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Instructions for Attorney Admission

This page is for Attorney Admissions to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. If you have not previously been admitted to practice in the Southern District of Alabama, please follow the instructions below. Alternately, if you have received an email directing you to readmit to practice in our court, please review the page with the Attorney Readmission Instructions. 

  1. GENERAL ADMISSION: See S.D. Ala. GenLR 83.3
    1. Application. All applications for admission to practice must be submitted at www.pacer.gov. Login with your PACER credentials, go to the Maintenance tab, and click Attorney Admissions. A movant who is a member of the Bar of this court must be named at the time of application.
    2. Electronic Filing Registration. CM/ECF registration for e-filing and notification is required in the Southern District of Alabama unless otherwise ordered by the court. Register online at www.pacer.gov. Login with your PACER credentials, go to the Maintenance tab, and click Attorney Admissions/ E-File Registration.
    3. General Admission Fee. The admission fee is $250.00 and is paid online during the admission process by credit card.
    4. Personal Appearance. Appearances must be made by both the applicant and movant before a judge of this Court for swearing in purposes. (Unless admission is available see paragraph G, below.)
    5. Time and Date of Regularly Scheduled Admissions. Local attorneys requesting admission to the Bar of this court will be admitted monthly at a time to be determined by the chambers of Chief Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock. Applications for admission must be submitted not later than the day before the scheduled admission ceremony.
    6. Admission During the Course of Regularly Scheduled Proceedings. Attorneys residing outside of Mobile County who have met the admission requirements will be admitted if possible on the date of their appearance before the court for hearings or other proceedings. If you wish to be admitted during the course of a regularly scheduled event, you must advise the Clerk's Office of your request so that we can coordinate the admission with the Judges' schedules in advance.
    7. Admission for Members already admitted in another federal district court. Attorneys who are members of the Alabama Bar and who have been admitted to the federal district court for the District in which they reside or regularly practice law do not have to appear before the court and take a second oath. You may be admitted by registering at www.pacer.gov. Login with your PACER credentials, go to the Maintenance tab, and click Attorney Admissions. A movant who is a member of the Bar of this court must be named at the time of application. A Certificate of Good Standing issued within the last 30 days from the federal court for the District in which you reside or regularly practice law is required during the online application process. The $250.00 admission fee will be paid online during the registration process.
    8. Out of State Attorneys. Attorneys residing outside the State of Alabama may be generally admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama only if they are members in good standing of the Alabama Bar, otherwise they may only be admitted pro hac vice.
  2. PRO HAC VICE ADMISSIONS. See S.D. Ala. GenLR 83.3(d)
    1. Motion. A Motion and Application for Admission Pro Hac Vice must be e-filed in the case in which the attorney is seeking pro hac vice admission. If you are not registered for e-filing you must register at www.pacer.gov. Login with your PACER credentials, go to the Maintenance tab, and click Attorney Admissions/ E-File Registration. NOTE: NO MOVANT SIGNATURE IS REQUIRED FOR ATTORNEYS APPLYING FOR ADMISSION PRO HAC VICE.
    2. Certificate of Good Standing. An original Certificate of Good Standing issued within the last 30 days from the Clerk of the United States District Court in which the applicant resides or regularly practices law, or the highest Court of any State or the District of Columbia. If counsel is admitted to practice before a Federal Court, this Court requires a certificate of good standing from that federal court.
    3. Pro Hac Vice Admission Fee. A $100.00 fee must accompany a request for pro hac vice admission.
    4. Process. The motion to appear pro hac vice, application for admission, certification of good standing, and fee will all be submitted while e-filing the motion to appear pro hac vice.