[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-322175-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-322175-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","diploma-privilege-and-the-future-of-the-bar-exam-read-online","Diploma Privilege and the Future of the Bar Exam - read online","","Diploma Privilege and the Future of the Bar Exam describes how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted bar exam administration and created urgent licensure challenges for law school graduates. It explains the structure and portability of the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), then details how Washington State law schools and student bar leaders coordinated with the Washington State Bar Association and the Washington Supreme Court. The piece highlights planned responses to risks of an in-person July exam and presents survey findings showing widespread health and financial hardship among registrants.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/diploma-privilege-and-the-future-of-the-bar-exam-read-online/322175/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/diploma-privilege-and-the-future-of-the-bar-exam-read-online/322175.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Quinn","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-06","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",13,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), and why does it matter for licensure?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The UBE is designed to test general principles of law, legal analysis, and reasoning. Scores are portable across UBE states, while each state still sets its own passing score and other eligibility requirements.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How did COVID-19 affect the bar exam timeline and format in the U.S.?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The UBE’s traditional structure includes an in-person, two-day exam offered only twice a year. When COVID-19 erupted in February 2020, law schools and higher education shifted to remote operations, creating concerns about administering an in-person July exam.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What reasoning and evidence did Washington State student bar leaders use to support diploma privilege?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Student leaders argued that an emergency diploma privilege was the safest and most expedient licensing path. They presented health risk concerns about an in-person exam and shared data from a survey showing significant COVID-19 risk, financial hardship, and employment disruption among registrants.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},322175,1790088762,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,95,100,105,110,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":130},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":132},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":133,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":96,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":55,"preview_page_count":4},962075114765,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","Diploma Privilege and the Future of  \nthe Bar Exam  \nBy Annette Clark  \nT  \nhe COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives and work in ways that were unimaginable only six  \nmonths ago, as we’ve been faced with illness and death within our families and communities, a health care system that has been strained beyond capacity, the loss of jobs and increasing economic insecurity, anxiety and depression brought on by the fear of contracting the virus and the isolation imposed by our governments in trying to combat its spread, and so much more. For recent law school graduates, add to this demoralizing list the need to take and pass a bar exam in the middle of a public health crisis. What follows is the story of how Washington State responded by granting a diploma privilege.  \nLICENSURE AND THE BAR EXAM  \nAttorney licensing has historically been a function of individual state regulatory processes, but as lawyering has become increasingly global, licensing reciprocity across states has taken on greater importance. As a result, 35 states have moved in recent years to administering the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), developed and offered by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) . The UBE consists of the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE, six 30-minute essays, seven different subjects tested), the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE, 200 multiple-choice questions over six hours, 12 subjects tested), and the Multistate Performance Test (MPT, two case files in three hours); see generally [https://](https://)  \n[GP](GPSOLO | November/December 2020 | ambar.org/gpsolomag)[SOLO](GPSOLO | November/December 2020 | ambar.org/gpsolomag)[ | November/December 2020 |](GPSOLO | November/December 2020 | ambar.org/gpsolomag)[ ](GPSOLO | November/December 2020 | ambar.org/gpsolomag)[ambar.org/gpsolomag](GPSOLO | November/December 2020 | ambar.org/gpsolomag)  \n[www.ncbex.org/exams/ube](www.ncbex.org/exams/ube)  . Rather than testing state-specific knowledge, the UBE is designed to assess a test taker’s knowledge of general principles of law, legal analysis, and reasoning, with a passing score intended to indicate minimum competence and readiness to practice in any state. Scores are portable from one UBE state to another, with each state able to set its own passing score (currently ranging from a low of 260 to a high of 280) . UBE states continue to administer their own character and fitness processes and set other licensing eligibility requirements, such as graduating from an ABA-accredited law school and passing the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). UBE states may also require completion of a course or test separate from the  \n19  \nRattankun Thongbun/i Stock via Getty Images Plus  \nUBE that is designed to teach or test its own state-specific laws.  \nWhile the move to the UBE by many states can be seen asan effort to modernize the bar exam, two important attributes haven’t changed: The UBE is designed to be taken as an inperson, two-day exam within the state that is administering it, and the exam is offered only twice per year, in July and February. As it turned out, these two tradition-bound characteristics of the exam loomed large as the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in the United States in February 2020, and virtually all of higher education, including law schools, were forced to move to remote operations and instruction.  \nWASHINGTON STATE CONSIDERS DIPLOMA PRIVILEGE  \nSoon-to-be graduates of the three law schools in Washington State (Seattle University, University of Washington, and Gonzaga University) were quick to foresee the concerning implications for administration of the July bar exam, and the student bar leaders began to organize and collaborate on a strategy in March. Atthe same time, as dean of Seattle University School of Law, I followed the lead of some of my fellow deans across the country by reaching out to the body that administers the UBE in my state—the Chief Regulatory Counsel for the Washington State Bar As","cbCail7VQcoYepZd","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCail7VQcoYepZd","pdf",700903,"English","# Licensure and the Bar Exam\n## The UBE structure and portability\n## Traditional exam format and pandemic disruption\n# Washington State Considers Diploma Privilege\n## Collaborative strategy with WSBA and law school deans\n## Student outreach and emergency diploma privilege proposal\n## Survey findings on COVID-19 risk and hardship","[{\"question\":\"What is the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), and why does it matter for licensure?\",\"answer\":\"The UBE is designed to test general principles of law, legal analysis, and reasoning. Scores are portable across UBE states, while each state still sets its own passing score and other eligibility requirements.\"},{\"question\":\"How did COVID-19 affect the bar exam timeline and format in the U.S.?\",\"answer\":\"The UBE’s traditional structure includes an in-person, two-day exam offered only twice a year. When COVID-19 erupted in February 2020, law schools and higher education shifted to remote operations, creating concerns about administering an in-person July exam.\"},{\"question\":\"What reasoning and evidence did Washington State student bar leaders use to support diploma privilege?\",\"answer\":\"Student leaders argued that an emergency diploma privilege was the safest and most expedient licensing path. They presented health risk concerns about an in-person exam and shared data from a survey showing significant COVID-19 risk, financial hardship, and employment disruption among registrants.\"}]","Diploma Privilege and the Future of the Bar Exam - read online | PDF",1789961886]