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Bar Associations

ABA, more than 50 bar associations condemn ‘government actions that seek to twist the scales of justice’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 26, 2025, 9:43 am CDT

More than 50 state, local and specialty bar associations have joined with the ABA to “defend the rule of law and reject efforts to undermine the courts and the legal profession.”

A March 26 statement released by the groups does not mention President Donald Trump, but it follows his punitive attacks on disfavored law firms and calls to impeach judges he perceives as antagonistic.

“We support the right of people to advance their interests in courts of law when they have been wronged,” the statement said. “We reject the notion that the U.S. government can punish lawyers and law firms who represent certain clients or punish judges who rule certain ways. We cannot accept government actions that seek to twist the scales of justice in this manner.

“We reject efforts to undermine the courts and the profession. We will not stay silent in the face of efforts to remake the legal profession into something that rewards those who agree with the government and punishes those who do not.”

The statement calls upon “the entire profession, including lawyers in private practice from Main Street to Wall Street, as well as those in corporations and who serve in elected positions, to speak out against intimidation.”

The statement is signed by these bar associations:

  • The American Bar Association

  • The Alameda County (California) Bar Association

  • The Alexandria (Virginia) Bar Association

  • The Allegheny County Bar Association (Pennsylvania)

  • The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers

  • The Bar Association of Erie County (New York)

  • The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis

  • The Berks County (Pennsylvania) Bar Association

  • The Boston Bar Association

  • The Boulder County (Colorado) Bar Association

  • The Chicago Bar Association

  • The Chicago Council of Lawyers

  • The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association

  • The Columbus (Ohio) Bar Association

  • The Connecticut Bar Association

  • The Contra Costa (California) County Bar Association

  • The Detroit Bar Association and Foundation

  • The Erie County (Pennsylvania) Bar Association

  • The First Judicial District Bar Association (Colorado)

  • The Hennepin County (Minnesota) Bar Association

  • The Hispanic National Bar Association

  • The Hudson County (New Jersey) Bar Association

  • The Illinois State Bar Association

  • The Kansas Bar Association

  • The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association

  • The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Foundation

  • The Lawyers Club of San Diego

  • The Long Beach (California) Bar Association

  • The Louisville Bar Association

  • The Maine State Bar Association

  • The Middlesex County (New Jersey) Bar Association

  • The Milwaukee Bar Association

  • The Minnesota State Bar Association

  • The Monroe County (New York) Bar Association

  • The eNassau County (New York) Bar Association

  • The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

  • The National Association of Women Lawyers

  • The National Conference of Bar Presidents

  • The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association

  • The National Native American Bar Association

  • The New Jersey Women Lawyers Association

  • The New Mexico Black Lawyers Association

  • The New York City Bar Association

  • The New York County Lawyers Association

  • The North County (California) Bar Association

  • The board of governors of the Oregon State Bar

  • The Passaic County (New Jersey) Bar Association

  • The Philadelphia Bar Association

  • The Queens County (New York) Bar Association

  • The Ramsey County (Minnesota) Bar Association

  • The San Diego County Bar Association

  • The San Fernando Valley (California) Bar Association

  • The Santa Clara County Bar Association (California)

  • The South Asian Bar Association of North America

  • The State Bar of New Mexico

  • The Virgin Islands Bar Association

  • The board of governors of the Washington State Bar Association

  • Worcester County (Massachusetts) Bar Association

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When the Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners opened up applications for its Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination in May, some members of its Licensure Pathway Development Committee were nervous.

They knew the success of the program allowing ABA-accredited law school graduates to work closely with a supervising attorney instead of taking the bar exam hinged on the buy-in from the state’s potential employers. If no licensed lawyers signed up for the program, which consisted of a 675-hour paid apprenticeship under a qualified supervising state-licensed lawyer, there would be no places for the candidates to work and the program would fall apart.

Instead, within a month, 62 attorneys from 57 employers had applied to serve as supervisors. By early October, those numbers had grown to 101 attorneys from 87 employers ranging from Nike to Public Defender Services of Lane County to the Oregon Judicial Department.

“It’s more popular than we could even have imagined,” says Joanna Perini-Abbott, co-chair of the committee and a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School. Taking the traditional bar exam produced by the National Conference of Bar Examiners remains an option to join the bar.

Other states are considering Oregon-style plans. In March, the Washington Supreme Court approved, in concept, additional pathways to the bar involving supervised practice. Nevada’s new three-pronged licensure plan includes supervised practice. And members of Oregon’s committee have consulted their counterparts in Ohio, Minnesota and Utah, says Addie Tobin Smith, the other committee co-chair and a legal consultant in Portland.

Brian Gallini, a former dean of Willamette University School of Law and a former committee member, believes the portfolio exam can do to the traditional bar exam what “the iPhone did to the Blackberry.

“Oh, wait—we can help people get licensed while addressing legal deserts and racial disparities and a host of other issues? Sign me up,” he says.

