Lawyers: directory of firms

Admission is controlled by each jurisdiction's own bar admission agency, usually under the authority of the state's highest court. The National Conference of Bar Examiners, which writes several of the test components, tells applicants plainly that rules and policies change and that the jurisdiction's own admission agency is the authority on its requirements.

Most states use the Uniform Bar Examination, made up of the Multistate Bar Examination, the Multistate Essay Examination and two Multistate Performance Test tasks, weighted 50 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent and reported on a 400-point scale. A UBE score is portable between UBE jurisdictions, though each sets its own passing score. NCBE has said that between July 2026 and July 2028 most jurisdictions move from the legacy UBE to the NextGen version. A handful of large states, including California and Texas, run their own exams.

Passing an exam is not the whole of it. Nearly every jurisdiction also requires a professional responsibility examination and a character and fitness review before the licence issues.

Every state makes it unlawful for someone without a licence to practise law there, and state bars run programs specifically to investigate it. That is why a document preparer can type what you dictate but cannot tell you which form to file, and why a paralegal works under an attorney's supervision rather than taking your case directly.

The same rule catches out-of-state attorneys. A lawyer licensed elsewhere generally has to be admitted specially for a single case, or associate with local counsel, before appearing in your state's courts. If a firm advertises nationally, ask which of its attorneys holds a licence in your state and who will actually sign the filings.

A first consultation is a screening in both directions. The office runs a conflict check to make sure it has not already acted for the person on the other side, and you find out whether the lawyer has handled your kind of matter before and who in the office will do the day-to-day work.

Bring the documents that define the dispute: the contract, the notice, the citation, the charging paper, the letter from the agency. Bring dates. A lawyer cannot tell you whether a deadline has passed without knowing when the clock started.

The engagement letter is the one document worth reading slowly. It should say what the lawyer is being hired to do and, just as importantly, what is outside the engagement, how you will be billed, and how either side may end the relationship.

The Legal Services Corporation is the largest funder of civil legal services in the country and makes grants to non-profit programs that give free legal help to people with low incomes. Its grantees work on evictions and foreclosures, family safety, veterans' benefits, employment problems and access to government benefits. There is a program serving every part of the country.

There is a gap worth understanding. As LSC puts it, everyone has the right to an attorney when facing criminal charges, but many people have no lawyer for civil problems like eviction, custody or losing a benefit. Law school clinics, bar-run referral services and self-help centres inside many courthouses exist to narrow that gap.

Discipline is a public system run by the state. In Florida, the Bar's Division of Lawyer Regulation operates as an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court, and its Attorney Consumer Assistance Program takes calls first and tries informal resolution before a formal complaint is filed. In Texas, the State Bar's Chief Disciplinary Counsel and local grievance committees handle complaints.

Money is handled separately from discipline. Many state bars run a client security fund that can reimburse clients whose money a lawyer misappropriated, and many offer fee arbitration for a bill you think is wrong. A grievance is not a substitute for a malpractice claim, which is its own lawsuit with its own deadline.