In a move that left nearly 600 aspiring lawyers stranded, Washington's July bar exam was abruptly called off due to a catastrophic failure during its NextGen debut at a Yakima convention center. The debacle unfolded over six hours of non-existent WiFi, resulting in not a single question answered and the entire examination being scrapped. The options presented by the Washington State Bar Association to the affected examinees—rescheduling for September, deferring to February 2027, or opting for a refund—hardly seem just, considering none of the predicament was their fault.

However, a fourth, more logical option lingers in the air, one that has been previously championed by many legal experts and educators: diploma privilege. This alternative allows law graduates to be admitted to the bar without undergoing the traditional exam, a method that was temporarily adopted by Washington in June 2020 during the pandemic and proved successful.

The argument for diploma privilege is not new. Joe Patrice from Above the Law has been a vocal advocate, arguing that if the objective of state bar associations is to license competent professionals rather than administer the best bar exam, then alternative licensing paths, like diploma privilege, should be considered. This is especially pertinent given that the traditional bar exam has not conclusively proven to be an effective measure of a lawyer's ability to competently handle clients and cases over their career.

Moreover, recent precedents from other states experimenting with alternative licensing show promising results. For instance, Utah's alternative licensing program did not result in any decline in professional standards or increase in client complaints, debunking fears that skipping the traditional bar exam route would compromise the quality of legal practice.

The push for diploma privilege in Washington is now gaining institutional support. The deans of Seattle University School of Law and University of Washington School of Law have both advocated for this measure. They argue that this approach not only alleviates the unfair burdens placed on graduates but also prevents further disruptions to their burgeoning legal careers.

The current crisis presents Washington’s legal community and its governing bodies a clear choice: either continue with a flawed system that unjustly penalizes its future members or adopt a proven, equitable solution that allows graduates to begin their careers without undue delay or additional financial burdens. The decision could set a precedent, potentially encouraging more states to reconsider the necessity and effectiveness of the traditional bar exam in favor of more progressive licensing methods.