Washington State Opens Bar Examination to Some Non-ABA Law Graduates

Washington state will, from September, allow graduates of law schools not accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) to sit its bar examination, provided they are already eligible to take an attorney licensing exam in another state.

The change, approved by the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors earlier this month, makes Washington the fourth state in recent months to either remove or relax its reliance on the ABA’s national law school accreditation system.

Since January, Republican-controlled supreme courts in Texas, Florida and Alabama have either excluded the ABA from parts of the attorney licensing process altogether or announced plans to recognise certain non-ABA-accredited law schools alongside ABA-approved institutions.

The ABA’s accreditation role has also come under scrutiny from the administration of Donald Trump over diversity and inclusion requirements imposed on law schools. Earlier this month, the ABA voted to eliminate its diversity, equity and inclusion standard.

Washington officials, however, said the state’s decision followed a years-long regulatory review aimed at improving access to legal services and should not be viewed as an attack on the ABA accreditation framework.

“We are honouring the ABA accreditation process while eliminating unnecessary barriers to the legal profession,” a spokesperson for the state bar said.

The revised eligibility rules are expected to have the greatest impact on graduates of state-accredited law schools in California, which has the largest number of non-ABA-accredited law schools among the handful of states that formally recognise such institutions.

Jenn Rosato Perea, managing director for accreditation and legal education at the ABA, said Washington’s move does not “substantively affect the current national accreditation system”.

Critics of efforts to weaken ABA accreditation requirements have argued that a fragmented system of lawyer admission rules could create difficulties for graduates seeking to practise across multiple states. Perea, however, said Washington’s latest reform would not affect the portability of law degrees.

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