Supreme Court to Evaluate Legal Equivalency of Applicants Educated Outside U.S.

The Supreme Court of Ohio has adopted rule amendments that clarify the requirements for an equivalency evaluation of applicants educated outside the United States who want to be admitted to practice law in Ohio. Justices concurred 7-0 in adopting the amendments, which became effective Aug. 1.

The amendments to the Rules for the Government of the Bar of Ohio require an applicant to submit an education evaluation completed by an education evaluation service approved by the Supreme Court. If an applicant’s legal education is to be evaluated, then the applicant must also submit a “properly authenticated transcript showing successful completion of 30 credit hours of courses taken at a law school approved by the American Bar Association” within four years. Twenty of the 30 hours of coursework must be chosen from a list of courses specified by the Court.