Back in April, it seemed that the movement for emergency diploma privileges had fizzled. Utah was the only state that heeded the calls of legal educators and graduates to allow them to skip the bar exam amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and most other jurisdictions unveiled plans to move forward with in-person exams in July or in September.
But diploma privilege advocates nationwide have caught a second wind, bolstered by the Supreme Court of Washington’s June 12 decision to admit graduates of American Bar Association-accredited law schools without taking the bar exam—which came less than a month after the court initially rejected an emergency diploma privilege. The Oregon Supreme Court followed suit June 29, agreeing to admit graduates of the state’s three law schools who are signed up to take the July bar exam, as well as graduates of other ABA-accredited law schools that had a first-time 2019 pass rate of 86% or higher. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Supreme Court is gathering public opinion on a proposed diploma privilege and looks likely to reach a decision in early July.