The committee was made up of 14 members, including deans of the state’s three law schools, a law student, practicing attorneys, the CEO of the Oregon State Bar, and representatives of the Oregon State Bar Board of Bar Examiners, the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors and the Oregon bench. A separate working group representing various stakeholders also offered input, Smith says.

The state’s move comes as jurisdictions consider if and when they will use the NextGen Bar Exam in place of the NCBE’s Uniform Bar Exam, which sunsets in 2028.

But the glimmer of inspiration dates back to just before the pandemic, Perini-Abbott says, as data emerged showing racial disparities in bar exam performance and other research questioned whether the bar exam was a good measure of minimum competence. Then when COVID-19 hit, Oregon scrapped the rigid rules surrounding the UBE and offered an option to take the bar exam remotely and grant diploma privilege to 2020 graduates.

In May, the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar approved a policy shift allowing states to use methods of licensure beyond the traditional bar exam. The May 2024 graduating class is the first to be offered the new pathway. By October, 49 applicants had received their provisional licenses to practice law and 27 were in process, according to the committee.

“It is not a rubber stamp,” says Smith, who has graded some of the provisional attorneys’ portfolio work, some of which did not meet standards. “It’s still an exam.”

Legal Rebels Class of 2025

Rodrigo Camarena

Roy Ferguson

Joan Howarth and Deborah Jones Merritt

Oregon Board of Bar Examiners

Swapna Reddy

Jacqueline Schafer

Noella Sudbury

In This Podcast:

When the Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners opened up applications for its Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination in May, some members of its Licensure Pathway Development Committee were nervous.

They knew the success of the program allowing ABA-accredited law school graduates to work closely with a supervising attorney instead of taking the bar exam hinged on the buy-in from the state’s potential employers. If no licensed lawyers signed up for the program, which consisted of a 675-hour paid apprenticeship under a qualified supervising state-licensed lawyer, there would be no places for the candidates to work and the program would fall apart.

Instead, within a month, 62 attorneys from 57 employers had applied to serve as supervisors. By early October, those numbers had grown to 101 attorneys from 87 employers ranging from Nike to Public Defender Services of Lane County to the Oregon Judicial Department.

“It’s more popular than we could even have imagined,” says Joanna Perini-Abbott, co-chair of the committee and a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School. Taking the traditional bar exam produced by the National Conference of Bar Examiners remains an option to join the bar.

Other states are considering Oregon-style plans. In March, the Washington Supreme Court approved, in concept, additional pathways to the bar involving supervised practice. Nevada’s new three-pronged licensure plan includes supervised practice. And members of Oregon’s committee have consulted their counterparts in Ohio, Minnesota and Utah, says Addie Tobin Smith, the other committee co-chair and a legal consultant in Portland.

Brian Gallini, a former dean of Willamette University School of Law and a former committee member, believes the portfolio exam can do to the traditional bar exam what “the iPhone did to the Blackberry.

“Oh, wait—we can help people get licensed while addressing legal deserts and racial disparities and a host of other issues? Sign me up,” he says.

The committee was made up of 14 members, including deans of the state’s three law schools, a law student, practicing attorneys, the CEO of the Oregon State Bar, and representatives of the Oregon State Bar Board of Bar Examiners, the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors and the Oregon bench. A separate working group representing various stakeholders also offered input, Smith says.

The state’s move comes as jurisdictions consider if and when they will use the NextGen Bar Exam in place of the NCBE’s Uniform Bar Exam, which sunsets in 2028.

But the glimmer of inspiration dates back to just before the pandemic, Perini-Abbott says, as data emerged showing racial disparities in bar exam performance and other research questioned whether the bar exam was a good measure of minimum competence. Then when COVID-19 hit, Oregon scrapped the rigid rules surrounding the UBE and offered an option to take the bar exam remotely and grant diploma privilege to 2020 graduates.

In May, the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar approved a policy shift allowing states to use methods of licensure beyond the traditional bar exam. The May 2024 graduating class is the first to be offered the new pathway. By October, 49 applicants had received their provisional licenses to practice law and 27 were in process, according to the committee.

“It is not a rubber stamp,” says Smith, who has graded some of the provisional attorneys’ portfolio work, some of which did not meet standards. “It’s still an exam.”

Legal Rebels Class of 2025

Rodrigo Camarena

Roy Ferguson

Joan Howarth and Deborah Jones Merritt

Oregon Board of Bar Examiners

Swapna Reddy

Jacqueline Schafer

Noella Sudbury

In This Podcast:

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3. Lawyer arrested at state bar meeting for…

First Amendment

Lawyer arrested at state bar meeting for carrying petitions reaches settlement

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 22, 2025, 2:58 pm CST

An Arkansas lawyer who was arrested for carrying ballot petitions at a state bar meeting in June 2024 has reached an out-of-court settlement that calls for payment of $200,000 to her lawyers.

Lawyer Jennifer Standerfer of Bentonville, Arkansas, settled with the Arkansas Bar Association; the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas; its police department and a city commission that owns the convention center where Standerfer was arrested for solicitation, the Arkansas Times reports. The settlement followed a mediation.

