#Barpocalypse - Cat Moon, Brian L. Frye, Stefanie Mundhenk

We’ve been off for a month and we come out swinging for this #Barpacolypse #Diplomaprivilege episode. Each July, thousands of law students and attorneys are required to sit for and pass the bar exam in their states if they wish to practice. The fairness, bias, and necessity of the test has been called into question in the past (Note: the exam is a relatively recent method to determine attorney competency to practice), but COVID 19 may finally force states to do away with the bar examination. The public has called administration of the test into question, due to COVID 19 health concerns, and the response from state and national bar examination boards and state courts have been a hodgepodge of confusion and guarding the status quo.

Today’s guests, Professor Cat Moon from Vanderbilt University, Brian L. Frye, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law in Lexington, and recent Georgetown Law School Graduate, Stefanie Mundhenk are digging deep to expose concerns and implications surrounding the 2020 bar exam and to examine creative approaches, such as Diploma Privilege and supervised practice, that not only will protect their health but may prove to be a better gauge of attorney competency. And if you think the bar exam is a good gauge, please see an excellent My Cousin Vinny tweet thread.

More reading:

• The Case for Replacing the Bar Exam With "Diploma Privilege"
• The Pandemic Is Proving the Bar Exam Is Unjust and Unnecessary
• Veteran State Court Judge Rips Bar Exam, Says Test ‘Does Not Function To Protect The Public’
• COVID-19 IS CREATING A STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR INCOMING PUBLIC DEFENDERS. DIPLOMA PRIVILEGE IS THE ONLY SOLUTION.
• NCBE Trashes Diploma Privilege, Sprinkles In Some Racist And Sexist Conclusions
• Ditch In-Person Bar Exams During Pandemic, ABA Says
• Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day and Online Bar Exams Can’t Be

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