IN RE PETITION MEMORANDUM, AF 11-0244 (Mont. 5-17-2011)

No. AF 11-0244Supreme Court of Montana.
Filed: May 17, 2011.

ORDER
The Commission on Character and Fitness has petitioned this Court to revise and amend the Rules for Admission and Rules of Procedure of the Character and Fitness Commission to permit use of the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) on-line application and character investigation. The proposed rule change, if adopted, would require each Montana Bar applicant to submit his or her application materials and pay fees to NCBE, which would then conduct a preliminary examination of the applicant. Also included is a provision allowing students to initiate the NCBE process in their second year of law school. Finally, the Commission asks us to provide for a comment period before taking action on the petition.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this Court will accept written public comments on the petition. Each person submitting comments shall file an original and 7 copies of his or her comments with the Clerk of this Court on or before 5:00 p.m. on July 15, 2011. The Commission is granted until August 15, 2011, to respond to any comment, if it elects to do so. Thereafter, the Court will schedule this matter for a public meeting.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that copies of this Order and the petition with exhibits be electronically published on the State Bar of Montana website, http://www.rnontanabar.org, and on the website for the Judicial Branch, http://www.courts.mt.gov. The State Bar of Montana is further requested to give notice of this Order and of its website posting in the next available issue of The Montana Lawyer,

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The Clerk is directed to provide copies of this order to the Chair of the Commission, the State Bar of Montana, and Irma S. Russell, Dean of the University of Montana School of Law.

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