republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/sb-1234.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Virginia State Bar examination; foreign applicants, evidence required."
description: "Attorneys; granting certificates without examination. Provides that the Supreme Court of Virginia shall have the discretionto grant a certificate to practice law without examination to anattorney who has (i) been admitted to practice law before the courtof last resort of any state or territory of the United States orthe District of Columbia for at least two years; (ii) made at leastsix pro hac vice appearances in a court in the Commonwealth, whetherstate or federal; and (iii) obtained a juris doctor or LL.M. degreefrom an accredited law school in the United States that was approvedby the American Bar Association."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1234"
citation: "Virginia SB 1234 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["J. Chapman Petersen"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 38
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-11"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9ac1ccca-a336-4153-b0c4-d83c512bd0f5"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1234"
source_hash: "1acc1342e2fb500368e3f26f804b51c506118bb3a1c3eb568042d203033bb05d"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 1234 (2021) — Virginia State Bar examination; foreign applicants, evidence required.

Attorneys; granting certificates without examination. Provides that the Supreme Court of Virginia shall have the discretionto grant a certificate to practice law without examination to anattorney who has (i) been admitted to practice law before the courtof last resort of any state or territory of the United States orthe District of Columbia for at least two years; (ii) made at leastsix pro hac vice appearances in a court in the Commonwealth, whetherstate or federal; and (iii) obtained a juris doctor or LL.M. degreefrom an accredited law school in the United States that was approvedby the American Bar Association.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **CHAP0296** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0296)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21104012D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1234S1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 21200229D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1234H1)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100935D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1234)
5. **SB1234ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1234ER)

## Votes

- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 1-N) — **7–1** (pass) · lower
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N) — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- J. Chapman Petersen — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-11** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21100935D `introduction`
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-01** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-01** Committee substitute printed 21104012D-S1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-01** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-02** Constitutional reading dispensed (36-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-03** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-03** Committee substitute agreed to 21104012D-S1
- **2021-02-03** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1234S1
- **2021-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-03** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice
- **2021-02-12** Impact statement from DPB (SB1234S1)
- **2021-02-16** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-17** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-17** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 1-N)
- **2021-02-20** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-20** Committee substitute printed 21200229D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-22** Impact statement from DPB (SB1234H1)
- **2021-02-23** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-24** Committee substitute agreed to 21200229D-H1
- **2021-02-24** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1234H1
- **2021-02-24** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-24** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (97-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-25** House substitute agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-25** Title replaced 21200229D-H1
- **2021-03-09** Enrolled
- **2021-03-09** Impact statement from DPB (SB1234ER)
- **2021-03-09** Signed by President
- **2021-03-11** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-15** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 15, 2021
- **2021-03-15** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 296 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9ac1ccca-a336-4153-b0c4-d83c512bd0f5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).