Announcements

Notice of Temporary and Limited Waiver of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 715(b) for 2022-2024 Examinees

Recently, Board of Admissions staff have identified a situation in which Illinois Supreme Court Rule 715(b) had been applied inconsistently in the past with respect to whether graduates of foreign law schools were required to reestablish their qualifying experience in the practice of law each and every time those graduates applied to sit for the Illinois bar exam.  Going forward, Board of Admissions staff will consistently require such graduates to reestablish their qualifying practice experience each time they apply. However, because that interpretation may be contrary to the expectations of some applicants under Rule 715, the Board of Admissions wrote a letter to the Illinois Supreme Court requesting a temporary and limited accommodation to those Rule 715 applicants who may be expecting to sit for the bar exam in 2025 based on a past determination of eligibility under a different interpretation of Rule 715(b). In the letter, the Board of Admissions asked the Court to enter an order implementing a temporary waiver of strict compliance with the requirements of Rule 715(b) for graduates of foreign law schools who were previously deemed eligible under Rule 715 to sit for one or more bar examinations administered in Illinois in 2022, 2023, and 2024 and who sat for the examination in question.  On September 18, 2024, the Supreme Court entered the order as requested.

The order implements a temporary waiver of strict compliance with Rule 715(b), subject to the following terms and conditions: 

1. The temporary waiver would apply only to “Eligible Applicants”; i.e., those who were deemed eligible under Rule 715 and sat for one or more administrations of the Illinois bar examination between February 2022 and July 2024.
2. The temporary waiver would apply only for the purpose of determining an Eligible Applicant’s eligibility under Rule 715 to sit for one, but not both, administrations of the Illinois bar examination in February 2025 and July 2025; provided that, an Eligible Applicant who is deemed eligible to sit in for the February 2025 Illinois bar examination but who does not actually sit for the exam in February 2025 may receive the benefit of the temporary waiver in connection with the July 2025 administration.
3. In applying the temporary waiver of Rule 715(b) to an Eligible Applicant, IBAB will not require the Eligible Applicant to reestablish compliance with the requirements of Rule 715(b) as of the date of application for the Illinois bar examination for which the Eligible Applicant is presently applying.  Instead, the Eligible Applicant may rely on IBAB’s previous determination of compliance with the requirements of Rule 715(b) in connection with an application for a prior administration of the Illinois bar examination during the years 2022-2024.
4. For all other applicants under Rule 715, including Eligible Applicants for which the temporary waiver of Rule 715(b) is no longer available because the applicant sat for the February 2025 Illinois bar exam, the applicant’s compliance with the requirements of Rule 715(b) will be determined as of the date of application for the administration of the Illinois bar examination for which the applicant is presently applying.
5. Except as provided above, an Eligible Applicant is required to comply with all requirements of Rule 715 and any other applicable Supreme Court Rule in order to be eligible to sit for the Illinois bar examination, including but not limited to the payment of all applicable fees. 

Applicants under Rule 715 who believe they qualify for the temporary waiver of strict compliance with Rule 715(b) and who wish to take advantage of the temporary waiver should follow the regular procedure for submitting a Rule 715 application.  Board of Admissions staff are aware of the Court’s September 18 order and will take that into account in determining an applicant’s eligibility under Rule 715.