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Foreign-trained lawyers in Indiana

Indiana lets you sit its bar exam with a degree from another country if you hold an LL.M. from an ABA-approved law school that meets its criteria and the Board of Law Examiners grants you a waiver, which you request for each exam. Without the exam, you can apply for a Foreign Legal Consultant license with 5 of the last 7 years of practice, or work for your employer as in-house counsel: with no registration if you have no office in Indiana, and with a Business Counsel License if you do. And if you are already licensed in another state and have 3 of the last 5 years of practice, since August 1, 2026 admission without examination no longer requires a degree from an ABA-approved law school.

The five routes in Indiana

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

In-house counsel
Yes, with no registration or with a license
Admission without exam from another state
Yes
Last reviewed
November 8, 2026

The Indiana route

The path a lawyer trained in another country takes to a full Indiana license.

  1. Do an LL.M. that meets the Board's criteria

    At an ABA-approved law school, in a program based on American law: at least 24 credit hours, with 2 in professional responsibility, 2 in legal research and writing, 2 in an introduction to U.S. law and 9 in subjects tested on the UBE. It can be full time or part time, but you must finish it within 24 months.

  2. Ask the Board of Law Examiners for a waiver

    This is the Rule 13.1 petition, with a narrative of your education and experience, your official transcripts, a description of your country's legal system and a non-refundable US$250 fee. It must be complete by the exam filing deadline. The Board decides at its discretion, and the Indiana Supreme Court gives final approval.

  3. Apply for the exam

    The application costs US$250 and is due November 15 for the February exam and April 1 for the July exam; in the late filing period, until November 30 or April 15, it costs US$500. A member of a character and fitness committee interviews you in person.

  4. Pass the UBE and the MPRE

    The exam is the UBE, in February and July, and you pass with 264. On the MPRE, the professional responsibility exam, you need 80 or higher, earned no earlier than two years before the exam you pass. From July 2028, Indiana will give the NextGen exam.

  5. Get your license and take the Indiana law course

    After your admission you have 6 months to complete the Indiana Law Course, a course on Indiana law.

The waiver is good only for the exam you requested it for: if you fail or don't sit, you must request a new one for the next exam. Without the full license, Indiana offers you two more routes: Foreign Legal Consultant and the Business Counsel License, to work as a company's lawyer. We explain them below.

Foreign Legal Consultant

Rule 5 of the Indiana Rules for Admission to the Bar and the Discipline of Attorneys lets the Indiana Supreme Court, at its discretion, license you without examination as a Foreign Legal Consultant, to advise in Indiana only on the law of the country where you are admitted. You file your application with the State Board of Law Examiners, and you need an office in Indiana. If strict compliance with a condition would cause you undue hardship, you can ask the Supreme Court, by verified petition, to waive or vary it (Section 10).

Requirements

  • Be a member in good standing of a recognized legal profession in your country, whose members are admitted to practice as lawyers or the equivalent and are subject to effective regulation and discipline by a professional body or a public authority.
  • Have practiced law for at least 5 of the 7 years immediately before your application, in your country "or elsewhere" (in the said foreign country or elsewhere).
  • The good moral character and general fitness required of a member of the Indiana bar.
  • The intent to practice in Indiana as a Foreign Legal Consultant and to maintain an office in the state for that purpose.
  • A certificate from the authority in your country with final jurisdiction over the discipline of lawyers, stating the date of your admission and that you are in good standing.
  • Two letters of recommendation: one from a member of that authority's executive body or from a judge of the highest court or a court of original jurisdiction in your country, and another from at least one lawyer licensed in Indiana other than as a Foreign Legal Consultant.
  • An authenticated English translation of the certificate and of the letter from your country, if they are not in English.
  • NCBE's questionnaire and affidavit, with the requisite fee, and any other evidence of your education, professional qualifications, character and fitness the Board requires.
  • A copy or summary of your country's law and customs on the opportunity for Indiana lawyers to open offices there to advise clients, with an authenticated translation if it is not in English. The Court may consider whether they have a reasonable and practical opportunity to do so.
  • The documents showing that you comply with U.S. immigration law.
  • With the Supreme Court: your commitment to observe the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Indiana Rules of Court; your undertaking to notify it of any change in your good standing in your country and of any disciplinary sanction imposed on you by your country's authority, and a written instrument with your Indiana address designating the Clerk of the Court as your agent for service of process whenever you cannot be served at that address.
  • The fees: the application costs the same as admission without examination under Rule 6, today US$875. Whether you also pay NCBE a separate fee for its questionnaire, and how much: to be confirmed. Each year you pay a registration fee; its amount for a Foreign Legal Consultant: to be confirmed.

