For David J. Correira, an attorney who specializes in estate and tax planning, it just made sense to take the bar exam in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. His law office is in Swansea, Mass., which is within 20 minutes of the major cities in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. So he regularly attracts clients from both states, making it necessary for him to be able to do business in both court systems.
In this area East Bay, West Bay there are people living in Rhode Island working in Massachusetts, and people living in Massachusetts working in Rhode Island. People move fairly easily (between the two states),” he said.
“For me being admitted in both states is just a matter of sensible business practices,” said Correira, who estimates that one-third of his clients are from Rhode Island.
Correira lives in Massachusetts and graduated from the New England School of Law in Boston in 1989. He took and passed the Massachusetts bar exam in summer 1989, then took and passed the Rhode Island exam in February 1990.
“With my kind of practice, a lot of what I do is based on federal law,” Correira explained. That makes it easier for him to keep up with legal changes in his specialty, because for the most part he only has to follow changes in one set of laws, he said.
“Interestingly enough, I have found that there are not as many attorneys admitted in Rhode Island and Massachusetts as you would think,” Correira said. “It’s one of the reasons I receive so many referrals.”
Correira said it would likely be much harder to serve clients in two states if he were a general practitioner.
“That would be nearly impossible to keep up with the changes in both states.”
But even in some specialties it’s easier to keep up now with changes in state laws through computer technology, according to John C. Deliso, associate dean of Suffolk University’s law school in Boston. For instance despite the distance, it isn’t uncommon to have lawyers licensed in New York and Florida to accommodate clients who do business in those two economic centers, he said.
All 50 states require lawyers to be licensed by the state’s highest court, Deliso said. To obtain a license, prospective lawyers must take and pass a state’s bar exam. Lawyers who violate any rules run the risk of being disbarred, permanently or temporarily.
The bar exam is a two-day test that consists of a multi-state section, with standard questions given to prospective lawyers across the country, and a state section, which is composed of essay questions. In Rhode Island, the state portion isn’t even reviewed unless test takers achieve a minimum score of 140 out of a possible 200 on the multi-state portion. If an attorney has already passed one state’s bar exam and has been in practice for five years, he or she can waive the national section of the exam when taking another state’s test.
Firms and companies in this region that recruit new attorneys from area law schools generally don’t require lawyers to have taken the exam in more than one state, according to career service directors at several law schools. However, it is not uncommon for lawyers to have more than one license now. For instance, of the 24 attorneys working out of Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer’s Providence office 19 are licensed in more than one state, according to Office Manager Lynn Brownell. One attorney is licensed in four states, she added.
Having lawyers licensed in more than one state makes it easier for the Boston-based firm to represent clients, such as Fleet, who do business in a number of states, Brownell explained. Whether simple geography, as in Correira’s case, or the need to accommodate clients is the reason, taking multiple bar exams is a topic many law students grapple with.
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It’s definitely something students ask about, whether there are any advantages or disadvantages to doing it. There are advantages, especially in Rhode Island where so many lawyers practice in Massachusetts and Connecticut too,” said Kelly Shea, director of career services at Roger Williams University in Bristol.
“It definitely opens up more possibilities,” Shea added. “A lot of students aren’t getting their jobs until after the bar results come in. They have more than one jurisdiction in which to look for a job (if they pass the bar in multiple states).
“The market is coming back in terms of legal jobs in general, there’s been slow increases over the last three years,” Shea said.
But, she said, “the (Rhode Island) market is not that big, the students are going to have to start looking elsewhere. Having another bar exam under their belt is going to help their job search.”
Roger Williams, which hosts Rhode Island’s only law program, graduated 122 students in 1998 and 141 in 1997, according to Shea. At the New England School of Law, where an average of 300-plus students graduates each year, school officials say taking multiple exams is “a pretty personal decision.”
“Usually people are pretty focused on where they want to work,” said Alyssa Hammond, acting director of career services there. “We don’t advise that they take the exam, unless they’re going to practice law in two states.”
The bar exam is so difficult that professors and administrators at Roger Williams “recommend that one jurisdiction be the focus of studying,” Shea explained.
Deliso of Suffolk University, however, adds that after graduating law school could be one of the best times to tackle a second bar exam.
“Typically speaking most law school graduates are at an intellectual peak when they graduate from law school. It’s a good time to take a second bar exam,” he said.
