Jurisdictions With Temporary Diploma Privilege Are Going Back to Bar Exams

Louisiana, according to a Nov. 25th supreme court order plans to host a bar exam during the COVID-19 crisis. The other four jurisdictions of Washington, D.C.; Utah; Oregon; and Washington will be doing remote Uniform Bar Exams, provided by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

“There are some important questions being answered about how we license attorneys,” Jacob Rooksby, the dean of Gonzaga University School of Law said with regards to diploma privilege. “Students go into immense debt to pursue a law degree, and then they have to pay more money to study for the bar exam. I didn’t think it was a good system when I was a student, and the time has come to reexamine how we do this.”

Rooksby is not alone in questioning the route to becoming a licensed attorney.

“I hope that all jurisdictions will learn from their experiences in July and February, reviewing their experience with different approaches and setting up task forces to consider the most valid forms of licensing,” Deborah Jones Merritt, a professor at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law said. “At the same time that states faced the pandemic, new research emerged about lawyer competence and licensing approaches.”

Utah supreme court, the first jurisdiction to grant temporary diploma privileges admitted to considering other options for becoming a lawyer in its state. The state has appointed a group to consider alternative options.