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Foreign-trained lawyers in Florida

Florida offers a lawyer with a foreign law degree two routes that do not go through the bar exam: certification as a Foreign Legal Consultant, to advise on the law of their own country, or registration as Authorized House Counsel, when working for a company in Florida. The bar exam, by contrast, requires prior practice in another U.S. jurisdiction, and Florida does not admit lawyers from other states without examination.

The five routes in Florida

For a lawyer admitted only in another country. Each route has its own section below, with the official rule. What each one is

Temporary practice
Yes, with conditions
Admission without exam from another state
No
Last reviewed
October 15, 2026

Foreign Legal Consultant

Chapter 16 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar allows a lawyer admitted in another country to be certified as a Foreign Legal Consultant and advise in Florida on the law of that country, without taking the bar exam. The application is filed with The Florida Bar's International Law Section, and NCBE conducts the character and fitness investigation.

Requirements

  • Be a member in good standing of a recognized legal profession in another country, subject to effective regulation and discipline.
  • Have practiced the law of that country for at least 3 of the 5 years before the application, in good standing throughout that time.
  • No sanctions for professional misconduct in the last 7 years, and no disciplinary proceeding pending.
  • No denial of admission for character or fitness in any jurisdiction in the last 10 years.
  • Maintain an office in Florida to provide these services.
  • A certificate from the disciplinary authority of your country with your date of admission and your good standing, and a letter of recommendation from a member of the governing board of your professional body or from a judge of your country's supreme court, with a certified translation if they are not in English.
  • An affidavit in which you accept the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct and the disciplinary jurisdiction of its Supreme Court.
  • Pass the NCBE character and fitness investigation.

What a Foreign Legal Consultant cannot do

  • Appear for another person before Florida courts or agencies, or prepare pleadings for a court proceeding.
  • Give advice on the law of Florida, of the United States or of any other state.
  • Prepare documents about property in the United States, wills or trusts of residents, estates, or the marriage or child custody of U.S. residents.
  • Provide services without a written agreement telling the client that you are not admitted in Florida and that you advise only on the law of your country.
  • Use any title other than "Foreign Legal Consultant, Not Admitted to Practice Law in Florida."

Costs and fees

  • To apply: US$975 for the NCBE character and fitness report (US$500 if NCBE prepared the same kind of report for you in the last four years). The Florida Bar does not publish an application fee.
  • To keep it: Every year, the same fee an active member of The Florida Bar pays: US$265 today.
  • Paid to: The report to NCBE, online, when you submit its application. The renewal to The Florida Bar.

Compare with other states

Official forms

NCBE comes first. The Florida Bar does not accept your application until it receives the NCBE report.

Read the official rule

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The bar exam

With a foreign law degree you cannot sit for the Florida exam directly. Admission rule 4-13.4 offers an alternative route to those who have already practiced in another U.S. jurisdiction. An LL.M. alone is not enough.

Requirements for a foreign degree

  • Five years of practice in another state, in the District of Columbia or before federal courts, in good standing and without suspensions, in the five years before the application.
  • Or an LL.M. from an accredited law school, in a program that meets the Board of Bar Examiners' criteria, plus two years of practice in those jurisdictions.
  • In both cases, a representative compilation of your professional work, which the Board evaluates with broad discretion.

Read the official rule

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Admission without exam for lawyers from other states

This is the route for a lawyer already licensed in another U.S. state (admission on motion). A license from another country or a Foreign Legal Consultant certification does not count.

Florida has no admission without examination and no reciprocity: a lawyer licensed in another state, however many years of practice, must pass the Florida exam. It does not offer a shorter exam for experienced lawyers either.

