On March 15, 2024, the Supreme Court of Washington state filed an order (archived here) outlining that it had approved "alternative pathways" to lawyer licensure, as recommended by a task force assigned to the matter. It is now the second in the nation to officially do so, following Oregon.
The decision sparked controversy on X (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms, with many users raising concerns about the decision, including American politician Vivek Ravaswamy, who posted a video that received over 1.4 million views saying that the Washington Supreme Court order was made "in the name of DEI" [diversity, equity and inclusion] and issued a call to "restore colorblind meritocracy."
It is true that starting in 2027, passing a bar exam will no longer be a requirement in the state of Washington. According to a statement by Washington Courts (archived here) released on March 15, "this will be the first time in state history that the lawyer admissions rules do not necessitate some form of bar exam to demonstrate competency to earn a law license."
In November 2020, the Bar Licensure Task Force was chartered and tasked with studying available data and research, as well as hearing testimony from scholars and experts on the subject. After three years, it announced two main findings:
- "The traditional bar exam disproportionately and unnecessarily blocks marginalized groups from entering the practice of law."
- "The traditional bar exam is at best minimally effective for ensuring competent lawyers."
As of 2023, the American Bar Association reports that 79% of attorneys were white and 61% were male. This does indicate a downward trend over the past decade (in 2012, 88% of lawyers were white and 67% were male).
(Image via the American Bar Association)
"I would like to thank my co-chair Dean Varona and all the members of the Task Force that worked so hard over the past three years to develop this new path forward for Washington," said Justice Montoya-Lewis in the March 15 statement. "These recommendations come from a diverse body of lawyers in private and public practice, academics, and researchers who contributed immense insight, counterpoints and research to get us where we are today."
As a result of these findings, the Court's orders implement several changes. First, the traditional bar exam will be replaced in Washington state starting summer 2026 with an alternative called the NextGen Bar Exam. This exam is more skills-based than reliant on memorization, and it also takes only nine hours to complete compared to the 12-hour-long traditional bar exam.
According to the NextGen website, as of this writing Connecticut, Guam, Maryland, Missouri, and Oregon will all implement the NextGen Bar Exam alongside Washington in July 2026, while Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Vermont, and Wyoming will switch to NextGen by July 2027, and Colorado, Kansas, and Utah will make the transition in July 2028.
(Image via NextGen)
Additionally, beginning in 2027, three experiential-learning alternatives to the bar exam will be implemented in Washington state: one for law-school graduates, one for law-school students, and one for APR 6 law clerks (who are enrolled in a non-law school course of study). The alternative pathways are outlined in the court's statement as follows:
- For graduates, this would entail a six-month apprenticeship under the guidance and supervision of a qualified attorney; during that time, the graduates would be required to complete three courses of standardized coursework.
- For law students, the experiential pathway would allow them to graduate practice-ready by completing 12 qualifying skills credits and 500 hours of work as a licensed legal intern; they would be required to submit a portfolio of this work to waive the bar exam.
- For law clerks (enrolled in a non-law school course of study), creation of additional standardized educational materials and benchmarks to be completed under the guidance of their tutors that dovetail with the requirements of the law school graduate apprenticeship, and 500 hours of work as a licensed legal intern to be eligible to waive the bar exam.
The orders also included reducing the experience requirement for out-of-state attorneys to be licensed in Washington state from three to one year, reducing the bar exam minimum passing score from 270 to 266 (a change adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic), and a call for the "investigation and adoption of assessments and programs to help ensure lawyers remain competent throughout their careers, not just upon the moment of licensure.
In sum, beginning in 2026, the NextGen bar exam will be implemented in Washington state in place of the traditional bar exam, and by 2027, there will be three alternate pathways that will allow would-be lawyers to waive the bar exam altogether.