In the Matter of Barry Dean Carothers

Barry Dean Carothers, a lawyer already licensed in several states, took the Uniform Bar Examination in South Carolina and used that score to get admitted to the Alabama Bar. He then asked to join the State Bar of Georgia on motion, meaning without sitting for Georgia's own bar exam, relying on a Georgia rule that allows this for lawyers 'admitted by examination' to a bar in a state that has reciprocity with Georgia, like Alabama. The Georgia Board of Bar Examiners refused, arguing that transferring an exam score into Alabama was not the same as being 'admitted by examination.' Carothers appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia. The court looked at Alabama's own rules and found that Alabama itself treats a transferred Uniform Bar Exam score as part of its 'admission by examination' process, distinct from admission without any exam. Because Carothers met all of Alabama's requirements for admission by examination, the court held that Georgia's reciprocity rule was satisfied and reversed the Board's denial.

The court held that Carothers was 'admitted by examination' to the Alabama Bar because Alabama's own rules treat admission based on a transferred Uniform Bar Exam score as part of its examination-based admission process, distinct from admission without examination, satisfying Georgia's reciprocity requirement for admission on motion.

The ruling clarifies how Georgia's bar admission rules treat lawyers who used transferred Uniform Bar Exam scores to gain admission elsewhere, affecting many out-of-state attorneys seeking to practice in Georgia without retaking a bar exam, and limits the Board's discretion to add its own interpretation of reciprocal states' rules.

Reversed

1. The court read Georgia's admission rule requiring an applicant to have been 'admitted by examination' to a reciprocal state's bar using its plain and ordinary meaning, in context, as an ordinary English speaker would understand it, rather than importing Georgia's own bar exam procedures into the analysis.
2. Because the rule asks how the applicant was admitted in the other state, the court examined Alabama's own bar admission rules rather than Georgia's rules for its own exam, to see whether Alabama itself treats a transferred Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) score as an examination-based admission.
3. The court found that Alabama's rules place the option to transfer a UBE score under the 'Bar Examination' rule and require the same substantive requirements (score, ethics exam, Alabama law course) as applicants who take the exam in Alabama, showing Alabama treats both paths as admission by examination, not admission without examination.
4. The court rejected the Board's argument that Georgia's own bar exam procedures, such as requiring in-state administration and barring transferred multistate scores, should define what counts as 'admission by examination' in a reciprocal state, because the Georgia rules governing Georgia's own exam (Part B) address a different topic than the rule governing admission by motion from other states (Part C).
5. Because Carothers met all of Alabama's substantive requirements for admission by examination, including passing the UBE and completing Alabama's other requirements, the court concluded he was 'admitted by examination' to the Alabama Bar for purposes of Georgia's reciprocity rule.

• bar admission
• reciprocity
• Uniform Bar Examination
• Georgia Board of Bar Examiners
• Alabama Bar