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To become a lawyer in the Federated States of Micronesia, you generally graduate from a recognized law school and then apply to the FSM Supreme Court to take its written bar examination, held twice a year (the first Thursdays of March and August). Graduates of law schools outside the FSM and the US must also complete a court-approved one-year internship before sitting the exam. FSM citizens may instead qualify through the College of Micronesia's Trial Counselor Certificate Program plus an internship. Once you pass and are certified by the FSM Supreme Court, you are entitled to practise before it; the Court itself sets the admission rules and regulates attorneys.

The Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia, which sets the Rules for Admission, administers the bar examination, and certifies attorneys; there is no independent national bar body.

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You must be certified by the FSM Supreme Court. There are two routes, both ending in the same FSM written bar examination. The attorney route: graduate from a recognised law school, complete a one-year court-approved internship if your school is outside both the FSM and the US, then pass the exam. The trial counselor route (for FSM citizens): complete the College of Micronesia-FSM Trial Counselor Certificate plus a one-year court-approved internship, then pass the same exam. Both also require meeting residency/nationality and moral-character requirements.

No. The FSM has no law school. The College of Micronesia-FSM awards associate degrees and certificates, not law degrees, so a conventional legal education means studying abroad, most often in the United States. The FSM-based alternative is COM-FSM's Trial Counselor Certificate program.

The FSM written examination is administered semiannually, on the first Thursdays of March and August each year, and runs approximately five hours. You must apply at the FSM Supreme Court in Pohnpei at least 60 days beforehand, pay a non-refundable US$25 fee, and score at least 65% of the available points to pass. A late filing for good cause is possible up to 21 days before the exam, but never after.

Yes. Graduates of law schools located outside both the FSM and the United States must complete a one-year internship, on terms approved by the FSM Supreme Court, before they may apply to sit the exam. The same one-year internship applies to COM-FSM Trial Counselor Certificate graduates. Graduates of US law schools are not subject to this internship year.

Not automatically. There is no reciprocity; the former reciprocity rule was deleted in 1997 by General Court Order No. 1997-1. A US-qualified attorney must still sit and pass the FSM written examination, submitting a certificate of good standing. Separately, an attorney admitted elsewhere can apply for limited, case-by-case temporary (pro hac vice) admission, which the Court grants on a discretionary basis.

An attorney is certified to practise law in their own right before the FSM Supreme Court. A trial counselor is certified to practise before the Court only under the supervision of an attorney. The trial-counselor route is the domestic path open to FSM citizens via the COM-FSM certificate, while the attorney route generally requires a recognised law degree.

The Supreme Court of the FSM. It sets the Rules for Admission, administers the bar examination, certifies attorneys and trial counselors, and handles attorney discipline. There is no independent national bar association; the Court maintains the roll of practitioners directly, and every practitioner must keep active mailing-address contact information on file each year (a 1 December deadline).

The FSM is a common-law jurisdiction layered over customary law. The FSM Constitution (modelled on the US Constitution, with a Declaration of Rights) is supreme, the FSM Code holds national statutes, and Supreme Court decisions build precedent. Under Article XI, Section 11, court decisions must be consistent with the Constitution and with Micronesian customs, traditions, and the social and geographical configuration of Micronesia; courts may consider but are not bound by US case law.

The FSM Supreme Court (the Chief Justice plus not more than five associate justices) has a trial division and an appellate division. A single justice can hear trials, appeals are decided by at least three justices, and no justice may sit on the appeal of a case they tried. National institutions are in Pohnpei. Each of the four states (Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae) also runs its own state court system under its own constitution.

National-government legal jobs are posted on the FSM Office of Personnel portal at personnel.gov.fm, including Department of Justice Staff Attorney roles and FSM Supreme Court (mostly court-administrative) vacancies under a dedicated category. Civil legal-aid roles are posted by Micronesian Legal Services Corporation via its BambooHR careers page. State-level legal posts are decentralised, so candidates approach the individual state governments directly.

There is no reliable single national average. For government attorneys, FSM Department of Justice Staff Attorney roles are paid on the codified national salary grid plus a 100% professional premium for bar members that roughly doubles base pay: entry pay is about $1,558.60 biweekly (PL-34/1) rising to about $2,355.16 biweekly (PL-42/1). A regional legal-aid proxy (an MLSC Majuro posting) listed $43,784 to $60,600 a year. Private-practice income has no reliable published figures. All pay is in US dollars.

Two main routes. The FSM National Scholarship and Financial Assistance Program, run by the National Department of Education, can fund accredited study abroad and lists Legal and Justice Studies among its Tier 1 priority fields. Regional fellowships, such as East-West Center fellowships for graduate or one-year professional study (including law) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, are also available, with the PROJECT Governance Fellowship naming the FSM as eligible. Verify current award terms and deadlines with each program.