[Job-Discussions] Washington State Supreme Court Approves Alternative Pathways to Lawyer Licensure in Washington State - Courts.wa.gov - March 15, 2024

[David Andrews]

>
>For those of you who are not excited about taking a Bar exam....come 
>to Washington soon (or apparently to Oregon).
>
>https://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/?fa=newsinfo.pressdetail&newsid=50389
>
>Supreme Court Approves Alternative Pathways to Lawyer Licensure in 
>Washington State
>Washington Courts: Press Release Detail
>Courts.wa.gov
>March 15, 2024
>The Washington Supreme Court today filed a pair of Supreme Court 
>Orders<https://www.courts.wa.gov/content/publicUpload/Supreme%20Court%20Orders/Orders%2025700B710%20and%2025700B711.pdf> 
>approving alternative pathways to lawyer licensure. This will be the 
>first time in state history that the lawyer admissions rules do not 
>necessitate some form of bar exam to demonstrate competency to earn 
>a law license.
>While a handful of U.S. states have begun exploring similar 
>alternatives in recent years, Washington's Supreme Court joins only 
>Oregon in officially approving alternatives to the bar exam.
>A task force, studying options to the traditional bar exam was 
>chartered in November 2020 by then-Chief Justice Debra Stephens 
>following a year of pandemic-related bar-exam modifications that 
>caused many to question the efficacy of the current exam.
>The Bar Licensure Task 
>Force<https://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/SupremeCourt/?fa=supremecourt.LicensureTaskForce> 
>is chaired by Washington Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis 
>and Seattle University Law School Dean Anthony Varona.
>After more than three years of extensive study-bringing together 
>data and research with testimony from scholars and experts-the Task 
>Force came to two important findings: The traditional bar exam 
>disproportionately and unnecessarily blocks marginalized groups from 
>entering the practice of law, and the traditional bar exam is at 
>best minimally effective for ensuring competent lawyers.
>The main objective of the court's admissions rules is public 
>protection, with recommendations focusing lawyer admissions 
>standards on real-world practice and skills while reducing 
>historical barriers to the profession.
>"I would like to thank my co-chair Dean Varona and all the members 
>of the Task Force that worked so hard over the past three years to 
>develop this new path forward for Washington," said Justice 
>Montoya-Lewis. "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."
>"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," she continued.
>"I am delighted but not surprised that the Washington Supreme Court 
>has adopted the Task Force's recommendations. We are fortunate in 
>Washington to have a Supreme Court that time after time has used 
>innovative approaches to correct injustice and expand the law and 
>legal services to meet the needs of the underserved and 
>marginalized," said Seattle University School of Law Dean Anthony Varona.
>"The Court's decisions in adopting the NextGen Bar Exam, a revised 
>cut score, and the alternate pathways to licensure will protect the 
>public, allow law school graduates a choice of modalities to 
>demonstrate their competency, and will immediately help address the 
>severe shortage of licensed attorneys in broad swaths of the state, 
>I thank the Court for adopting our recommendations, the Washington 
>State Bar Association for endorsing them, Justice Montoya-Lewis for 
>serving as an excellent Co-Chair, and all of the members of our Task 
>Force for working so thoughtfully and hard for so long. This was a 
>multiyear effort and we are delighted by the outcome," he said.
>The Court's orders implement these changes:
>
>   *   Adopt the National Conference of Bar Examiners' NextGen bar 
> exam<https://nextgenbarexam.ncbex.org/>, which addresses many of 
> the identified flaws in the current bar exam by focusing on 
> real-world skills and practice. The NextGen bar exam will be 
> implemented in Washington in summer 2026.
>
>   *   Create three experiential-learning alternatives to the bar 
> exam, one for law-school graduates, one for law-school students, 
> and one for APR 6 law clerks (who are enrolled in a non-law school 
> course of study).
>
>   *   For graduates, this would entail a six-month apprenticeship 
> under the guidance and supervision of a qualified attorney; during 
> that time, the graduates would be required to complete three 
> courses of standardized coursework.
>
>   *   For law students, the experiential pathway would allow them 
> to graduate practice-ready by completing 12 qualifying skills 
> credits and 500 hours of work as a licensed legal intern; they 
> would be required to submit a portfolio of this work to waive the bar exam.
>
>   *   For law clerks (enrolled in a non-law school course of 
> study), creation of additional standardized educational materials 
> and benchmarks to be completed under the guidance of their tutors 
> that dovetail with the requirements of the law school graduate 
> apprenticeship, and 500 hours of work as a licensed legal intern to 
> be eligible to waive the bar exam.
>
>   *   Call for the investigation and adoption of assessments and 
> programs to help ensure lawyers remain competent throughout their 
> careers, not just upon the moment of licensure.
>
>   *   Reduce the experience requirement for out-of-state licensed 
> attorneys from three to one year to be eligible to be licensed in 
> Washington via admission by motion.
>
>   *   Reduce the bar exam minimum passing score from 270 to 266 
> (the score adopted during the pandemic).
>The Court will partner with the Washington State Bar 
>Association<https://wsba.org/>, its regulatory agency, to create a 
>plan and implementation timeline, which will likely include outreach 
>and partnership with many stakeholders, to develop/amend relevant 
>Court rules and admissions processes.
>The Bar Licensure Task Force also looked at the Character and 
>Fitness process for lawyer licensure. The Court expects to discuss 
>and potentially act on those recommendations in April.