WA Supreme Court Rules Bar Exam Is Racist and No Longer A Requirement To Practice Law

The Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that the bar exam is no longer a requirement for prospective lawyers. On Friday, The Bar Licensure Task Force explained that the bar is “minimally effective for ensuring competency” and “disproportionally and unnecessarily blocks marginalized groups from becoming practicing attorneys.”

According to The Spokesman-Review, after appointing the task force in 2020 to assess “disproportionate impacts on examinees of color and first-generation examinees,” the courts agreed to substitute the exam with “experiential-learning alternatives.”

The task force was made up of over 50 groups of representatives and “examined the character and fitness process for lawyer licensure.”

Although students have historically interned under another lawyer before becoming attorneys, they still had to pass the bar to get their license to practice. Under the new guidelines, lawyers can forgo the bar, first administered in Delaware in 1783, by participating in a six-month apprenticeship and finishing three courses.