The Sherman Act and Bar Admission Residence Requirements

This article will focus on the restrictive aspects of residence qualifications for admission to the state bar. Such restrictions are significant in three cases: initial admission to the bar, relocation by a foreign attorney, and multistate practice by an attorney admitted to the bar in another state. An attempt will be made to determine whether these requirements might be invalid under the Sherman Act and to analyze the case for their abolition. The commercial counterpart of professional entry restrictions has been termed “the very essence of monopoly,” and on this basis it is submitted that further freedom from antitrust scrutiny is unjustifiable.