House Bill Introduced to Potentially Scrap the Bar Examination Requirement

There is a shortage of lawyers in South Dakota. Earlier this month, Rep. Mary Fitzgerald introduced a solution to this problem with a bill to remove the bar exam for USD students who are attending the Knudson School of Law. 

House Bill (HB) 1076 would award law graduates who plan to stay in South Dakota to practice law with diploma privilege. Diploma privilege is when graduates can practice law without taking the examination test, known as the bar. 

Fitzgerald suggested students pass the ethics portion of the bar exam, and then gain 1,000 hours worth of apprenticeship from lawyers who have a five-year standing with the bar association. Last year Fitzgerald proposed the same bill, but without the apprenticeship portion within the bill.

The bar exam has been used since the eighteenth century in the United States. However, at USD, it has existed off and on in the past. The bar exam was initiated in 1983 in South Dakota and has since been a requirement to practice law. USD’s Knudson School of Law is the only accredited law school in the state of South Dakota.

Fitzgerald hopes that it would ease the burden off students and add to the number of lawyers in the state. It would also let students opt out of the $400 per month bar exam preparation. 

The Dean of Knudson Law, Neil Fulton, opposes the bill.

“[Apprenticeship] experiences could vary incredibly widely. I think that there’s an important role before someone has the capacity to go out and be responsible for the life, property and liberty of South Dakotan citizens in any setting,” Fulton said.

Third year law student, Connor McCormick, agrees with Fulton. 

“[In law school] you learn a lot but you do not necessarily learn everything that you need to know. And without some sort of standardized test… that can validate that you’re ready and prepared,” McCormick said. 

People argue that taking the bar exam in South Dakota is too expensive. However, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners Chart of 2022, states like Florida and South Carolina can require at least $1,000 per month in bar preparations.

Fulton also does not believe the bill, if passed, will change the admission rates of students. This year Knudson School of Law accepted 228 out of 338 students who applied.

If the bill passes, Fulton said that preparation for the bar exam would not change. Out of state students would still have to prepare and pass the exam if they plan to practice law outside of South Dakota. 

“It would not change our commitment to help our students be prepared to gain licensure and to succeed in practice, but it would shift exactly how we do that,” Fulton said. 

Fulton told USD’s television station, Coyote News, that the bill is unlikely to pass this year. In the past, USD’s bar exam passing rate was above the national average.