Arlington County has long been a soughtafter location for many professional organizations including consulting firms, non-profits, defense contractors, technology firms and more. The many benefits of locating in Arlington, from its proximity to Washington, D.C., to its accessibility to Metro, to its highly educated and talented population have far outweighed the perceived cachet of a Washington, D.C. zip code.
Similarly, many national law firms currently located in the District of Columbia might also choose to locate in Arlington for the same and additional reasons, yet are discouraged from making such a move due to the rules which govern admission of attorneys to the Virginia Bar. Such rules are set by the Virginia Supreme Court and administered through the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners.
Virginia's Bar admission rules significantly disadvantage any firm located in Virginia vis a vis D.C. in the ongoing competition to recruit the best talent from government or from locations in other parts of the country. For example, a senior official leaving a non-legal job in government (e.g. agency head; member of a regulatory body; Congressional staff) will likely choose a firm based in D.C. where he or she can be admitted to the D.C. Bar after filing a routine application, rather than a Virginia firm where a written exam would likely be required. The same is true for a lawyer actively practicing in California, Florida, Maryland or a number of other
states with whom Virginia does not currently have reciprocity in its Bar admissions. If recruited by a national law firm, a California, Florida or Maryland based expert would be required to take the Virginia written exam if the office of the recruiting firm were in Virginia, but would be required only to file the routine application if the office were in D.C.
Faced with these challenges, no major law firm will take the recruitment risk of being unable to attract sought after talent by locating its primary office in Virginia. This makes the issue one that severely disadvantages Virginia in the economic competition for attracting large national law firms. The issue is especially acute for Northern Virginia and Arlington specifically, which is the community most likely to attract firms relocating from Washington, D.C. to Virginia.
In its newest white paper, Making the Case Arlington Economic Development makes the economic argument of why Virginia should make some modifications or exceptions to current requirements for Washington, D.C. law firms who wish to move to Virginia. It illustrates
how Virginia is losing economic opportunities, and that even though Virginia has significant economic advantages as a business location, years
of marketing and recruitment efforts with D.C. law firms have not been able to surmount the technical obstacle of admission to the Virginia Bar.
Both Arlington County and the Commonwealth of Virginia would have a significant positive net fiscal impact from some adjustments to the rules governing admission to membership in the Virginia Bar. There is sufficient indication of potential gains to warrant continued discussion with the Board of Bar Examiners.
