Diploma Privilege and the Future of the Bar Exam
A recording of the panel conversation hosted by JURIST and United for Diploma Privilege on July 9, 2020.
With the bar exam rendered unsafe by COVID-19, many law students and would-be lawyers have called for the revival of diploma privilege. Animated by social justice and a desire to serve clients in need, the movement argues that allowing graduates of accredited law schools to become practicing attorneys is the only equitable and fair solution to the upheaval of 2020. The panel explores what diploma privilege means, the struggle to achieve it, and what the movement means for the profession’s future.
News
- Afghanistan dispatch: new Taliban bar exam procedures — and the notable absence of new women attorneysLaw students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation on the ground since the Taliban takeover. Here, a young lawyer in Kabul reports on the complications Taliban governance has wrought for young lawyers wishing to regain their rights to practice in the country. For privacy… Read more »
- Bar examiners recommend changes for future examsThe National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) testing task force on Monday released an overview of preliminary recommendations for changes “for the next generation of the bar examination.” The recommendations are the result of a three-year, “comprehensive, empirical study to ensure that the bar examination continues to assess the minimum… Read more »
- DC Bar data breach exposes thousands of members and applicants to potential data theftIn a new report Wednesday from Techcrunch, lawyers applying to join the DC Bar revealed that the personal documents and data of thousands of DC Bar users were exposed in a security leak. The security gap was discovered on August 26 by an unknown whistleblower who attempted to contact both… Read more »
- California Supreme Court rejects emergency petition for diploma privilegeThe California Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request to allow law school graduates to work as attorneys immediately, without taking the bar exam. The decision concerned an emergency petition filed on September 9 by Pilar Escontrias and Donna Saadati-Soto, two leaders in the group United for Diploma Privilege and… Read more »
- DC Court of Appeals grants emergency temporary licensure to recent law school graduatesThe DC Court of Appeals on Thursday granted recent graduates emergency temporary license to practice under the supervision of a DC bar member. This order comes a couple of weeks after the court announced emergency rules regarding the bar exam would be promulgated in response to the coronavirus pandemic. A… Read more »
- Pennsylvania Senate committee considers emergency diploma privilege for law school graduatesThe Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee took emergency diploma privileges under consideration on Monday. If enacted, the bill would admit law students who graduate during the COVID-19 pandemic admission to the Pennsylvania Bar. Any individual seeking admission must meet three eligibility requirements. They must have graduated law school or be otherwise… Read more »
- DC court to allow bar exam waiver for certain law graduatesThe District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued an order Tuesday granting in part to allow law school graduates to practice in Washington, DC, without having sat for the bar exam. The order grants the request in part and states that the court is preparing emergency rules to be released… Read more »
- Pennsylvania bar applicants request investigation after exam software data breachSeveral Pennsylvania bar exam applicants published a letter to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection Wednesday requesting an investigation into ExamSoft, the software being used to administer the upcoming October bar exam. The applicants expressed concerns that recent data breaches resulted from fundamental security flaws within the ExamSoft site. The… Read more »
- California judge blocks state university system from considering ACT and SAT scoresA California Superior Court judge in Alameda County granted a preliminary injunction on Monday, preventing The Regents of the University of California (UC) from considering ACT and SAT scores in admissions or scholarship decisions. Plaintiffs in the case argued that UC’s “test-optional” policy violates the Americans with Disability Act by… Read more »
- Coalition of public interest organizations pushes for law graduate diploma privilegeThe Public Rights Project (PRP), a California-based civil rights organization, has issued an open letter to the National Conference of Bar Examiners and the state bar examiners of 34 states “in response to the ongoing problems and systemic unfairness resulting from efforts to administer the bar exam during a global… Read more »
Commentary
- Dangerous and Discriminatory: Mental Health Questions on Bar ApplicationsI am tired of watching my students suffer. Every year I have law students tell me they are afraid to seek counseling because they think it will hurt their chances of being admitted to the bar. Their fears derive from two questions on the bar application that ask about mental… Read more »
- The PA Bar Exam is Doomed to Failure and the PABOLE is Fine with ThatAnother day, another mass primal scream of “Oh, what fresh hell is this?” as PA Bar examinees are faced with more callousness, indifference, and willful ignorance on the part of the PA Board of Law Examiners (PABOLE). PA bar applicants are in the middle of month 6 of studying for… Read more »
- For Our Convenience, Could You Suspend Being Diabetic During the PA Bar Exam?As an immunocompromised individual, I was initially grateful when the PA bar exam moved online. Now, I wouldn’t have to worry about Covid-19 affecting my health during this crucial exam. This morning, though, that feeling was more-than-slightly altered when I saw a message from the PA Board of Law Examiners… Read more »
- Collaborate, Automate to Amplify Bar Exam Efforts & Preserve For the RecordPlease scream inside your hearts. This request by a Japanese theme park to its visitors has become the mantra of 2020. COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns across the globe, earthquakes, historic wildfires, civil unrest, NASA prediction of an asteroid the day before Election Day, presidential candidate bitten by a bat, tarantulas and… Read more »
- NJ Board of Bar Examiners Must Grant Universal Diploma PrivilegeOn August 3, New Jersey’s Supreme Court publicly responded to a letter from more than 100 New Jersey law school faculty and administrators rejecting their call for a one-time issuance of “diploma privilege” for 2020 law school graduates and other first-time bar applicants in lieu of a remotely proctored bar… Read more »
- There Is No Ascertainable Proof that the Bar Exam and the MPRE Protect the Public
An August 5, 2020 webinar organized by the University of Miami received a great deal of attention for remarks made by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) president Judith Gunderson suggesting that NCBE critics might encounter difficulties with their character and fitness evaluations. I was equally struck, though, by… Read more » - Act Now, Avert More Bar Exam Chaos LaterNow is the time for many state authorities to act decisively to avert more pandemic driven bar exam chaos. Without prompt action more testing failures, disruption, and delays are almost certain. The evidence is in. The case is open and shut. Conventional in-person bar exams cannot and need not be… Read more »
- The Florida Bar Exam: So Close, Yet So FarI graduated from law school in 2017, have taken the Florida Bar Exam four times, and did not pass each time. Just reading that one sentence about me, can you deduce that I do not have the technical nor minimal competence to become an attorney? I am a 48-year-old, female… Read more »
- Stop Buying the Bar Exam Snake OilSince March 2020, the American legal community has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the nation sits on the brink of financial and housing, healthcare, election, and immigration crises, state supreme courts and bar examiners insist on implementing the bar exam, further delaying the licensure of thousands of incoming… Read more »
- We Made the Cut: Why is California Denying Licensure to Recent Grads During a Global Pandemic?At the height of a global pandemic, and shortly after the expiration of the CARES Act which provided a temporary safety net to millions of Californians, the Supreme Court of California issued an order denying retroactivity of the 1390 Cal Bar Exam (CBX) cut score to February 2020 applicants who… Read more »
