ABA Legal Ed council gives its blessing to alternative licensing
The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar on Friday approved a policy shift that now allows states to use methods of licensure beyond the bar exam. (Image from Shutterstock)
With more states leaning toward alternative attorney licensing, the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar on Friday approved a policy shift that now allows states to use methods of licensure beyond the bar exam.
The ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools states that “every bar candidate should be examined by public authority to determine fitness for admission.” The ABA has supported the use of bar exams since 1921.
“We’ve backed away from that,” Carla D. Pratt, a council member, said in an interview after the meeting. “In adopting the new policy, we agree that alternative pathways to licensure provides access to justice and diversity in our profession.”
The policy change mostly follows a task force recommendation for jurisdictions to create assessments to enable license portability and “innovate in the development of pilot programs, and new competency assessment formats.”
Only one section of the draft, which was not sent out for notice and comment, was debated before approval. Daniel Thies, council vice-chair, added stronger wording requiring jurisdictions to “avoid imposing requirements on law school study that go beyond the council’s standards.”
While the ABA controls accreditation of law schools, lawyer licensing is handled by individual jurisdictions via state courts or other entities.
The vote at the council meeting in Chicago comes after members of a task force met with chief justices around the country to learn about measures states are taking to close the access to justice gap and serve underrepresented communities, Pratt said.
“We reviewed the research that has found that alternative pathways to licensure do not result in greater harm to the public,” Pratt told the council, “and we worked on drafting a new policy that recognized that alternative pathways to licensure can ensure competency.”
COVID-19 forced many jurisdictions to rethink the bar exam. Early in the pandemic, five states offered emergency diploma privileges, but then switched to remote bar exams by 2021.
Recently, states have been making moves toward alternative pathways to the bar.
Last year, Oregon approved apprenticeship as a method to licensure without taking the bar, and Washington followed, but also included a skills coursework option. Other states, including California and Minnesota are currently considering proposals to license attorneys without the bar exam.
Wisconsin already offers diploma privilege to graduates of its two law schools and New Hampshire offers several ways to pass the bar, including completion of specialized courses.
