Iowa Supreme Court considers dropping bar exam for in-state law students

The Iowa State Bar Association wants to start allowing graduates of Iowa's two law schools to be automatically licensed to practice law here without taking the state bar exam in hopes of saving graduates' time and money and bolstering the attorney pool for rural, underrepresented communities.

But Iowa Supreme Court staff members are concerned that dropping traditional bar exam requirements would eliminate an important 'screening function.” And the high court wants to know what the public thinks before deciding whether to move forward with the proposed 'diploma privilege” program.

'Many people believe bar exams have a desired effect of requiring even passing applicants to synthesize their years of cumulative knowledge and prove their mettle on a comprehensive examination,” according to a Supreme Court staff report on the recommendations.

Implementing a 'diploma privilege” program would require the Iowa Supreme Court to amend Chapter 31 of the Iowa Court Rules, and earlier this week the high court issued an order requesting public comment on the proposal.

Any person, agency or organization can submit comments via email, online, through the mail or in person by July 14. A public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 27.

A committee established by the bar association came up the proposed alternative path to practicing law for graduates of Iowa's two law schools - the University of Iowa and Drake University - after finding the current licensure mechanism needed 'significant improvement.”

The current system consists of two components: a test of 'substantive knowledge” measured through bar exams and a test of moral character and fitness assessed through an individual review of the Iowa Board of Law Examiners.

The committee found that the bar exams keep very few graduates of Iowa's law schools from becoming licensed - in the most recent five-year span just 21, or 2 percent, were excluded.

At the same time, according to the committee, the exam requirements impose a 'significant financial penalty on a much larger number of these graduates.”

That penalty comes in the form of time and revenue lost. Under the current licensure system, several months stand between when a student graduates law school and when that graduate can take the bar exam and get admitted to the bar.

The cost of that delay for a student with an average amount of debt is about $29,000 per applicant. And potential benefits extend beyond time and cost savings for the graduates.

'The proposed rule promises benefits to Iowa's rural and traditionally underrepresented communities by lowering student-debt barriers to new lawyers serving these communities,” according to the recommendation.

Dropping traditional exam requirements for Iowa students could make practicing law here more competitive, the committee states.

And, under the committee's proposal, Iowa graduates still would have to pass the Iowa Bar Examination's character and fitness requirements and successfully complete a 'rigorous” course schedule while in school, officials said.

Staff members with the Iowa Supreme Court reviewed the committee's proposal and its supporting arguments, including bar exam pass rates for in-state law students since 2009. Both of Iowa's law schools have recorded high pass rates, although the UI has had higher overall numbers - including a 100 percent pass rate for the batch of students who took the test in February.

Still, according to the high court staff, not all Iowa students do well on the exam. On several occasions since 2009, the lowest scores have come from in-state graduates. In July 2010 and February 2011, six of the 10 lowest scores were posted by Iowa students. In February 2012 and July 2012, in-state graduates accounted for seven of the 10 lowest scores, according to the staff report.

That might show 'the bar examination does perform a screening function that is not being accomplished elsewhere,” staff reported.

And the report cites potential 'collateral effects” from changing the state's bar exam rules. At least 15 other states or jurisdictions won't allow bar admission to attorneys who were first admitted by 'diploma privilege.” And nothing will prevent 'lesser law schools” from planting branches in Iowa to entice students wanting to avoid the bar exam, according to the staff report.

UI College of Law Dean Gail Agrawal served on the bar association committee that crafted the diploma privilege proposal and said she supports it because of what it could do to reduce student debt.

She said the committee tried to address concerns about eliminating the exam's screening function by requiring - as part of the proposal - all students on the diploma privilege path to take a more rigorous and specific schedule of courses.

'They are courses that are customarily tested for on the bar exams,” Agrawal said.

She cited the imperfect nature of the bar exam - that those who pass aren't always fully prepared to practice law and those that fail aren't always underprepared.

'Every lawyers knows names of very prominent attorneys who did not pass the bar the first time around,” Agrawal said.

Even though she thinks the diploma privilege program could help reduce student debt and might encourage graduates to stay and work in Iowa, Agrawal said she doesn't think it will prompt more people to apply to law school.

That ‘s because few people are thinking about the bar exam when they're contemplating a career, she said.

'I don't think suddenly thousands of Iowans will want to go to law school because of this,” Agrawal said.

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said she has mixed feelings about the proposal. On one hand, she said, the program could have financial benefits for students, law schools and the state bar.

'But the bar exam in Iowa is something that those of us who are attorneys had to go through, and I think it's valuable to learn a lot of areas of law,” Lyness said.