Bar Exam
Judge Certifies Non-Wisconsin Law Grads, Axes Bar Admission Class Action
Posted Jun 18, 2008, 12:22 pm CST
By Martha Neil
Not law graduates for nothing, a small group of juris doctor degree holders have successfully sought federal class action status over Wisconsin's policy of allowing only graduates of in-state law schools to practice without passing the bar exam.
But, at least for now, they have lost their U.S. commerce-clause case against the state supreme court and board of bar examiners, which has been dismissed, reports the National Law Journal in an article reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.). However, Christopher Wiesmueller, the original plaintiff, plans to file an appeal with the Chicago-based 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Wiesmueller, who originally filed the case on his own behalf, "has since added his wife and recently graduated law school student, Corrine, and another law school colleague as plaintiffs in the case because he himself has now passed the bar in Wisconsin and works as an associate at Kuchler & Cotton in Waukesha, Wisconsin," the article notes.