Good to know

  • Florida has held this position for years. In 2015, the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar unanimously rejected admission on motion, with or without reciprocity.
  • And it held it again very recently. In 2025, Florida's Attorney General asked the Supreme Court to let certain lawyers from other states who work for the state government practice for up to three years without the exam. The Florida Bar opposed it (its Board of Governors voted in July 2025): it said that only the Supreme Court regulates admission and that those lawyers would skip the character and fitness investigation. In December 2025, the Court unanimously rejected the proposal.
  • The only exception is one that already existed, and only for government lawyers: a certification that requires having applied for admission to The Florida Bar and taking the next available exam. It does not replace the exam, and it cannot be used for private practice.
  • A license from another state does open the Florida exam to you: with two years of practice in another U.S. jurisdiction if you have an LL.M. that meets the Board's criteria, or five without it, rule 4-13.4 lets you take it with a foreign degree. We explain it above, under "The bar exam."
  • Florida does not accept transferred UBE scores today. It does accept the MBE score (the multiple-choice part) from another jurisdiction if it is 136 or higher and no more than 25 months apart from the date you pass Part A of the Florida exam and the MPRE. So a lawyer who recently took the exam in another state may take only Part A, the Florida law part.
  • Florida has announced that it will give the NextGen UBE starting in July 2028. From then on it will accept transferred NextGen scores, with a Florida-specific requirement, but not those earned before July 2028.
  • Working from Florida with another state's license: in 2021, the Supreme Court of Florida approved an opinion finding that it was not the unauthorized practice of law for a New Jersey lawyer to work remotely from his home in Florida on federal intellectual property matters, with no Florida clients and without holding himself out to the public as a lawyer in Florida. It answers a specific case: it is not a general permission.

See the official source

How it works in the rest of the country

In-house counsel

Chapter 17 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar (Authorized House Counsel Rule) allows a lawyer licensed in another U.S. state, or admitted in another country in a legal profession subject to effective regulation and discipline, to work in Florida as in-house counsel for a company without taking the bar exam. The Supreme Court of Florida grants the certification, on The Florida Bar's recommendation.

Requirements

  • Be admitted and in good standing as a lawyer in your country, or in another state, in a profession subject to effective regulation and discipline. If your license is inactive, it must be by your own choice.
  • Work exclusively for a company based in Florida: a corporation, partnership or other entity authorized to do business in the state that does not provide legal services to others. A law firm or a public body, such as a local government or a school board, does not qualify.
  • Live in Florida or move there within 6 months of the application.
  • No pending disciplinary proceedings or current sanctions in any jurisdiction, and no permanent denial of admission for character or fitness.

What in-house counsel cannot do

  • Advise anyone other than the company and its affiliates: not the public, and not its employees or officers on personal matters.
  • Appear before Florida courts, unless their rules allow it or the court admits you in that case. A lawyer admitted only in another country cannot ask for pro hac vice admission in Florida.
  • Give legal opinions to third parties, except on the company's behalf.
  • Hold yourself out as a member of The Florida Bar. When dealing with third parties you must say that you are not licensed in Florida and, in writing, also give the company's name and your title.
  • Do pro bono work, unless you are certified as an emeritus lawyer (chapter 12).

How to apply

  • You apply to The Florida Bar and pay a non-refundable US$1,650 fee (October 2026): online, in The Florida Bar member portal, where you first register a username; or on paper, with the offline form, which also works as a sample of what you will be asked.
  • It takes four documents: the application; the Certification of Applicant, signed before a notary; a certificate of good standing from each jurisdiction where you are licensed; and the company's certificate, signed by an authorized representative, which does not need a notary.
  • The certificate of good standing is issued by the authority that regulates lawyers in your country, and it must say that you are admitted and in good standing, or inactive by your own choice. If your country does not issue it with that wording, The Florida Bar has a form that authority can fill out. If it is missing, the application is returned.
  • Certificates of good standing must be no more than 30 days old: that is what The Florida Bar's checklist asks, although the online application says 60. In the online application they all go together in a single PDF, with an English translation if they are in another language.
  • The application asks for your date of birth, the last 4 digits of your Social Security number and every jurisdiction, in the United States or abroad, where you hold or have held a license, with your bar number and your status. If you have no Social Security number, ask The Florida Bar how to show it.
  • On the Certification of Applicant, the lines "State, Commonwealth, etc." and "County, Borough, etc." are the state and county where you sign before the notary, not where you are licensed or where you will work. The form allows notarization in person or online. If you sign it outside the United States, ask The Florida Bar which notarization it accepts.
  • The Florida Bar reviews the application and sends your name to the clerk of the Supreme Court of Florida. If you already work in Florida, the certification takes effect when the Court approves it; if you are moving, on the day you start working in Florida, within 6 months of the application.