What a Foreign Legal Consultant cannot do

  • Appear as attorney for another person before an Indiana court, magistrate or other judicial officer, except by pro hac vice admission; and in Indiana pro hac vice is open only to U.S. lawyers.
  • Prepare instruments transferring or registering title to real estate located in the United States.
  • Prepare wills or trusts disposing, on death, of property located in the United States and owned by a U.S. resident, or instruments for administering an estate in the United States.
  • Prepare instruments on the marital or parental relations of a U.S. resident, or on the custody or care of their children.
  • Advise on Indiana or U.S. law, except on the basis of advice from a person qualified to give it in Indiana other than through a Foreign Legal Consultant license.
  • Hold yourself out as a member of the Indiana bar, or use any title other than "foreign legal consultant," always together with the name of the country where you are admitted. You may add the name of your firm.

Read the official rule

With NAFA: we go through each requirement with you and your documents and, if you choose one-on-one guidance, we prepare the application together.

The bar exam

Admission and Discipline Rule 13 requires a J.D. from an ABA-approved U.S. law school. But Rule 13.1 lets the Board of Law Examiners, at its discretion and subject to the Supreme Court's final approval, waive that requirement for someone who studied law outside the United States and holds a graduate degree (LL.M. or equivalent) from an ABA-approved law school, in a program based on American law, if it finds you qualified through your education or experience.

Requirements for a foreign degree

  • Have completed your legal education outside the United States.
  • Hold, by the date of the exam, a graduate degree (LL.M. or equivalent) from an ABA-approved law school, in a program based on American law.
  • The LL.M.: at least 24 credit hours, with a minimum of 2 in professional responsibility; 2 in legal research and writing, as a separate course and not as part of a substantive course; 2 in an introduction to U.S. law or the American legal system, which can be U.S. constitutional law or U.S. civil procedure, and 9 in subjects tested on the UBE, in addition to the above. It may include clinics and externships, full time or part time, and you must finish it within 24 months from your first day of classes.
  • To be confirmed: whether an online LL.M. qualifies. The Board's criteria don't say: ask before you enroll.
  • The waiver petition, with a non-refundable US$250 fee: a narrative of your education, your experience and your reasons for requesting the waiver; official transcripts from every college and law school you attended, with each course, its grade and its credit hours; how many graduates of your law school passed and failed the bar exam in each of the last three years; whether you have applied to sit the exam in another jurisdiction, and the result, and your results on any bar exam; and a description of your country's legal system: whether it is based on English common law and whether English is the language of instruction and of the courts.
  • Every document that is not in English, with its English translation. The rule does not require a report from a credential evaluator, although the Board may ask you for more information.
  • The Board weighs, among other factors, your education and achievements, your work history, your results on other states' exams, your desire to practice in Indiana and your familiarity with the American legal system. It grants the waiver when doing so is in the public interest.
  • The rule does not require you to be admitted as a lawyer in your country; if you are, the Board asks for a current, original certificate of good standing from every place where you are admitted.
  • Be at least 21 years old and prove your good moral character and fitness (Rule 12): a member of a character and fitness committee interviews you in person. A waiver does not mean you have been approved on character and fitness.

Good to know

  • The waiver is good only for the exam you timely applied for or, if you have not applied yet, for the next exam you can timely apply for after it is approved. It does not carry over to later exams or to a reexamination: if you fail or don't sit, you need a new waiver.
  • Deadlines: for February 2027, the exam application is due November 15, 2026 (late filing until November 30, with a US$500 fee); for July 2027, April 1, 2027 (late filing until April 15). The waiver petition, with all its documents, must be in by the filing deadline, with no extensions, and the Board does not guarantee a decision before the next exam's deadline.
  • An LL.M. alone is not enough, according to NCBE: the waiver is at the Board's discretion.
  • The exam has been the UBE since July 2021, on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of February and July, and you pass with 264. From July 2028 it will be the NextGen: the last legacy UBE will be in February 2028, and the NextGen minimum score will be 614, according to NCBE.
  • In 2025, according to NCBE, only one person trained outside the United States took the exam in Indiana, and passed.
  • If instead of the LL.M. you have, or will have, a J.D. from a U.S. law school not approved by the ABA, the same Rule 13.1 lets you request the waiver if that degree makes you eligible to sit the bar exam in another U.S. jurisdiction and the Board finds you qualified.

