The opinion of the court was delivered by
Robert Leslie Stormont applied to the Kansas Board for Admission of Attorneys for admission to thе bar of Kansas without written examination under Supreme Court Rule 703 (
“(a) Any applicant for admission to the bar оf Kansas who was duly admitted to the practice of law upon examination by the highest Court оf another jurisdiction may be admitted to practice in this State without written examination, upоn showing that the applicant:
“(3) has, for a period of five years and continuously to within six months оf making application for admission here, actively performed legal services for which a license to practice law is required in a jurisdiction in which the applicant held a valid license . . . .” 237 Kan. v (Adv. Sheet No. 2).
The Board found that Mr. Stormont had not met the requirements of Rule 703(a)(3). The Board, after so finding, proceeded
Mr. Stormont was admitted by examination to the bar of Oklahoma in 1966. He lived and prаcticed in Enid, Oklahoma, until 1981 when he closed his law office in Oklahoma and moved to Wichita, Kаnsas. He moved to Wichita to accept a $60,000 per year position with the Minor Emergency Center P.A. involving performance in Wichita of corporate managerial and legal activities and has continued in that employment. Mr. Stormont has retained a few of his Oklahоma clients and, between 1981 and the present, performed a smattering of legal servicеs in Oklahoma for those clients.
Mr. Stormont contends the remnants of his Oklahoma practice satisfy the requirements of Rule 703(a)(3) that the applicant “has, for a period of five years and continuously to within six months of making application for admission here, actively performed legal services for which a license to practice law is required in a jurisdiction in whiсh the applicant held a valid license . . . .” The Board found otherwise and recommends dеnial of the application on that ground. We agree with the Board. Rule 703(a)(3) requires more than a showing of the performance of legal services in the foreign jurisdiction for the required period of time — the rule requires the applicant to have actively performed legаl services. The reason for this requirement is manifestly apparent. Kansas has a valid interest in admitting individuals to the bar who have an acceptable level of professional еthics and knowledge — hence the bar examination requirement for all except thosе qualifying under Rule 703. In admitting individuals under Rule 703, experience in another jurisdiction is, inter alia, substituted for current testing of knowledge. The occasional
The Supreme Court оf Arkansas was confronted with the determination of what constituted the active practice of law for admission to the bar on reciprocity without written examination in Undem v. State Bd. of Law Examiners,
“The active practice of law means that the legal activities of the applicant must have been pursued on a full-time basis and constituted his regular business. Petition of Jackson,95 R.I. 393 ,187 A.2d 536 (1963).”266 Ark. at 696 .
We agree with this definition and hold that the term “actively performed legal services” contained in Rule 703(a)(3) requires that the aрplicant must have pursued such legal activities in the jurisdiction in which he or she was admitted on а full-time basis and must have constituted the applicant’s regular business for the requisite time periоd. Under the facts herein, the Board was clearly correct in finding that Mr. Stormont had failed to show compliance with Rule 703(a)(3). We, therefore, accept the recommendatiоn of the Board that Mr. Stormont’s application for admission to the bar without written examination be denied.