TITLE: Building a Better Legal Profession: Pathways to Bar Licensure
DATE: Friday, April 22, 2022
TIME: 9:30 am–4 pm (CDT)
FORMAT: Remote via Zoom
HOST: Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Co-Sponsors: The IP Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law
The University of Minnesota Law School
The University of St. Thomas School of Law
Event information
It should not have taken a pandemic to make the legal profession aware that the bar licensing system is broken. The bar exam is an ordeal that fails to test for many of the skills required of new lawyers, and it has worked to exclude individuals along race, class, and gender lines. But the pandemic made the problems salient for many, moved by the experiences and advocacy of recent law graduates who faced taking the bar exam amid disruptions caused by both health restrictions and demands for racial justice. As a result, jurisdictions across the nation are looking critically at the bar exam and considering instituting new pathways to attorney licensing.
This conference will start with the premise that we can and should build a better and more inclusive legal profession. It will bring together academics, attorneys, recent graduates, and bar examiners and administrators to share information and ideas to help improve and expand the pathways to licensure. The conference sessions will highlight the problems with current licensing and focus on exploring and sharing solutions to those problems.
To build on the information base we create in April, a second in-person conference will take place in summer or fall 2022 focused on advocating for change in licensing around the country.
REGISTER HERE
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
(As of April 21, 2022)
9:30-9:35 a.m. CDT: Log-in period for Zoom webinar
9:35-9:45 a.m. CDT: Conference Introduction and Welcome
- Sharon K. Sandeen, Professor and Director of IP Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law
- Anthony Niedwiecki, President and Dean, Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Part I: History of Bar Licensure and Movements for Reform
9:45-9:55 a.m. CDT: Welcome to guests; preview of morning session; introduction of panelists
Moderators of Morning Session:
- Professor Sharon Sandeen
- Vania Smith, The National Association for Equity in the Legal Profession
9:55-10:15 a.m. CDT: History of Bar Licensure & Movements for Bar Licensure Reform
Speaker: • Joan Howarth, Distinguished Visiting Professor, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Commenter: Brian Gallini, Dean and Professor of Law, Willamette University College of Law
10:15-10:45 a.m. CDT: The Industry Behind Bar Preparation and Licensure
Speakers: • Danielle Conway, Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law, Penn State Dickinson Law
- Marsha Griggs, Associate Professor of Law and Director of Academic Enrichment and Bar Passage, Washburn University School of Law
10:45-11:00 a.m. CDT: Break
11:00-11:30 a.m. CDT: Building an Inclusive, Competent Profession through Bar Licensure Reform
Speaker: • Victoria J. Haneman, Frank J. Kellegher Professor of Trusts & Estates, Creighton University School of Law
- Daniel Rodriguez, Harold Washington Professor of Law and former Dean, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
11:30-11:50 a.m. CDT: Q&A and closing
11:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m. CDT: Lunch Break
Part II: Alternative Methods to Bar Licensure
12:20-12:30 p.m. CDT: Preview of afternoon session; introduction of panelists
Afternoon session moderator: Carol Chomsky, Professor of Law, University of Minnesota
12:30-12:45 p.m. CDT: Defining Minimum Competence
Speakers: • Deborah J. Merritt, Distinguished University Professor and John Deaver Drinko/Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law Emerita, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
- Logan Cornett, Director of Research, Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System
12:45-1:15 p.m. CDT: Alternative Exams (Beyond the NextGen Bar Exam)
Speakers: • Joan W. Howarth, Distinguished Visiting Professor, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Commenters: • Andrea Curcio, Professor of Law, Georgia State College of Law
- Ruth Colker, Distinguished University Professor and Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
1:15-1:45 p.m. CDT: Pure Diploma Privilege
Speakers: • Beverly Moran, Professor of Law Emerita, Vanderbilt University
Commenters: • Daniel Blinka, Professor of Law, Marquette University Law School, and Member, Wisconsin Board of Bar Examiners
- Colleen Foley, Executive Director, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee
1:45-2:15 p.m. CDT: Curricular/Clinical Pathway
Speakers: •Claudia Angelos, Clinical Professor of Law, NYU Law School
Commenters: • Courtney Brooks, Professor and Director of the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, University of New Hampshire, Franklin Pearce School of Law
- Hemanth Gundavaram, Clinical Professor and Interim Director of Clinical Programs, Northeastern University School of Law
- Serge Martinez, Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Experiential Learning, University of New Mexico School of Law
2:15-2:30 p.m. CDT: Break
2:30-3:00 p.m. CDT: Supervised Practice Pathway
Speakers: • Catherine Bramble, Advocacy Faculty, Brigham Young University Law School
- Louisa Heiny, Professor and Associate Dean, The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Commenters: • Mary Lu Bilek, Former Dean and Professor of Law, UMass Law School and CUNY School of Law
- Mai Linh Spencer, Associate Clinical Professor, UC Hastings College of Law
- Susan Griffith, Executive Director, Timpanogos Legal Center
3:00-3:30 p.m. CDT: Assessment/Regulation of Alternatives
Speakers: • Logan Cornett, Director of Research, Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System
- Danette McKinley, Director of Diversity, Fairness, and Inclusion Research, National Conference of Bar Examiners
- Deborah J. Merritt, Distinguished University Professor and John Deaver Drinko/Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law Emerita, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Commenters: • Robert Chang, Professor of Law and Executive Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, Seattle University School of Law
- Melina Healey, Director of Clinical Programs and Assistant Clinical Professor, Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
- Martha Van Oot, New Hampshire Bar Examiner
3:30-4:00 p.m. CDT: Zoom Discussion with all panelists and audience members.