Can Somebody Be Admitted to the Minnesota Bar Without Taking the Bar Exam Over Again
The state board that licenses attorneys to practice in Minnesota has begun a comprehensive study that could offering new pathways into the profession every bit early as 2026.
Minnesota is one of 38 states that require new lawyers to pass the Universal Bar Test, a grueling examination that came under increased scrutiny concluding year.
When the coronavirus pandemic struck, some states allowed police graduates to postpone taking the two-solar day, 12-hr exam for public health reasons. Meanwhile, George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis in May 2020, and subsequent racial unrest that summer, raised sensation of the bar exam's role in keeping people of colour out of the profession.
Criticism of the bar exam is nothing new, merely "information technology definitely had a lot more than momentum with everything that occurred last summertime," said Emily Eschweiler, director of the Minnesota State Board of Law Examiners.
TWO YEAR Study
The board in June appear it would take 2 years to study the bar exam, its history in the state and the touch of being a land that admits lawyers based on their scores. The review was timed to coincide with coming changes in the test itself, which take consequence in 2026.
But the Minnesota lath will await beyond the test to consider "alternative options for determining competency for licensure," such every bit apprenticeship-style models or the "diploma privilege," which in Wisconsin ways anyone who completes constabulary school in the state can do police without taking an exam.
"In that location's been a lot of discussion over the form of the last yr about whether the exam should exist the simply artery into the do and determining competency," Eschweiler said.
The lath in 2023 volition present recommendations to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which ultimately decides how lawyers are certified to practice here.
Associated Justice Barry Anderson, the Supreme Courtroom's liaison to the examiners board, said Th the court is "certainly open to the discussion on the ways in which we license lawyers.
"I'm not prepared to say there's any problem with the bar exam," he said, "but I'm also not prepared to say we wouldn't be open up to alternatives that might be proposed to deal with concerns that people might have."
Separately, the Minnesota State Bar Association is preparing a request that the Supreme Court prepare its own chore forcefulness to report pathways into the profession.
"This is an issue — the bar exam, its efficacy, how well it measures readiness to enter the profession — that'due south been a topic of discussion around the nation. And I think that's all been highlighted past the pandemic," association president Jennifer Thompson said. "The fourth dimension is simply really right to look at how we license attorneys and measure readiness to enter the profession."
'RACIST' EXAM
The examiners board'south proclamation said its written report also would consider "the impact of the licensure process on diversity and equity."
Just ix percent of active lawyers in Minnesota are people of color — compared with 21 percentage of the general population. The bar exam has played a role in that disparity.
Although Minnesota does non track pass rates past race or ethnicity, the American Bar Association said that in 2020, 88 pct of white candidates passed the examination on their first try, compared with 80 percent of Asians, 78 percentage of Native Americans, 76 percentage of Hispanics and 66 percentage of Blacks.
At his installation last calendar week equally dean and president of Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Anthony Niedwiecki said the bar examination was "created past white people to exclude others from the profession."
"The bar exam is racist," Niedwiecki declared. "It was congenital to keep sure people out of the profession, and we should get rid of it. Information technology doesn't test the skills needed to be a successful lawyer, and at that place are other ways to license lawyers that are more reliable and equitable."
Justice Anderson isn't convinced that racial differences in pass rates are a good reason to reconsider Minnesota'due south reliance on the bar exam.
"Certainly, we want a diverse bar representing the people of Minnesota; that'south certainly a goal the court has," he said. "I'm not sure that's necessarily linked to the bar examination."
ALTERNATIVES
Eschweiler said that besides the Wisconsin model, their written report figures to explore culling pathways like New Hampshire's Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, where law students build portfolios of work in real and simulated settings in lieu of the bar exam.
Another idea, which Utah implemented during the pandemic last year, admits new lawyers to the bar in one case they've spent time working under the supervision of an experienced attorney.
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System final year called for a new approach to determining who's qualified to practice law. It said the skills new lawyers demand and use cannot be identified through closed-book exams with time limits and multiple-choice questions.
Dena Sonbol, dean of academic excellence at Mitchell Hamline, agrees there are bug with the bar exam.
"Information technology tests a lot of memorization, while in existent life as an attorney you don't have to memorize," she said.
However, adopting the Wisconsin model would be "complicated," she said, requiring all three constabulary schools in the state to adopt a common fix of admission standards and curriculum. She thinks more incremental changes are in store for the country.
"My biggest concern as a lawyer myself … is ensuring that people that are becoming attorneys are people who are competent, skilled and ethical," she said. "If at that place is a way to accomplish that without a bar exam, I would definitely back up it."
Source: https://www.twincities.com/2021/09/30/should-new-lawyers-have-to-pass-the-bar-exam-mn-supreme-court-is-open-to-alternatives/
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