Vt. Bar Admission Rule 12

(a) Requirements. An Applicant who qualifies for admission by examination must satisfy the

following requirements.

(1) Continuing Legal Education (CLE). The Applicant must attend at least 15 hours of CLE

on Vermont practice and procedure in courses approved by the Board of Mandatory

Continuing Legal Education and certified by the Board of Bar Examiners as satisfying the

requirements of this rule. A minimum of 9 of the 15 CLE hours must be earned by attendance

at programs delivered either as Moderated Programming or Non-Moderated Programming

with Interactivity as a Key Component, as those terms are defined in the Vermont Rules for

Mandatory Continuing Legal Education.

(2) Mentorship. The Applicant must complete a mentorship under the supervision of a

judge or attorney practicing in Vermont. The supervising judge or attorney must be admitted to

the Vermont Bar for at least 3 years when the mentorship begins. The mentorship must last at

least 6 months. To complete the mentorship, the Applicant must:

(A) meet regularly with the supervising judge or attorney, no less than 10 times, to

discuss the Applicant’s practice and issues relevant to Vermont practice and procedure;

and

(B) engage in at least 40 hours of activities on the mentorship program list compiled

by the Board of Mandatory Continuing Legal Education and certified by the Board of Bar

Examiners as satisfying the requirements of this Rule, which may include the CLE hours

described in Rule 12(a)(1).

(b) Reporting. The Applicant may commence the Rule 12(a) requirements up to one year

prior to the date of admission and must certify completion of these requirements within one year

of the date of admission, unless time is extended by the Board for good cause shown. In the event

that an Applicant fails to timely certify completion, the Applicant’s license status will be changed to

inactive (if not already inactive). Before that Applicant’s license status can be changed to active,

the Applicant must submit a plan for completing the requirements and have it approved by the

Board. If the Applicant asserts that the Applicant has completed some portion of the requirements

for the mentorship under Rule 12(a)(2), the Applicant must submit verification to support this

assertion certified by the supervising judge or attorney. In its discretion, the Board may approve

changing the Applicant’s license status to active pending successful completion of the plan

approved by the Board.

Board’s Notes—2026 Amendment

Rule 12 has been amended in several ways. First, for clarity, the

timing for commencement and completion of the Rule 12(a)

requirements has been placed in Rule 12(b). As part of this change,

applicants are now permitted to commence their mentorship up to

one year prior to admission to the bar, which is parallel to the

allowed timing of the CLE requirement in Rule 12(a)(1). This better

aligns the mentorship rule with the rules on legal interns in Part VI,

which allows applicants to appear in court earlier than the timelines

given in prior Rule 12(a)(2). Further, this change better serves

applicants who may be engaged in legal employment prior to

admission to the bar, as well as participants in the Law Office Study

Program, which is substantially similar to the mentorship. At the

same time, the one-year cut off ensures that the mentorship

experience is not stale.

Second, Rule 12(a)(2)(B) is amended to allow applicants to

count the Rule 12(a)(1) CLEs towards their Rule 12(a)(2) mentorship

hours. This change reflects the Board’s desire to lessen the post-admission burden on applicants admitted by examination or

transferred UBE score. Given that Rule 12(a)(1) and 12(a)(2) overlap

somewhat, this rule change will not negatively impact the

applicant’s education on Vermont law and acclimation to the

Vermont legal community.

Finally, Rule 12(b) is amended to change the result of a failure

to complete the first-year requirements from suspension to a

change to inactive status, to reflect that some Applicants may have

a change of circumstances that make completion of the Rule 12(a)

requirements within the first year of admission impracticable or

impossible. The binary gender pronouns in 12(b) are deleted.

Board’s Notes—2022 Amendment

Rule 12(a)(2) is amended to allow applicants to commence their

mentorship prior to admission to the bar, consistent with the

clerkship that was required prior to the adoption of the UBE. This

amendment does not apply to applicants admitted to the Vermont

bar prior to the effective date of the amendment.

The references in Rule 12(a)(1) and (a)(2)(B) to the “the Board

of Continuing Legal Education” are changed to “the Board of

Mandatory Continuing Legal Education” to accurately reflect the

name of that Board.

Board’s Notes—2021 Amendment

Rules 12(a)(1) and 15(c) are amended to make the first-year CLE

requirement consistent with recent changes to the Rules for

Mandatory Continuing Legal Education. Specifically, the prior

distinction between live and self-study in 12(a)(1) is replaced with

the distinction between Moderated Programming, Non-Moderated

Programming with Interactivity as a Key Component, and other.

Further, the minimum number of hours of programming that is

Moderated or Non-Moderated with Interactivity as a Key

Component is increased from 6 to 9.

Board’s Notes – 2018 Amendment

Rule 12(a)(1) is revised to make the time period to take the first-year CLE courses for admittees by examination consistent with the

corresponding time period for admittees without examination in

Rule 15. In removing the reference to the bar exam, this revision

also clarifies the corresponding time period for admittees by

transferred UBE score.

Rule 12(a)(2) is revised to clarify that for good cause the Board

can grant an extension to the time limit for satisfying the first-year

mentorship requirement. This aligns Rule 12(a)(2) with Rule

12(a)(1), which similarly allows the Board to grant an extension for

good cause shown to the time limit for satisfying the first-year CLE

requirement.

Board’s Notes – 2017 Amendment

This amendment provides a process by which an Applicant, who

is newly admitted to the Vermont Bar, can rectify the untimely filing

of a Mentorship Completion Certificate or other minor errors in the

completion of the required Mentorship program. The amendment is

drawn from a similar rule of the Mandatory Continuing Legal

Education Board allowing admitted attorneys time to complete a

make-up plan if they fail to have the requisite number of continuing

legal education credits by the applicable biannual reporting

deadline. See Rules for Mandatory Continuing Legal Education, § 10.

Together with the adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam, new Rule

12 eliminates the former three-month clerkship requirement and

replaces it with a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program and a

post-admission mentorship program. The CLE requirement is similar

to that already required of lawyers waiving into Vermont from other

states. The purpose of the CLE program is to educate bar applicants

and new lawyers about some unique features of Vermont law and

to acclimate new lawyers to the Vermont legal community. The

required CLE must be completed no later than one year after

admission to the Vermont Bar.

The mentorship program requires a newly licensed lawyer to be

mentored in the first year of practice by a judge or experienced

attorney practicing law in Vermont. The program will help new

lawyers become acclimated to the practice of law in Vermont and

the Vermont legal community. The mentors will provide guidance to

new lawyers as they begin their practice. The mentorship program

requires personal contact between the mentor and the new lawyer

to foster a personal connection that will continue beyond the

formal program requirements. The mentorship program also

requires the new lawyer to perform certain legal tasks or attend

certain legal functions to gain exposure to proceedings, institutions,

and organizations, as well as to observe experienced attorneys

performing tasks that may be relevant to the new attorney’s

practice. The Board of Continuing Legal Education and Board of Bar

Examiners will approve, and periodically revise, a recommended

activities list for the mentorship program. The list affords

substantial flexibility for new lawyers and their mentors to develop

an individualized program that assures broad and relevant exposure

to Vermont law, legal practice, and the legal culture.

The mentorship program must be completed within one year of

admission to the Vermont Bar. The new program continues a

valuable aspect of the former three-month clerkship by encouraging

new attorneys to form mentoring relationships with experienced

practitioners.