NLG Urges Washington State Supreme Court to Do Right by Bar Exam Takers

August 1, 2026

via email

The Honorable Chief Justice Debra L. Stephens
Washington State Supreme Court
415 12th Avenue SW
Olympia, WA 98504
President Francis Adewale and Executive Director Terra Nevitt
Washington State Bar Association
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 600
Seattle, WA 98101

RE: Diploma privilege for July 2026 bar applicants

Dear Madam Chief Justice Stephens, President Adewale, and Director Nevitt:
The undersigned local chapters of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) write to
encourage the Washington State Supreme Court and Washington State Bar
Association (WSBA) to grant admission by diploma privilege to otherwise qualified
applicants for admission to the Washington State Bar who attempted to sit for the
cancelled July 2026 bar exam in Yakima. Admission by diploma privilege is the only
acceptable solution under the circumstances.

We write as local chapters of the NLG. The NLG is the nation's oldest and
largest progressive bar association. It was also the first to be racially integrated. The
NLG is an antiracist organization that focuses on safeguarding and defending the
rights of workers, women, LGBTQ+ people, farmers, people with disabilities, and
people of color. This focus on equity and justice compels us to speak out in support of
admitting the July 2026 cohort of bar applicants by diploma privilege.
We will not reiterate the events that led to the cancellation of the July 2026 bar
exam, as we are certain the Supreme Court and WSBA are intimately familiar with the
details. However, we emphasize that each applicant for admission arrived prepared to
take the exam after years of costly, stressful preparation. The applicants would have
taken the exam but for the failures of the National Council of Bar Examiners and
WSBA to provide adequate technology.

The solutions that WSBA has offered thus far (rescheduling or withdrawal) are
insufficient and inequitable. As WSBA and the Supreme Court have acknowledged
through their Licensure Task Force and Licensure Implementation Steering
Committee, the bar exam creates significant barriers to racial and economic equity in
the legal profession. The circumstances surrounding the July 2026 bar exam
compound the existing inequities by requiring that applicants wait to take the bar
exam at a later date. Parents and people without access to wealth will be most affected
by the need to take additional time off work to prepare and sit for the exam.

Additionally, disabled applicants who received testing accommodations are
disadvantaged by having five fewer weeks to study for the exam. Applicants who
received accommodations now risk unwanted disclosure of their disabilities, since
only those who received accommodations were able to take the exam. People with
disabilities have the right to privacy; forced disclosure robs them of their autonomy in
deciding if and when to disclose their disability. These consequences are
unacceptable, especially for a state bar that has committed to advancing diversity,
equity, and inclusion in the legal profession. It is essential that diploma privilege be
extended to applicants who received testing accommodations as well as those who
were unable to sit for the exam at all.

Granting admission based on diploma privilege is the best possible solution to
the cancellation of the July 2026 bar exam. Washington previously admitted a cohort
of lawyers based on diploma privilege in 2020. The undersigned NLG chapters are
honored to count some of those lawyers among our membership. We state
unequivocally that, based on our professional experience over the last six years,
lawyers admitted by diploma privilege in 2020 are no less competent than lawyers
admitted by exam. NLG would be honored to welcome attorneys admitted by diploma
privilege due to the cancellation of the July 2026 bar exam into our shared profession.

Further, our members are predominantly engaged in areas of work that
desperately need licensed attorneys. The indigent clients of legal organizations like
public defenders and legal aid societies cannot afford to wait, nor can the employers
afford to absorb the cost of delayed licensure. The relatively low salary of incoming
public service and nonprofit attorneys also means that we may lose our incoming
class of attorneys if they are forced to incur additional costs to retake the bar exam.
Forcing applicants to attempt to take the exam again will unfairly impact
organizations that provide free legal services to underserved communities.

For the foregoing reasons, we urge the Washington State Supreme Court and
WSBA to collaborate to admit the applicants for the bar who attempted to take the
cancelled exam in July 2026.

Sincerely,
Wenatchee National Lawyers Guild
Idaho National Lawyers Guild Members
Portland National Lawyers Guild