Supreme Court of Georgia
Office of Bar Admissions

The Constitution of the State of Georgia grants jurisdiction to the Supreme Court of Georgia to control admission to the bar. A set of Rules promulgated by the Supreme Court governs bar admission policies and procedures. The Rules are administered by two separate and distinct boards. The Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants inquires into the character and fitness of all applicants, and the Board of Bar Examiners deals with questions concerning the applicant's competence. Both Boards must certify the applicant to the Court for the applicant to be eligible for admission. The staff of the Office of Bar Admissions reports to both Boards.

The Supreme Court of Georgia appoints all the members of both Boards. The Fitness Board has ten members (six lawyers, one former Chair of the Board of Bar Examiners, and three public members). The Board of Bar Examiners has six members, all of whom are lawyers. The members of the Boards come from all areas of the state, and the lawyer members represent a broad range of practices.

No. You can find the information about the eligibility requirements (and information about jurisdictions that do not require a degree from a law school approved by the ABA) here.

You can view the Fitness Application deadlines by accessing the Deadlines & Fees page of our website. Remember that you can file your Fitness Application before you have gathered all your documentation. It is only after filing the Application that you will be able to upload documents to your file.

You can view the Bar Examination Application deadlines by accessing the information under the Deadlines and Fees page of our website.

For questions regarding laptop testing, click here.

The Policy Statement of the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants Regarding Character and Fitness Reviews can be found here.

You will use the "Upload New Document" button at the bottom of your homepage to send documents to your analyst after you have filed your fitness application.

Yes. For each jurisdiction, including Georgia, in which you have held a driver's license during the last 12 months, you must submit a certified copy of your official driving record. You can obtain the record from the Georgia Department of Driver Services (or the issuing agency in the applicable state). The record should include the maximum number of years the state provides (seven years for Georgia) and be dated within thirty days of the submission date. You can use the "Upload New Document" feature on your homepage to send the driving record to your fitness analyst.

You can find information about submission of fingerprints here.

After your Fitness Application is filed, you will be assigned a fitness analyst. Within a few days of that assignment, you will receive a letter on your homepage from your analyst, which will include information about how to upload documents to your homepage and how to communicate with your analyst. It typically takes between 8 and 12 weeks for your analyst to complete their investigation of your Fitness Application. If there are problem areas in your file or you fail to promptly respond to any questions from your analyst, it may take longer. The Policy Statement of the Fitness Board, which you can find here, has information about the character and fitness requirements for admission.

Applications are presented to the Fitness Board after the analysts complete their investigations. In general, the Fitness Board considers applications for those hoping to register for the February bar exam at its meetings in September through January; for those hoping to register for the July bar exam at its meetings in February through June; and for those seeking admission on motion at its meetings year-round. Applicants must be approved by the Fitness Board before they are eligible to file a Bar Exam Application.

Unless your Certification of Fitness is suspended by the Fitness Board, it will remain valid for five years.

You must hold a valid Certification of Fitness to take a Bar examination and to receive a Certificate of Eligibility to Practice Law. If your Certification of Fitness is about to expire, remember that you must file an Application for Recertification at least three months before the expiration date. You can file the Application for Recertification as early as you'd like, and we recommend that you do so around six months before the expiration date. You can find more information about Recertification here.

You may communicate with your analyst by using the "Create Message" feature on your homepage. You won't be able to use the "Create Message" until after you file your application and are assigned a fitness analyst. If you have questions before you file your application, you should email us here.

Once you have submitted your Fitness Application, you will be able to amend it and add additional information if the answers to any of your questions have changed by selecting the "Amend Application" feature on your homepage.

We highly recommend that applicants save or print a copy of their as-filed Fitness Application. If you ever apply in another jurisdiction, they will ask you for a copy of it.

To save or print a copy, log in to your homepage, click on "View Your Application History," and select your Fitness Application. Scroll down under "Forms & Progress" and select "View/Print Form" next to your Character & Fitness Questionnaire.

Click here for a PDF of the above instructions.

You can find the rules and instructions for the next bar exam here.

A scaled score of 270 is required to pass the Georgia Bar Examination.

Information about the next bar exam can be found here. You can find the schedule for upcoming bar examinations by accessing the Deadlines & Fees page of our website.

