More good news for Wisconsin law school students and graduates: the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided to keep the diploma privilege on Monday. We have kept you posted on this issue, but for a quick refresher, Wisconsin’s “diploma privilege,” allows graduates of ABA accredited Wisconsin law schools that teach Wisconsin law to practice in Wisconsin without sitting for the bar exam. Despite allegations that the rule discriminates against out-of-state students who want to practice in Wisconsin, the Supreme Court justices decided to keep the practice and rejected a proposal from a group of lawyers to allow all law school graduates to skip the bar exam or require that everyone must sit for it. For more information, check out the full article, High Court Keeps ‘Diploma Privilege’ Rule. In addition, the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors has officially declared its opposition of attempts to eliminate Wisconsin’s diploma privilege. To read more, see BOG opposes diploma privilege petition from the Wisconsin Law Journal.
There’s good news for Wisconsin law school students and graduates, who get to keep their “free pass.” The U.S. District Court dismissed the case that challenged Wisconsin’s “diploma privilege,” which allows graduates of ABA accredited Wisconsin law schools that teach Wisconsin law to practice in Wisconsin without sitting for the bar exam. Wisconsin agreed to pay the plaintiff, Corrine Wiesmueller, $7,500. She alleged that since the practice of law falls under interstate commerce, Wisconsin’s diploma privilege discriminates against out-of-state students who what to practice in Wisconsin and must sit for and pass the bar exam.
Wisconsin’s diploma privilege seems like a mutually beneficial arrangement for Wisconsin law students and the state’s interests. State law school graduates don’t have to deal with the time, stress, and expense of taking the bar exam. On the other hand, the state of Wisconsin has an incentive to offer some of its best students to stay and practice law in the state and it doesn’t have to devote as much resources to its bar exam process. What about out-of-state students who want to practice in Wisconsin – are they disadvantaged? Do you think other states should adopt a diploma privilege? Would you be more tempted to go to law school in a particular state with a diploma privilege?
Personally, if I knew I wanted to go into practice when I started law school and states with major cities and a healthy job market offered a diploma privilege, I would definitely take that into consideration!
Here’s a link to the original article.
