Starting next May, Oregon law students don’t need to pass bar exam to practice, can pursue apprenticeship option

(Update: Adding video, comments from Deschutes and Crook County DA's)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Starting next May, the Oregon State Bar will be moving away from required, traditional standardized testing, meaning law students won’t have to pass the bar exam in order to start practicing law.

Instead, students will have the option to partake in the Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination. This framework allows law students to participate in a post-graduation apprenticeship before submitting a work portfolio to the Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners.

Another newly proposed option is the Oregon Experiential Portfolio Pathway, which would allow students at three law schools statewide to undergo a “rigorous experiential curriculum” during their second or third year of school, before submitting a work portfolio to the bar examiners.

Crook County District Attorney Kari Hathorn told NewsChannel 21 the shortage of attorneys has been hard on rural counties like Crook, and that it's critical to remember that attorneys meet basic competency standards to protect the community.

As of now, there are about 30 attorneys in Crook County. Hathorn said she believes the new changes can help Crook County hire more attorneys, but also thinks the value of the bar exam ensures attorneys can demonstrate competency in a wide variety of legal topics.

As of now, over 3,000 people are unrepresented in the state. In June, Oregon allocated $96 million to hire more public defenders.

According to LawSchoolNumbers, over 5,800 students applied to Oregon's three law schools, where about 1,500 are enrolled.

Deschutes County DA Steve Gunnels has been critical of the change: "Just adding more people to practice law isn't really the answer. I would worry that if that's the motivation for this change, then we're going to be watering down the quality of law practice in Oregon."

"If someone is not able to answer questions on a standardized test about their area of practice in the law, then the public probably doesn't want to hire that person to represent them in a case," he added.

Gunnels also said the public defender situation in Central Oregon is not as bad at this point as it is in the Portland area.

According to the Bureau of Judicial Statistics, nine in 10 people facing federal crimes can't afford attorneys.

Students can start taking the new exam on May 15, 2024. Even with these changes, aspiring lawyers will still have the option to take the traditional exam.

The only two other states that don’t require the bar exam for potential lawyers are Wisconsin and New Hampshire.