Follow the step by step process or choose what situation that best describes you:
According to the 2017 Demographics report of the State Bar of New Mexico, that year’s bar membership totaled 10,004. The majority of New Mexico bar members (59.1%) were male. The average law firm size for most bar members consisted of two to four lawyers. The city of Albuquerque housed 32 percent of bar members, followed by Santa Fe at 11%. Baby boomers (ages 46 to 62) represented the majority of bar members (4085) followed by Generation Xers (age 29 to 45), totaling 2422 bar members. Would you like to become a member of the State Bar of New Mexico? Keep reading for valuable information on how to do so.
The New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners has not ruled that you must have any specific undergraduate education prior to receiving your Juris Doctor (JD) degree and taking the state’s bar exam. If you wish to be accepted into an American Bar Association-approved law school after undergraduate school, however, you must obtain a bachelor’s degree prior to applying.
Accreditation
All undergraduate schools from which you receive degrees must be accredited by a known agency listed with the U.S. Department of Education. This accreditation is required if you wish to gain entrance to an ABA-approved law school following graduation.
Requirements and Standards
You need not take any specific coursework during your undergraduate years in order to qualify for entrance into an ABA-approved law school after graduation. Studies have shown that law school students who have undergraduate backgrounds in political science, criminal justice, philosophy, business and communications tend to perform well in law school, however.
Degree Options
Just as there are no specific courses you must take during your undergraduate education, the major of your degree does not matter. As long as you obtain a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, you should qualify for entrance into an ABA-approved law school (that is, if you pass the LSAT and meet other entrance requirements).
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WWith bachelor’s degree in hand, you are now ready to sit for one of the most important standardized tests you will ever take - the LSAT, or Law School Admission Test. This six-hour long test is required in order to gain entrance to ABA-approved law schools nationwide.
How to prepare
Excellent study resources are provided free of charge at the LSAT website. If you wish to take some sort of LSAT preparation course (at a cost, of course), choices in New Mexico include:
LSAT Exam Prep Courses in New Mexico:
Exam content
Your knowledge, skills and abilities in problem solving, reading comprehension (involving complex passages), analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning will be tested when you take the LSAT. The exam consists of four 35-minute sections of multiple-choice questions, as well as an unscored 30-minute writing sample and an uncsored 35-minute experimental section to test new questions (but you will not be able to tell which section is experimental). It will take you about three and one half hours to complete this pencil and paper test, offered quarterly around the nation.
Application process
Applications to sit for the LSAT are processed and paid for online (a $190 examination fee must be paid when you register). The LSAT is given on Mondays and Saturdays in November, January and March, at the following New Mexico examination centers:
Receiving Your Score
You can expect to receive your LSAT score, which will fall between 120 and 180, three weeks after sitting for the examination. There is one ABA-approved law school in New Mexico, and the median LSAT score it accepts follows:
Application process
Accomplishing the LSAT is now behind you. You are now prepared to submit applications to ABA-accredited law schools. Unless you are already licensed as a lawyer in another jurisdiction (see below), you must graduate from an ABA-approved law school to qualify to take the New Mexico state bar exam. There are over 200 schools nationwide that fit this bill, and they are listed in the LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools. The school you choose does not have to be located within New Mexico, as long as it is ABA-accredited.
Credential Assembly Service
The Law School Admission Council's (LSAC) Credential Assembly Service will greatly help you in collecting, authenticating and distributing your undergraduate records to each of the ABA-accredited law schools to which you apply. Register online and pay the fee, which some ABA-approved law schools will refund to you once you are accepted. Registration for the CAS is valid for five years and covers the preparation of law school reports for up to five law schools to which you choose to apply.
Accreditation
The New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners requires that you graduate with a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from an ABA-accredited law school. The only way that non-ABA-approved law school graduates will be accepted to take the bar examination is if you are already a licensed lawyer in another jurisdiction and have practiced there for four of the past six years.
ABA-Accredited Law Schools in New Mexico
One law school in New Mexico has ABA accreditation:
Course requirements
As written in the Rules of the Board of Bar Examiners, the following subjects will be tested on the New Mexico bar examination and should therefore be covered in law school:
Additionally, lawyering skills will be tested on the performance portion of the bar exam. These involve problem solving, factual analysis, legal analysis and reasoning, organization and management of a legal task, recognizing and resolving ethical problems, and communication.
