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Law360 (November 10, 2020, 8:06 PM EST ) The Alaska Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a bid by seven law school graduates to receive licenses to practice without taking the state bar exam because of concerns about the coronavirus, ruling that the bar association has taken sufficient steps to make testing sites safe.
Alaska's high court, which initially rejected the request at the end of August, issued an opinion explaining that the Alaska Bar Association "carefully followed all public health guidelines to maximize the safety of those who planned to take the bar examination."
"Its test sites limited the number of applicants, spaced applicants more than six feet apart, required masks, prohibited talking, and carefully limited the number of individuals entering or leaving a site at any time," the judges wrote.
According to the Alaska Supreme Court's opinion, the state bar association also offered applicants the opportunity to withdraw from the exam and receive a full refund, or to take a future test. The judges noted the Alaska Bar Association also received approval from the court to create a new rule allowing law school graduates who have not passed the exam to practice law for up to a year under the supervision of a member of its association.
The students involved in the challenge include Elizabeth Carr, Rachel Berngartt, Kelsey Croft, Alex Engeriser, Christina Lowry, Ann Marquez and Kyle Roberson. The seven applicants, who were meant to take the exam rescheduled from July to September 2020, had asked the state supreme court to allow them to be licensed to practice law without taking and passing the bar exam.
The Alaska Supreme Court cited similar rulings made in supreme courts in Idaho, Missouri and Nebraska in explaining its decision.
Several other states have adopted provisional licensing programs, extended legal intern programs or moved to hold bar exams remotely amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C.
In October, the California Supreme Court gave the green light to a program that will allow law school graduates to practice law even if they haven't taken the bar exam or passed the February bar exam.
But the judges in Alaska said that passing the bar exam is an "assurance to the public that graduation from an accredited law school alone does not demonstrate."
"Like the majority of sister states that have considered similar requests, we disagree with applicants' position that taking the bar examination would unnecessarily expose them to health risks or that granting them 'diploma privilege' to practice law based upon their graduation from an accredited law school would sufficiently ensure their competency to practice law," the opinion said.
Elizabeth Carr, Rachel Berngartt, Kelsey Croft, Alex Engeriser, Christina Lowry, Anna Marquez and Kyle Roberson are all self-represented litigants.
The Alaska Bar Association is represented by Philip E. Shanahan of the Law Office of Philip Shanahan PC.
The case is Carr, et al. v. Alaska Bar Association, case number S17852, in the Supreme Court of the State of Alaska.
--Additional reporting by Hailey Konnath. Editing by Amy Rowe.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
