Trial Experiences
Although subject to some exceptions, an attorney admitted to practice law in South Carolina may not appear alone as counsel in any hearing, trial, or deposition in a case pending before a court of this State until the attorney's trial experiences under Rule 403 of the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules (SCACR) have been approved by the Supreme Court. A link to the rule and to the certificate that must be submitted to the Office of Bar Admissions to seek approval of the trial experiences appears below.
Based on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court has authorized lawyers and bar applicants to complete the trial experiences required under Rule 403(b)(1) (criminal or civil jury trial); and Rule 403(b)(4) (day in court experiences) by viewing recorded videos. See Order of the Supreme Court dated October 14, 2020. Only lawyers and persons with pending South Carolina bar applications may access the videos and be credited with completing the experiences.
Lawyers may gain access to the videos by logging in to their Attorney Information System account (https://ais.sccourts.org/AIS), and clicking on the Tab "Rule 403 Videos." Bar applicants may gain access to the videos by logging into their bar admissions account at https://barapplication.sccourts.org, and clicking on the Link "Rule 403 Videos." Further details are available here.
In addition, two of the Rule 403 trial experiences may be satisfied by viewing videos available on the South Carolina Bar's website. Those are the experiences required under Rule 403(b)(2) and (3). These videos may be accessed at https://cle.scbar.org/Rule-403. A person who is not admitted in South Carolina will need to create an account as a "candidate" to register to view the videos, and information on how to do so is available at the South Carolina Bar link provided above. Please note that it may take up to 48 hours for the videos to be viewable once you complete the registration process.