Once you are certified or registered

  • You renew it every year with the same fee an active member of The Florida Bar pays.
  • You meet its members' continuing legal education requirement, 30 hours every 3 years (rule 17-1.9).
  • And the basic skills course requirement for new lawyers (rule 6-12.3), which rule 17-1.9 also applies to in-house counsel, in two phases: in your first year, the Practicing with Professionalism course, which also satisfies the 2-hour professionalism course your continuing legal education requires (rule 6-10.3(b)); and within your first three-year continuing legal education cycle, 21 hours of basic-level Young Lawyers Division courses. Those 21 hours must be Young Lawyers Division courses: other approved courses, such as NAFA's, count toward your 30 hours, not toward this phase. Anyone 36 or older with more than five years of practice in another state can ask to be exempted from the second phase, not the first. If your practice is in another country, ask The Florida Bar whether it counts.
  • You notify The Florida Bar within 30 days of any change in your license, and if you leave the company or move away from Florida.
  • The certification ends if you leave the company (unless another company that also certifies you hires you within 30 days), if you live outside Florida for more than 180 days, or if you lose your home license. You can apply again.

Costs and fees

  • To apply: US$1,650, non-refundable (October 2026).
  • To keep it: Every year, the same fee an active member of The Florida Bar pays: US$265 today.
  • Paid to: The Florida Bar: online, in its member portal, or with the paper application.

Compare with other states

Official forms

You apply to The Florida Bar and pay a US$1,650 fee: online, in its member portal, with a username you register first; or on paper, with the offline form. Certificates of good standing must be no more than 30 days old (the online application says 60; the checklist says 30).

Read the official rule · How it works in other states

Appearing in a single case (pro hac vice)

Rule 1-3.10 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar and rule 2.510 of the Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration allow a lawyer admitted in another U.S. state to appear in a single case before Florida courts, with the court's permission. They do not include lawyers admitted only in another country.

Limit: More than 3 appearances in separate cases within a 365-day period are presumed to be general practice, which is not allowed.

Requirements

  • Be admitted and in good standing in another state, and not live in Florida, unless you have an application pending with The Florida Bar.
  • Associate with a member of The Florida Bar, who is the attorney of record.
  • File a verified motion in each court, serve it on The Florida Bar and pay its fee.

Read the official rule

Temporary practice, without a state license

Handling a matter in the state on a temporary basis, without a license or registration there, as some rules allow a lawyer from another country to do: usually matters tied to the law of their own country or to international law.

Rule 4-5.5(d) of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar is written for the lawyer admitted only in another country: it allows temporary legal services in Florida in certain situations.

Conditions

  • It must be one of these situations: together with a Florida lawyer who takes part in the matter; for a proceeding outside the United States; for an arbitration or mediation; or for a client from your country.
  • In an arbitration, rule 1-3.11 also applies.

What it does not allow

  • Have an office in Florida.

Read the official rule

Good to know

Since October 1, 2026, Florida no longer relies only on the ABA to decide which law schools count. The Supreme Court broadened the definition of "accredited law school" (rule 4-13.2): besides ABA-approved schools, schools of other accreditors recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and approved by the Court may count. ABA schools still qualify, and so far the Court has not approved any new accreditor, so in practice nothing has changed yet.

This also reaches the LL.M. route for foreign degrees: rule 4-13.4 asks for an LL.M. from "an accredited law school," the same term that is now broadened. When the Court approves another accreditor, an LL.M. from its schools will count too. The program must also meet the Board of Bar Examiners' criteria published on its website.

Neither a Foreign Legal Consultant nor Authorized House Counsel can handle cases before Florida courts. That requires full admission to the bar.

Certification as a Foreign Legal Consultant is renewed every year with an affidavit and a fee equal to what members of The Florida Bar pay.

Bar associations in Florida

Independent associations of Hispanic lawyers, other communities, immigration lawyers and international lawyers. They are a good place to meet colleagues, find mentors and hear about events. Each one decides who can join: ask them directly.

Hispanic and Latino lawyers

Latin America, by country of origin

Other communities

Immigration lawyers

International law and in-house lawyers

NAFA is not affiliated with these associations: we list them to help you find your way. Links taken from the directory of voluntary bar associations of The Florida Bar, checked on October 18, 2026. Missing one? Write to us.

General information, not legal advice. Rules change: always check the official source before you make a decision. Last reviewed: October 15, 2026.

Sources

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