|
Congratulations and thank you for signing up for Friday’s virtual swearing-in ceremony with Chief Justice Bridget McCormack and State Bar President Dennis Barnes. The Michigan Supreme Court and State Bar of Michigan are excited to welcome you.
On Friday, May 15, please log in to the Zoom event at 1:30 p.m. The ceremony will begin at 2:00 p.m. and last about an hour. Only candidates for admission to the bar will be allowed into the Zoom meeting—family and friends can watch the ceremony live on the Court’s YouTube page. Please do not share the Zoom link with anyone.
Here’s everything else you need to know about your swearing in:
- You must register here by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, to receive the link to the Zoom event.
- Your full name will be read aloud during the motion for your admission. If you would like to provide guidance on how your name is pronounced, we strongly encourage you do so in the registration link above.
- Joining with video via the Zoom application is preferred, but if you are unable to do so, you must provide the phone number from which you’re planning to call in when registering. If you do not provide a phone number, we will not be able to identify you and let you into the meeting. If you experience any technical difficulties before or during the ceremony, please email sbmzoom@michbar.org right away and someone will help you.
- You will spend time on screen during the oath, though it will be in a gallery view with other participants. Over 100 candidates have signed up to be sworn in.
- You are appearing before the Michigan Supreme Court; please dress accordingly.
- You will be muted for most of the ceremony; however, you will be unmuted when you take the Lawyer’s Oath, repeating after the Chief Justice. You may print a copy of the oath here or follow along online here.
- Please do your best to prevent background noise during the Lawyer’s Oath—there will be a lot of people unmuted at once.
- You can download a Zoom background featuring the Michigan Supreme Court courtroom here.
- Please use the hashtag #MiSwearingIn2020 if you’re posting about the event on social media—we'd love to see how the ceremony looked on your end and share your photos on our accounts!
- Successful lawyers are active participants in local bar associations as well as the State Bar of Michigan and its practice-area sections. Bar associations provide education, training, mentorship, networking, leadership opportunities, and help navigating local courts. On May 15, please meet other bar exam passers and your local bar leaders by registering for one or more of these 30-minute receptions:
- Next week, please join us for a virtual event with several affinity bars. Unlike local bars, which are structured on geography, affinity bars are organizations of lawyers who share a share a common cultural affinity (e.g., women, Irish-American, Jewish, or Muslim lawyers). At the affinity bar showcase, you'll be able to meet leaders and learn about many different groups you'll likely want to join. Please register for that event, which will be held at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 22, here.
- After being sworn in, there is one more step you need to take—completing the online Membership Application. To do so, you’ll need to create an account as a Prospective New Active Attorney or Prospective New Voluntary Inactive Attorney and pay the required license fee. After the application, payment, and executed order of admission from the Court are received, you will receive an email with your license number (P number) and other important information. Attorneys are eligible to practice law in Michigan upon receiving their P number. Bar cards are issued only to active attorneys and are sent by mail 10–15 business days after the email assigning a P number.
- If you expressed interest in having an additional, ceremonial, admission made on your behalf, please watch for a separate email about the steps you need to take.
Congratulations, and we’ll see you Friday! If you have any questions before then, please email hello@michbar.org. |