Online Law Degrees
Internship
Most ABA-approved law schools will require that you fulfill some sort of clinical requirement as part of your curriculum. The University of New Mexico School of Law, for example, offers students opportunities to participate in practical clinics such as the Southwest Indian Law Clinic, the Law Practice Clinic, the Community Lawyering Clinic, and the Business and Tax Clinic. Other programs offered by the school includes an extern program, in which you may be placed into the public defender’s office, a judge’s office, a private practitioner’s office, or federal and state administrative offices. New Mexico’s Supreme Court adopted a rule in 1970 that allows students to practice in state courts.
Degree Programs
Although you must have a JD degree in order to qualify to sit for the New Mexico Bar Exam, the University of New Mexico School of Law also offers dual degree programs, combined with the JD degree, to broaden your horizons. You may obtain a JD and MPA in Public Administration, a JD and MBA, or a JD and MA in Latin American Studies. Other opportunities exist for students to earn a JD with an MA, MS, or PhD in other fields of academics.
You have received your JD degree from an ABA-approved law school. You must also fulfill the following requirements before being eligible to sit for the New Mexico bar examination:
Preparation
As New Mexico administers the Uniform Bar Exam the National Conference of Bar Examiners website offers free study aids to help you prepare for it, including information for the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) and the Multistate Performance Test (MPT). The New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners also recommends bar scholarship sand mentoring programs listed here.
Exam content
It takes two days to complete the New Mexico Bar Exam. Day one consists of six 30-minute MEE essay questions. You will also complete two MPT questions on day one, covering lawyering skills. The second day of the exam is devoted to the MBE, 200 multiple-choice questions.
Application Process
Begin here when you are ready to apply to take the New Mexico Bar Exam. All information must be submitted on the written forms here, including:
All information, including fees (which will be noted on the appropriate forms), must be submitted to Bar Examination Application, NM Board of Bar Examiners, 20 First Plaza Center NW, Suite 710, Albuquerque, NM 87102
Pass Rates
The New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners says that 70 percent of all test-takers passed the July 2018 bar examination.
In-Person New Mexico State Law Course
Prior to bar admission, all applicants must take an in-person course in New Mexico Law. It’s offered on the Thursday after the bar exam.
Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE)
You must also pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) with a score of 75 or better prior to admission to the New Mexico Bar. The Board will accept your score regardless of when you took the MPRE. For more information or to sign up to take the exam, visit the National Conference of Bar Examiners website.
Reciprocity
If you are licensed and in good standing in another jurisdiction that shares reciprocity with New Mexico and have actively practiced law for five of the past seven years, you may be admitted to the New Mexico Bar by reciprocity/without examination. Visit this page for more information.
Licensing and Admission to the Bar
For the February bar exam, results will be mailed to you by mid-April. For the July bar exam, results should be mailed to you by mid- September. They will also be posted on the Board’s web site. If you pass, you will be notified of the time and place of your swearing-in/admission ceremony to the state’s bar. Within 30 days of passing the bar exam, you must submit the New Lawyer Application/Deferment/Exemption Form through the New Mexico State Bar.
Your hard work has finally paid off, and you are now a licensed lawyer and member of the State Bar of New Mexico. The bar is available to help you as you begin your legal practice, with everything from law practice management resources, to career services, opportunities and advice.
Whether you wish to start your own practice or join an existing one in New Mexico, opportunities are available to you. Popular firms in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe include Miller, Statvert P.A.; Modrall, Sperling; and Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, P.A.
Government entities and agencies are also often in need of legal counsel. Potential government employers of lawyers in New Mexico include the New Mexico State Personnel Offices in Hobbs, Clovis and Santa Fe; the Department of the Interior in Albuquerque; the Bureau of National Affairs in Albuquerque; and the Department of the Army in Santa Fe.
Legal specialty certification
New Mexico’s Legal Specialization Program helps lawyers become certified to practice in a specialized area. Fourteen specialty areas of law are currently recognized in New Mexico, including:
You must complete an application and meet rules and standards to become certified to practice in any of these areas. For more information, call the Legal Specialization Program at (505) 821-1890.
Requirements for maintaining license
In order to keep your New Mexico law license active, you must fulfill Continuing Legal Education (CLE) requirements of 12 hours per year. This must include one hour of ethics and one hour of professionalism. For more information, call the CLE department of the Bar at (505) 797-6020.
Court Systems in New Mexico
The New Mexico State Judiciary is structured like this:
Elective membership organizations
Think about joining another elective professional membership association for attorneys in your state, such as:
New Mexico Resources
General Resources
Law Exams
Lawyer Career Specialties
New Mexico Stats: |
|
NM Active Lawyers | 8,858 |
Average Annual Wage | $117,190 |
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