{"id":159807,"date":"2026-08-07T15:22:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/07\/washington-does-mostly-right-by-students-screwed-over-by-bar-exam\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T15:22:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:22:29","slug":"washington-does-mostly-right-by-students-screwed-over-by-bar-exam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/07\/washington-does-mostly-right-by-students-screwed-over-by-bar-exam\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Does (Mostly) Right By Students Screwed Over By Bar Exam"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Washington called off its entire July bar exam<\/a> after the NextGen debut face-planted in a Yakima convention center, the state\u2019s three law school deans and pretty much anyone with a scrap of compassion were all begging for the same answer for the roughly 600 applicants left holding nothing: diploma privilege. On Thursday, the Washington Supreme Court agreed<\/a>. With some asterisks.<\/p>\n

Start with the win, because it\u2019s a real one. First-time applicants who were registered to take the exam in Yakima and couldn\u2019t, through no fault of their own, now get a choice: take a Washington NextGen exam in September or later, or accept a waiver of the bar exam requirement and be admitted to the bar by order of the court. That second option is the exact remedy the deans of UW, Seattle U, and Gonzaga urged on the court, and the one some of us have been muttering about<\/a> since jump.<\/p>\n

Now the asterisks.<\/p>\n

The waiver is only for first-timers. Applicants who had sat for a bar exam anywhere before July and failed to pass are not eligible \u2014 they get to roll their applications over to the September or February exam without paying the fees again, which is something, I guess, but it is not admission.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the group that actually finished the July exam: no waiver, no special September do-over, just whatever score they managed under the conditions, with a fee-free February 2027 re-sit available if they fail. And here\u2019s a wrinkle: the applicants who were able to complete the exam<\/a> were those who had testing accommodations \u2014 seated in smaller rooms that, unlike the 600-person main hall, had the bandwidth to keep the software running. So the only people who got to finish were the ones an accommodation happened to separate from the crowd, and they are precisely the people the court has now shut out of relief. Grind through the broken exam, because your room was the one that worked, and you\u2019re stuck with it. <\/p>\n

And \u201cwaiver\u201d does not mean \u201cwelcome to the bar, here\u2019s your card.\u201d Applicants who elect it still have to clear the MPRE with a score of 85 or better, pass the Washington Law Component, and survive character and fitness. Elections are due to the WSBA by noon on August 14, and admissions take effect October 9, when the July and September exam results come out.<\/p>\n

The court was at pains to show its work. Since the incident, it wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

We have been meeting daily with the WSBA, the NCBE and within the Court to discuss potential resolutions. Any resolution must balance fairness to the various categories of applicants, along with the Court\u2019s duty to uphold professional standards and ensure public protection in the lawyer licensing process.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It also took a quiet swipe<\/a> at the two weeks of coverage that preceded it, noting that much of the public discussion \u201creflects partial information, or, in some instances, is outright incorrect,\u201d that the causes of the failure \u201chave not yet been fully identified,\u201d and that a full investigation is still to come. MY DUDES \u2014 you had to cancel an entire administration of a bar exam! Of course people are going to talk shit! Take your lumps and move on.<\/p>\n

In any event, congratulations to the soon-to-be members of the Washington bar. You have a helluva war story under your belt already.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Washington Just Called Off Its Entire Bar Exam<\/a>
Washington Grants Diploma Privilege To Graduates Of ABA Accredited Schools<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Washington Does (Mostly) Right By Students Screwed Over By Bar Exam<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Washington called off its entire July bar exam<\/a> after the NextGen debut face-planted in a Yakima convention center, the state\u2019s three law school deans and pretty much anyone with a scrap of compassion were all begging for the same answer for the roughly 600 applicants left holding nothing: diploma privilege. On Thursday, the Washington Supreme Court agreed<\/a>. With some asterisks.<\/p>\n

Start with the win, because it\u2019s a real one. First-time applicants who were registered to take the exam in Yakima and couldn\u2019t, through no fault of their own, now get a choice: take a Washington NextGen exam in September or later, or accept a waiver of the bar exam requirement and be admitted to the bar by order of the court. That second option is the exact remedy the deans of UW, Seattle U, and Gonzaga urged on the court, and the one some of us have been muttering about<\/a> since jump.<\/p>\n

Now the asterisks.<\/p>\n

The waiver is only for first-timers. Applicants who had sat for a bar exam anywhere before July and failed to pass are not eligible \u2014 they get to roll their applications over to the September or February exam without paying the fees again, which is something, I guess, but it is not admission.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the group that actually finished the July exam: no waiver, no special September do-over, just whatever score they managed under the conditions, with a fee-free February 2027 re-sit available if they fail. And here\u2019s a wrinkle: the applicants who were able to complete the exam<\/a> were those who had testing accommodations \u2014 seated in smaller rooms that, unlike the 600-person main hall, had the bandwidth to keep the software running. So the only people who got to finish were the ones an accommodation happened to separate from the crowd, and they are precisely the people the court has now shut out of relief. Grind through the broken exam, because your room was the one that worked, and you\u2019re stuck with it. <\/p>\n

And \u201cwaiver\u201d does not mean \u201cwelcome to the bar, here\u2019s your card.\u201d Applicants who elect it still have to clear the MPRE with a score of 85 or better, pass the Washington Law Component, and survive character and fitness. Elections are due to the WSBA by noon on August 14, and admissions take effect October 9, when the July and September exam results come out.<\/p>\n

The court was at pains to show its work. Since the incident, it wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

We have been meeting daily with the WSBA, the NCBE and within the Court to discuss potential resolutions. Any resolution must balance fairness to the various categories of applicants, along with the Court\u2019s duty to uphold professional standards and ensure public protection in the lawyer licensing process.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It also took a quiet swipe<\/a> at the two weeks of coverage that preceded it, noting that much of the public discussion \u201creflects partial information, or, in some instances, is outright incorrect,\u201d that the causes of the failure \u201chave not yet been fully identified,\u201d and that a full investigation is still to come. MY DUDES \u2014 you had to cancel an entire administration of a bar exam! Of course people are going to talk shit! Take your lumps and move on.<\/p>\n

In any event, congratulations to the soon-to-be members of the Washington bar. You have a helluva war story under your belt already.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Washington Just Called Off Its Entire Bar Exam<\/a>
Washington Grants Diploma Privilege To Graduates Of ABA Accredited Schools<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Washington Does (Mostly) Right By Students Screwed Over By Bar Exam<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Washington called off its entire July bar exam after the NextGen debut face-planted in a Yakima convention center, the state\u2019s three law school deans and pretty much anyone with a scrap of compassion were all begging for the same answer for the roughly 600 applicants left holding nothing: diploma privilege. On Thursday, the Washington […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":159808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-eSm8Ps.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}