OLYMPIA—The Washington Supreme Court ordered on Friday, March 15, that attorneys now have “alternative pathways” in lieu the bar exam to become licensed to practice law in Washington State.
The Washington State Bar Licensure Task Force (WBLTF) cited that the bar exam “disproportionately and unnecessarily blocks marginalized groups from practicing law” while escalating a “law dessert” across the state.
“In addition to the racism and classism written into the test itself, the time and financial costs of the test reinforce historical inequities in our profession,” Supreme Court documents state. “Despite these issues, data indicates that the bar exam is at best minimally effective for ensuring competent lawyers. Among the deficiencies and common complaints about the bar exam is that it bears little resemblance to actual practice and tends to simply restate the same results already provided by law school grades.”
The task force was created by the Washington State Supreme Court on November 20, 2020, to assess the efficacy of the Washington state bar requirements for licensing lawyers, according to Supreme Court documents, as well as to consider alternatives to the current licensing requirements and to analyze potential alternatives.
On October 11, 2023, the WBLTF presented its proposals for the future of Washington State Bar Admissions. Those proposals were then updated on February 28, 2024, following a round of public comment.
Those proposals included seven recommendations to the court to modify requirements needed to practice law in Washington, of those the court accepted recommendations two through six which relate to graduating from an apprenticeship program, law school experiential pathway, APR 6 apprenticeships (Law Clerk program), alternative assessments and interventions, and reciprocity.
The entire list of proposed recommendations include:
- maintain the bar exam in its current form for those who choose to take it while advancing the cause of improvement to the bar exam;
- create an experiential pathway to practice for law school graduates;
- create an experiential pathway to practice for law school students;
- create an experiential pathway to practice for APR 6 clerks;
- recommend that WSBA research, with the goal of implementation, assessments that identify strengths and growth areas for lawyers and specific training programs that can be implemented throughout the course of a lawyer’s career;
- reduce the time requirement for admission by motion to one year; and
- lower the cut score for bar exam passage back to 266. These proposed reforms relate only to the bar exam.
Participants in each proposal are still expected to complete all WA licensure requirements other than the bar exam.
“These recommendations come from a diverse body of lawyers in private and public practice, academics, and researchers who contributed immense insight, counterpoints and research to get us where we are today,” Washington Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis issued in a statement. “With these alternative pathways, we recognize that there are multiple ways to ensure a competent, licensed body of new attorneys who are so desperately needed around the state.”
What this means, essentially, is that law students can now complete a six-month apprenticeship program while being supervised and guided by a practicing attorney. Also, by completing three different courses, law students can become certified after completing 500 hours of relevant work practicing as a legal intern, and law clerks can become attorneys without entering law school by completing standardized educational materials, while also fulfilling the 500-hour legal intern requirements.
Washington State Chief Justice Steven González signed the order on March 15.
Washington now becomes the fourth state in the nation to offer alternative options to practice law following Oregon which adopted a similar change in requirement earlier this year—Wisconsin and New Hampshire are the previous two. Other states that are considering alternatives to the bar exam requirement include Minnesota, Nevada, South Dakota, and Utah.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
