A proposal to allow students to take the New York Bar Exam after two years of law school has piqued the interest of the state’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman (See Profile).

Lippman stopped short of formally endorsing the idea when it was taken out for a public airing on Jan. 18 at New York University School of Law. But he told the more than 100 gathered legal educators, practitioners and judges that the concept deserves serious study.