Read the official rule

With NAFA: we guide you through each step of the route, and our courses prepare you in U.S. law and legal English. They do not replace the LL.M., which only counts if it is from an ABA-approved law school and meets the Board's criteria.

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.

Admission and Discipline Rule 6, Section 1, admits without examination a person admitted in the highest court of another U.S. state or territory, or the District of Columbia, who has actively practiced law for at least 3 of the 5 years before applying. Since August 1, 2026 it no longer requires a degree from an ABA-approved law school.

Years of practice
3 of the last 5
Requires a degree from an ABA-approved law school
No
Only with reciprocity
No

Requirements

  • Have actively practiced for at least 3 of the 5 years before your application. What counts includes: serving the public as a lawyer, or working as a lawyer for a state or local government or a business, for at least 1,000 hours a year; teaching full time at an ABA-approved law school; serving as a full-time judge, or as a full-time attorney for the federal government. As a rule, that practice must have been authorized by your license in the other state. Practice under a Business Counsel License may also count.
  • Be in good standing in every jurisdiction where you are admitted.
  • Meet Indiana's character and fitness requirements, and your admission must be in the public interest. You have a personal interview with a member of the Board of Law Examiners.
  • Not have failed the Indiana bar exam, or scored below 264 on the UBE, in the 5 years before your application.
  • The US$875 fee. If the Board denies your application before referring it to NCBE for investigation, it may refund half; otherwise, it is not refundable.
  • Complete the Indiana Law Course, on Indiana law, within 6 months of your admission.

Good to know

  • Advantage: this is one of the few routes without examination that can work for you with a foreign degree: if you are licensed in another state, New York for example, and have actively practiced under that license for 3 of the last 5 years, you can apply. Your license from your country does not count: the rule only accepts admission in a U.S. state or territory or the District of Columbia.
  • Transferring a UBE score is different (Rule 17.1): a score of 264 or higher, on a UBE taken in the 5 years before your application; the MPRE with 80, earned no earlier than two years before that UBE; a US$500 fee, and the Indiana Law Course within 6 months. It requires a degree from an ABA-approved law school, but the Board can waive that with the same Rule 13.1 petition we explain under "The bar exam." To be confirmed: according to NCBE, since July 2026 Indiana also accepts transferred NextGen scores of 614 or higher, although Rule 17.1 still mentions only the UBE.

See the official source

How it works in the rest of the country

In-house counsel

In Indiana it depends on whether you have an office in the state. With no office or systematic and continuous presence, Rule 5.5(d)(1) of the Rules of Professional Conduct lets a lawyer admitted in another country, who is not disbarred or suspended in any jurisdiction, provide legal services to their employer and its organizational affiliates, with no registration. With an office in Indiana, you need the Business Counsel License under Admission and Discipline Rule 6, Section 2, which is also open to someone admitted only in another country.

Requirements

  • With no office in Indiana (Rule 5.5(d)(1)): work for your employer or its affiliates, and not be disbarred or suspended in any jurisdiction. Careful: your presence can be systematic and continuous even if you are not physically in Indiana (Comment [4]).
  • With an office, for the Business Counsel License: be admitted to practice in your country and be a member in good standing of a recognized, regulated legal profession (Rule 5, Section 1(a)).
  • Work from Indiana for a person or entity doing business in Indiana other than the practice of law, as a lawyer in duties that require admission, for at least 1,000 hours a year; devote yourself solely to that employer and receive your entire compensation from it.
  • Be in good standing everywhere you are admitted, meet Indiana's character and fitness requirements, and granting the license must be in the public interest.
  • Not have failed the Indiana bar exam, or scored below 264 on the UBE, in the last 5 years.
  • The fees: US$875 to apply (Rule 6, Section 3) and a US$50 renewal each year, by November 1, in addition to the annual registration fee under Rule 2 (today, US$180 for an active attorney).

