(a) Admission to Practice Generally
(1) Qualifications. Only attorneys who are currently admitted to practice in the
highest court of a state, territory, or the District of Columbia, and who appear to the
Court to be of good moral and professional character may be admitted as members of the
bar of this Court. Admission will be based (to the extent applicable) upon standards
contained in the Rules of Professional Conduct as adopted by the Supreme Court of
Tennessee. However, this Court will not be bound by any decision of the Tennessee
courts, the Board of Professional Responsibility, or the committee, regarding an applicant
for admission or reinstatement before this Court.
(2) Application. Each applicant shall submit to the Clerk an executed copy of the
application approved by the Court and furnished by the Clerk containing the applicant's
personal statement; the statement of two sponsors endorsing the correctness of the
applicant's statement, stating that the applicant possesses all the qualifications required for
admission and affirming that the applicant is of good moral and professional character; and
an executed oath. The sponsors must be members of the bar of this Court and must
personally know, but not be related to, the applicant. Each applicant shall pay a
nonrefundable application fee of $50.00 in addition to the fee set by the Judicial
Conference of the United States within thirty days of the request for payment. Failure to
pay the fee will result in summary denial of the application.
(3) Processing of Applications. All applications for admission to practice in this
Court shall be transmitted by the Clerk to a Standing Committee on Admissions, which
shall be composed of members of the Tennessee bar, although not necessarily members
from a local bar association. The committee shall review the qualifications of the
applicants and make a recommendation to the Court as to whether the applicant should be
granted admission to practice before this Court.
(A) Admission Recommended. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court,
applicants recommended for admission by the Committee shall be
admitted on motion of a member of the federal bar in open court or in
chambers. The Clerk will provide a successful applicant with a certificate
of admission.
(B) Admission Not Recommended. When the standing committee does
not recommend granting admission to an applicant, the Committee must
submit to the Court a written report detailing the reasons for the
Committee’s recommendation. The Court shall forward the Committee’s
report to the applicant or shall otherwise provide notice to the applicant of
the Committee’s recommendation of denial and the reasons therefor. The
applicant shall have fourteen (14) days to respond in writing and state why
the Court should not adopt the Committee’s recommendation, and may
request a hearing on the matter. After an applicant is provided an
opportunity to respond, the Court will enter an Order on the matter stating
whether the attorney’s application for admission will be granted or denied
and the reasons therefor.
(4) Hearings. At the discretion of the Court, the Court may order an appropriate
hearing regarding any applicant for admission or reinstatement. The Court may schedule
a hearing following the Committee's recommendation.
(5) Oath. The attorney shall submit with the application an oath or affirmation as
prescribed by Rule 5 of the Supreme Court of the United States. If the attorney fails to
submit the oath or affirmation as herein directed, the attorneys’ application shall be
deemed withdrawn.
(6) Effect. This admission shall entitle an attorney to practice in this Court for as
long as he or she remains in good standing in this Court and is entitled to practice in the
court of the state, territory, or District of Columbia identified on the attorney’s
application for admission.
(b) Admission Pro Hac Vice
(1) Admission Pro Hac Vice
(A) An attorney who is a member in good standing of the bar of the highest
court of a state, territory, or the District of Columbia and who is admitted and entitled to
practice in another United States District Court may, upon motion, be permitted to
practice pro hac vice in a particular case before this Court. This rule does not apply to
attorneys who reside and/or who are regularly employed within the geographic confines
of the Eastern District of Tennessee.
(B) An applicant must submit with his or her motion for admission pro hac
vice a certificate of good standing from the other United States District Court where the
attorney is admitted and entitled to practice. The certificates must be no more than 30
days old and should be filled with the motion for admission pro hac vice.
(C) Applicants must pay a fee of $150.00 upon filing a motion for admission
pro hac vice unless the applicant has an application for admission pending under LR
83.5(a), in which case, the applicant may be admitted pro hac vice upon proper motion
without payment of a fee, provided the applicant files an affidavit of their application for
admission to the Bar of this Court.
(D) If an applicant’s motion for admission pro hac vice is not filed
contemporaneously with the first pleading, the motion must be filed and granted before
the attorney proceeds further in the case.
(c) Special Admission for Certain Attorneys. Attorneys who are members in good
standing of the bar of the highest court of a state or any other district court, and are employed by
the United States Government or Federal Defender Services as an attorney, may appear in
particular cases without either an application for admission as set forth in LR 83.5(a)(2), or the
filing of a motion to practice pro hac vice as set forth in LR 83.5(b)(1).
(d) Duty to Report. Attorneys admitted to practice generally, specially, or pro hac vice in
this Court under this rule shall report to the Clerk, in writing, within seven days of the initiation
of disciplinary action against the attorney by the state in which he or she is a member, or by any
court of record. Failure to make such a report within the allotted time will subject the attorney to
disciplinary action in this Court.
