Washington state offers diploma privilege for some after bar exam cancellation
Washington state bar applicants who weren’t able to take the NextGen UBE Bar Exam last week because of tech woes can choose between retaking the exam in September or February or accepting a waiver to practice only in state, the Supreme Court of Washington ordered Thursday.
According to the court’s order, candidates who wish to be able to potentially practice in other jurisdictions must retake the exam so that they can get a portable UBE score. For those who accept the waiver, they would be limited to practicing only in Washington state, since most jurisdictions demand lawyers pass a bar exam. Candidates must email the Washington State Bar Association of their choice of options by noon Aug. 14, according to the order.
“Any resolution must balance fairness to the various categories of applicants, along with the Court’s duty to uphold professional standards and ensure public protection in the lawyer licensing process,” according to the court’s statement, and it “strives to balance the needs of the public, the profession and applicants who were unable to take the test through no fault of their own.”
After unsolvable technical problems at the Yakima Convention & Event Center test site on July 28, the state called off the test for the nearly 700 people who had signed up.
Those with accommodations were able to take and complete the test.
Not all impacted by the canceled test are eligible, according to the court order. It specifies that those who previously failed the bar and those able to complete last week’s exam, such as those with accommodations, were excluded.
“No perfect options”
Initially, the state bar association offered the disappointed test-takers three options: taking a make-up exam tentatively scheduled for Sept. 1 and 2; transferring to the February 2027 administration in Tacoma, Washington; or withdrawing and receiving a refund of applicable fees.
This drew demands from the state’s three law deans, Tony Varona, the dean of the Seattle University School of Law; Tamara Lawson, the dean of the University of Washington School of Law; and Linda D. Jellum, the interim dean of the Gonzaga University School of Law, each noting the cancellation’s weighty toll on aspiring attorneys.
While sources contacted by the ABA Journal applauded the court’s quick move Thursday, some thought it could have gone further.
“Every burden on applicants (and there are many!) equally applies to those applicants who have taken and not passed the test previously,” Sean Silverman, owner of Silverman Bar Exam and LSAT Tutoring, wrote to the ABA Journal. “Is there a risk that some of these applicants will be admitted who would not have passed the test on this attempt? Of course, but that risk also applies to those applicants who are taking the test for the first time.”’
Marsha Griggs, associate professor at St. Louis University School of Law, wants candidates who had to travel to Yakima to be reimbursed.
“Those expenses will be repeated in September, even if the exam site moves to Seattle,” she says. “Those applicants should be legally entitled to recoup those expenses as actual damages.”
“There were no perfect options,” Seattle Law’s Varona wrote on social media, adding he looked forward to addressing additional questions not resolved by the court’s actions.
The NextGen UBE is the new skills-based exam from the National Conference of Board Examiners and last week’s administration was its first. Despite Washington state’s woes, candidates in the other nine jurisdictions completed the test.
“We are committed to conducting a full investigation of the issues that resulted in the cancellation,” the NCBE said in a statement Thursday night.
Knowing what went wrong is important, Gonzaga Law’s Jellum says. “We appreciate the court’s decision to conduct a full investigation into what occurred and the care and professionalism that the Court, the WSBA, and the NCBE brought to addressing an extraordinarily difficult situation.”
The NCBE has been working on the delivery elements for the NextGen UBE since 2020, and it started user testing in 2021, the NCBE officials previously told the Journal.
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