7th Circuit adopts revised admission fee language, but amount stays the same

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has changed its local rule regarding attorney admission fees, though the changed language does not immediately change the amount attorneys must pay to be admitted to the Chicago-based court.

7th Circuit Clerk Christopher Conway announced Wednesday that the appellate court has adopted the modifications to Circuit Rule 46(b) that were proposed in April. The modifications do not change the amount of the local attorney admission fee — $15 — but they do change the language governing that fee.

Specifically, the amended Rule 46(b) now provides that the “prescribed fee for admission is a local fee as set forth in the Seventh Circuit Attorney Admission Local Fee Order … .” The Local Fee Order sets the admission fee at $15, the same amount prescribed under the original language of Rule 46(b).

Attorneys must still pay a national fee — $188 — required by the Court of Appeals Miscellaneous Fee Schedule.

The amendment also provides that “(a)ttorneys who have been appointed by the district court or this court to represent a party on appeal pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act 18 U.S.C. § 3006 A and attorneys employed by the United States or its executive and legislative agencies are exempt from the admission fees.”

Finally, the amendment now provides that local admission fees will be “segregated and retained in a designated Attorney Admission Fund administered by the custodian in accordance with the Seventh Circuit Attorney Admission Fund Plan.” Previous language explicitly provided that the fees would be used “for the purchase of law books, for library conveniences, or other court purposes … .”

According to Conway, the 7^th Circuit did not receive any comments about the proposed modifications. The adoption of the modifications was effective Wednesday.