transferring a UBE score, which typically run about six months. Rule 705 files take longer because the Board is verifying practice history in addition to the standard character review. Complex backgrounds add more time. Plan your start date in Illinois accordingly.
What It Costs
- Preliminary Questionnaire: $1504Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 706 – Filing Deadlines and Fees of Registrants and Applicants
- Application: $1,350 (total application cost with the PQ: $1,500)
- NCBE background investigation: separate fee to NCBE, amount varies
- Certificates of good standing: varies by state, typically under $30 each
- Annual ARDC registration once admitted: $3857Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. News and Events
Most applicants spend between $1,900 and $2,200 out of pocket before adding any CLE course fees for the first-year requirement.
CLE and Reporting After Admission
New admittees who practiced in another state for at least one year during the three years before Illinois admission (which fits most Rule 705 applicants) follow a modified CLE track. Instead of the standard basic skills course, you complete 15 hours of CLE credit within one year of admission, four of them in professional responsibility.8Illinois Courts. Rule 793 – Requirement for Newly-Admitted Attorneys After that first year, you’re on the standard Illinois cycle: 30 hours every two years, six of them in professional responsibility.
Two annual disclosures on the ARDC registration catch new attorneys off guard. If you represent even one private client, you must disclose whether you carry malpractice insurance; going without coverage triggers a four-hour self-assessment program every two years. All Illinois attorneys must also report pro bono hours and any qualified monetary contributions. Leave the pro bono questions blank, even if the honest answer is zero, and you can be removed from the master roll.