What in-house counsel cannot do

  • Services for which the court requires temporary admission (pro hac vice), which in Indiana is open only to U.S. lawyers.
  • Personal legal services to your employer's officers or employees (Comment [16] to Rule 5.5).
  • With a Business Counsel License, if you are admitted only in another country, the limits of Rule 5, Section 4(a) to (d): appearing in court except by pro hac vice, and preparing instruments on U.S. real estate, wills and estates, or on the family relations and child custody of a U.S. resident.

How to apply

  • With no office in Indiana: there is no application or registration.
  • With an office: you apply for the Business Counsel License online with the Board of Law Examiners. A committee of the Board reviews it; if it approves, one of its members interviews you in person, and if the committee is not unanimous, the full Board does too.

Once you are certified or registered

  • Complete the Indiana Law Course, on Indiana law, within 6 months of your admission.
  • Renew the license each year, by November 1.
  • If your employment ends, so does the license, unless within 3 months you find another job that meets the rule. If your employment is transferred outside Indiana, it ends.
  • Also meet the continuing legal education requirements of Rule 29 (Rule 6, Section 5(a); Comment [17] to Rule 5.5).

Read the official rule · How it works in other states

Appearing in a single case (pro hac vice)

Admission and Discipline Rule 3, Section 2(a), lets an Indiana court, at its discretion, admit for a specific case a member of the bar of another U.S. state or territory, or the District of Columbia. It does not cover a lawyer admitted only in another country.

Limit: Absent good cause, repeated appearances are grounds for denying the petition.

Requirements

  • Be admitted in another U.S. state or territory, or in the District of Columbia.
  • A member of the Indiana bar who appears and agrees to act with you as co-counsel.
  • A certificate of good standing issued within the previous 30 days, and a Verified Petition for Temporary Admission, co-signed by your Indiana co-counsel, with a non-refundable US$300 fee per case.

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 5.5(c) of the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct allows temporary practice only for lawyers admitted in a U.S. jurisdiction (Comment [7]). A lawyer admitted only in another country cannot use it.

Read the official rule

Other routes

  • Services authorized by federal law or other Indiana law (Rule 5.5(d)(2)): a lawyer admitted in another country, who is not disbarred or suspended in any jurisdiction, may provide them in Indiana. Which services those are is decided by each statute or each agency's rule.

After Indiana

What an Indiana license opens for you in other states, or doesn't, if your degree is from another country.

  • Your UBE score travels, your license doesn't: you can ask other UBE jurisdictions to accept the score you earned in Indiana, within the time each one sets, and each one applies its own requirements.
  • Careful: admission without examination almost never works for you. More than 30 jurisdictions require a degree from an ABA-approved law school for it, according to NCBE, and a foreign degree with an LL.M. is not one.
  • District of Columbia: with an Indiana license and 3 of the last 5 years of active practice as a member in good standing of that bar, you can apply for admission without examination even with a foreign degree (Rule 46(e)(3), since April 24, 2026).
  • Florida: with an Indiana license and an LL.M. that meets the criteria of Florida's Board of Bar Examiners, two years of practice let you sit the Florida exam (Rule 4-13.4); without that LL.M., five. Florida has no admission without examination.

Good to know

In Indiana, the Supreme Court sets the admission rules. The State Board of Law Examiners, with the Court's Office of Admissions and Continuing Education, gives the exam and reviews applications, and a character and fitness committee in each judicial district interviews every exam applicant in person. The state bar association, the Indiana State Bar Association, is voluntary.

In the character and fitness review, you bear the burden of proving your good moral character and fitness. Every document that is not in English goes with its English translation, which in the Foreign Legal Consultant application must be authenticated.

To keep the license, Indiana requires continuing legal education: at least 6 hours a year and 36 in each three-year period, including 3 in professional responsibility, and 6 of those 36 must come from an Applied Professionalism Program for Newly Admitted Attorneys. If you are admitted by examination, you start on January 1 of the year after your admission; if you are admitted without examination, your first period starts on January 1 of the year of your admission (Rule 29).

According to NCBE, its table of Foreign Legal Consultants first licensed from 2021 to 2025, which lists 25 jurisdictions, does not include Indiana.

General information, not legal advice. Rules change: always check the official source before you make a decision. Last reviewed: November 8, 2026.

Sources

How we choose and check these sources: How we verify.

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