The Young Texas Lawyer

Imagine taking a single bar exam for each of the fifty states. Imagine wanting to move from Texas to California without having to worry about sitting for another three day test. Think you’re dreaming? Well your dream might be closer to reality than you think.

By 2010 at least 10 states are going to be switching to what they are calling a Uniform Bar Exam and 22 others are preparing to adopt the test in the next few years. Recently, many jurisdictions have began admitting out-of-state attorneys by motion to state court rather than forcing them to retake the state’s bar exam. The test has been developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and will allow freshly minted JD’s to take their bar score with them from state to state. Propents are saying that such a system will improve both the quality of exams in smaller states and open up the legal job market up nationally, rather than keeping it regional.

The scenario of going from Texas to California may not be there quite yet though. Texas, California, New York, the District of Columbia, Florida and Illinois have yet to embrace such an idea. Their argument is that such a test would miss concepts that are very important to state law. In Texas for example, Oil and Gas law is a fairly important concept of the bar exam. There are also fears that the uniform test would take control from state bars and put far too much power in the hands of the NCBE.

Such a test obviously has its pros and cons, but there might be something to allowing attorneys to move from state to state. One thing is certain, it would definitely open up the job market for attorneys in states who have been hit harder by the economic downturn, but perhaps at the cost of the job seekers in those states.