Michigan Law Student Admission

Michigan Court Rule 8.120 allows law students and recent law school graduates to practice law in Michigan on a limited basis.

Eligibility
A law student must have completed the first year of studies at an ABA approved law school and meet the academic and moral standards established by the law school Dean. The student must be eligible to participate in a qualifying clinic or program. A “recent law graduate” is a person who has graduated from law school within the last year.

Practice
Law students and recent graduates may participate as part of:

• Legal Aid Clinics and Defender Offices. Under the supervision of a Michigan Bar member, law students and graduates may staff public and non-profit defender offices, legal aid clinics that are organized under a city or county bar association or an accredited law school, or for the primary purpose of providing free legal services to indigent persons.

• Legal Training Programs. Law students and graduates may participate in legal training programs organized in the office of county prosecuting attorneys, county
  corporation counsel, city attorneys, and the Attorney General.

Law students and graduates of the legal aid clinic representing indigent persons are authorized to advise the client and negotiate and appear on their behalf in all Michigan courts except the Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court.

Practice must be supervised by a Michigan Bar member. Supervision includes the duty to examine and sign all pleadings filed. The supervising attorney is not required to be present while the law student or graduate advises the client, negotiates on the client’s behalf, or for courtroom appearances but with the exception of a criminal or juvenile case exposing the client to a penalty of incarceration for more than six months.

The judge must approve the law student or graduate’s appearance. If the judge grants approval, the judge may suspend the proceedings at any stage if he or she determines that the representation by the law student or graduate is professionally inadequate and  substantial justice requires suspension.

Law students or graduates that serve in a program of a prosecutor, county corporation counsel, city attorney, or Attorney General may be authorized to perform comparable functions and duties of the assigned attorney. Law students and graduates are subject to the conditions and restrictions of the student practice rules and cannot be appointed as an assistant prosecutor, assistant corporation counsel, assistant city attorney, or assistant
Attorney General.