Changing How We Enter the Profession

For so many years the gate-keeping tool for the legal profession has been the infamous bar exam. Three years of law school followed by months of prep and studying for several days of regurgitating all that you’ve managed to cram into your head about the law. Yet some states are starting to change that.

Oregon and Washington recently made changes that allow for an alternate means of being licensed. It would involve supervised legal work, and a portfolio that would be then submitted to the state bar association in lieu of a bar exam. Such approaches have been advocated for in the past, and proponents of the approach hope this spurs changes in other states.

The LegalMind Society fully supports these changes. For years, the bar exam has been an significant source of stress for the recent law graduates. In a profession that struggles significantly with mental health challenges, including anxiety, the bar exam seems often to exist to initiate new lawyers into the profession’s maladaptive culture. Furthermore, many point out that there is a large gap between the experience of passing the bar exam and the experience of practicing law.

Recognizing the need for progress that will help not just change entry into the profession, but change the culture of the law, is an important step for an industry that needs to address the growing mental health needs of those who work in the industry. We hope there will be more changes like this in the future.