MBE raw scores (i.e., the number of items answered correctly out of a possible 200) are scaled by the NCBE, and the scaled MBE score comprises 50% of each applicant's total score. Grades for each of the two MPT items are assigned a weight of 1.5 (i.e., 50% more than each of the four Essay questions). All MPT and Essay answers are graded; there is no minimum MBE score that is required in order for MPT and Essay answers to be graded. An applicant's total raw written score is calculated by adding the grades on the four Essay questions with the two weighted MPT scores. The total raw written scores are then scaled to a score distribution that has the same mean and standard deviation as the applicants' MBE scaled scores to calculate a written scaled score. That written scaled score comprises the other 50% of each applicant's total score on the bar exam. For all applicants receiving a total score between 265 and 269 during the initial (pre-score-release) grading process, all of their MPT and Essay answers are regraded to ensure that the maximum number of points has been awarded. If any MPT or Essay answers receive a higher grade during regrade, the applicant’s scores are recalculated using the higher grade(s). The Bar Examiners are prohibited from considering additional regrades after score release.

We are working to move up the dates of score release. Prior to 2023, scores were released on the 4th Friday of May for the February exam and the 4th Friday of October for the July exam. We released scores for the February 2024 exam on the 4th Friday of April, and we released scores for the July 2024 exam on the first Friday of October. Once the score release dates for 2025 are determined, we will post those dates on the "Latest News" section of our website.

You can find information regarding ADA accommodations as well as the application forms here.

If you need to bring a medical assistive device, snack, or other such item to the exam, you will need to fill out an Administrative Accommodation Request Form. You may find information about Administrative Accommodations here.

An MPRE score of 75 or higher is required to receive a Certificate of Eligibility to Practice Law, and Georgia does not impose an expiration date on MPRE scores. You may take the Bar Examination even if you have not yet passed the MPRE, but you will not receive your Certificate of Eligibility until your passing MPRE score is received. For more information about MPRE requirements, click here.

No, Georgia does not accept transferred MBE scores. If you are admitted in another jurisdiction, you may be eligible to take the 1-day Attorneys' Exam, which does not include the MBE. For more information about the Attorneys' Exam, click here.

If you are admitted to the bar in another jurisdiction, you may be eligible to take the Attorneys’ Exam, which consists of the two MPT items and four Essay questions. (The Attorneys' Exam does not include the MBE.) For more information, click here.

If you meet the deadline and are otherwise eligible, you may convert a fitness application associated with the two-day bar exam to a fitness application associated with the one-day Attorney's exam if you become admitted in another jurisdiction. Click here for more information.

Transcripts must be received by the Office of Bar Admissions by 4:00 p.m. on the transcript deadline (which is January 31 for the February exam and June 30 for the July exam). Transcripts must indicate the degree awarded and the date conferred. If you have not yet graduated from law school, do not cause your law school to send a transcript before your transcript shows that you received your degree. If your law school is unable to provide a degree-conferred transcript prior to the transcript deadline because your graduation date is near the deadline, ask your law school to submit a letter (to transcripts@gasupreme.us) certifying that you graduated within the six months prior to the bar exam you wish to take. This certification letter will enable you to sit of the bar exam, but your official law school transcript will be required for you to receive your score.

Official Transcripts must be submitted by the degree-granting institution (not the applicant) and must be issued to the Georgia Office of Bar Admissions. Transcripts may be sent in either of two ways:

Official electronic transcripts are accepted so long as the email delivering the transcript is delivered through a secured electronic delivery service such as Parchment, Student Clearinghouse, Credentials Solutions, or SCRIP-SAFE International. Scanned PDFs of transcripts or transcripts sent through an unsecured email are not accepted. Electronic transcripts should be sent to transcripts@gasupreme.us.

Official hard-copy transcripts should be mailed directly by the degree-granting institution to:
Supreme Court of Georgia
Office of Bar Admissions
Nathan Deal Judicial Center
330 Capitol Avenue SE
Atlanta, GA 30334

Additional information about transcript requirements and deadlines can be found here.

You may find information regarding eligibility for Admission on Motion without Examination in Part C of the Rules Governing Admission to the Practice of Law. Click here for more information.

You can access information about waivers here.

You can find instructions for foreign-educated applicants here.