States Look to Adopt Temporary Diploma Privileges During COVID-19 Crisis

During the COVID-19 crisis, students are asking administrators to allow temporary diploma privileges due to unsafe testing conditions. With students banding together, a letter was sent to the California State Bar with over 1,300 signatures, advocating for diploma privileges.

There needs to be a way to bring new lawyers into the profession during COVID-19, however. Some courts across the country have already shut down because of this rapidly spreading virus. Crime isn’t going anywhere during COVID-19, so a solution to law students being able to take the bar needs to happen; online proctoring of the test isn’t going to work. Moving the bar back to July 2020 would result in a lack of lawyers in the legal system.

Diploma privilege is the most realistic route to follow as it keeps the health of students first and provides an equal opportunity for students to become lawyers. It also lessens the spread of COVID-19, as students wouldn’t be packed into testing centers acting as breeding grounds for the virus.

Some may call millennials lazy for not wanting to take the bar exam, but they have no control over COVID-19 and are only seeking the most feasible route to become a lawyer during these troubling times, which is diploma privilege.