Students will be able to bypass the traditional bar exam and become certified through alternative licensing methods
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled Friday that prospective lawyers will not have to take the traditional National Conference of Bar Examiners test to receive licenses. Students will be able to bypass the Uniform Bar Examination and become certified through alternative licensing methods.
Law school graduates can enroll in apprenticeship programs and experiential pathways to become practice-ready upon completion. 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,” Washington Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-LewisThe court also permitted investigations into lawyers to ensure career-long competency while reducing the timeline to one year for out-of-state attorneys to become eligible in Washington.the changes last month to advance diversity, equity and inclusion and reduce "barriers" to the legal profession. The best available data indicates that the bar exam disproportionately and unnecessarily blocks historically marginalized groups from entering the practice of law,” the task force explained. “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.” Law students will be able to enroll in the NextGen Bar Exam, which the court argued focuses on practical litigation skills, beginning in 2026. Until NextGen’s adoption, law students will only need to achieve a 266 UBE score to pass. “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,” Seattle University Law School Dean Anthony Varona noted. The task force claimed the traditional bar exam is, at best, minimally effective for ensuring litigation competency, citing its low resemblance to practice and tendency to draw similar conclusions to those provided by law school grades. “Picture our current licensing system as a dam, rather hastily built, with a purpose of controlling the amount of water flowing downstream,” it said. “The water represents a supply of individuals with the capacity to practice law and the earnest desire to do so. The dam was constructed in such a way that it holds back more water than it should.”
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