A joint statement by the parties said they “regret the fact of Ms. Standerfer’s arrest,” and they acknowledge that the lawyer had a constitutional right to carry the petitions.

Standerfer had argued that the First Amendment protected her. She had carried the petitions into the Hot Springs Convention Center, at first in a small wagon with a sign and on a second day by clipboards. She didn’t seek signatures but made the petitions available to anyone who wanted to sign them, she told KARK.com and the Arkansas Advocate after the meeting.

One proposed ballot measure would broaden the reach of the state’s Freedom of Information Act and stiffen penalties for violations, according to the Arkansas Advocate. The other would amend the Arkansas Constitution to create a government obligation to share information.

Standerfer was a committee member of the group sponsoring the petition drive, Arkansas Citizens for Transparency. After Standerfer’s arrest, the group obtained materials about the arrest through the state’s Freedom of Information Act, KARK.com reported.

Video obtained by the group showed officers telling Standerfer that she was being asked to leave. When she refused, officers handcuffed the lawyer and removed her from the event. She was not formally charged.

A state bar representative had texted the convention center asking staff members to ask Standerfer to leave because of the petitions, documents indicated. The bar had said after Standerfer’s arrest, no one authorized to speak for the association had sought Standerfer’s removal.

Standerfer had explained why she backed greater transparency in an April 2024 opinion column for theNorthwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“The FOIA is how we know what our government is doing,” she wrote. “It is how we hold politicians accountable, and we should do a whole lot more than question any politician who says that we should sacrifice our rights under the FOIA in the name of ‘efficiency.’”

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3. Bar associations could be targeted, Trump…

Bar Associations

Bar associations could be targeted, Trump DEI order says, spurring response from 2 of them

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 23, 2025, 10:55 am CST

Bar associations could be targeted for investigation under President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end “illegal preferences and discrimination” in government and the private sector.

The order issued Tuesday called for federal agencies to identify up to nine entities for possible civil compliance investigations, including large nonprofits and state and local bar associations.

The order declared that “influential institutions of American society” are using “dangerous, demeaning and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ (DEI) or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility’ (DEIA) that can violate the civil rights laws of this nation.”

Reuters has the story on the response from two state bar associations.

The State Bar of California said its programs won’t be affected because “none of our work in this space involves illegal discrimination or preferences.”

Victoria Santoro, president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, also said the state bar is not breaking the law.

“I think there are better ways our federal government could use its time than looking at bar associations,” Santoro added.

The American Bar Association is not commenting at this time, a spokesperson told the ABA Journal.

The ABA’s Goal III calls for eliminating bias and enhancing diversity by promoting full and equal participation in the association, the legal profession and the justice system. Over the last few years, these ABA diversity programs and policies have come under scrutiny:

  • The ABA section that is recognized as the accrediting group for JD programs has been wrangling with changes to its diversity standard for law schools. As currently written, Standard 206 says law schools “shall demonstrate by concrete action” a commitment to having a student body, faculty and staff who are “diverse with respect to gender, race and ethnicity.” The section decided to revise the standard following a June 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down race-conscious admissions programs at universities.

The latest proposed revision under consideration by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar requires a commitment to diversity for all people, including listed members of historically disadvantaged groups.

The wording change didn’t satisfy 21 attorneys general in Republican-controlled states, who warned that it “appears to perpetuate unlawful racial discrimination.”

  • At least nine ABA diversity programs were targeted by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty in a civil rights complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice in May 2024. The ABA’s general counsel, Annaliese Fleming, said at the time the ABA programs are lawful. and the allegations are “factually and legally incorrect.”

In October 2024, the ABA updated its description of one targeted program—its judicial clerkship program—because some language “did not accurately reflect the operation of the program,” Fleming said in a statement explaining the change. The program introduces law students from diverse backgrounds to judges and law clerks.

  • The ABA changed its diversity policy for continuing legal education programs that it sponsors after the Florida Supreme Court banned course credit in the state for programs with panel “quotas.” The old ABA policy had numerical requirements for diverse panelists; the new policy says CLE organizers “will invite and include” moderators and faculty members to create panels to meet Goal III objectives.

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A man who police identified as “No Name Given Happy” is sitting in a Minnesota jail after he allegedly murdered another man during a New Year’s Eve bar fight.

The incident unfolded around 11:47 p.m. at the Phat Pheasant Pub in Windom, which is about 140 miles southwest of Minneapolis, police said. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, Happy and a group of people were playing pool at the bar. Happy was “being cocky and making the others mad,” police wrote. The group was trying to be calm but reported to bartenders that Happy was “mouthy and pushing things,” the affidavit said.

More from Law&Crime: Woman grins ear-to-ear after allegedly stabbing her child’s father during custody exchange

Happy went outside to retrieve his jacket and a bar employee allegedly heard him make a comment about a gun and something along the lines of “getting 12 wounds to the face.” The defendant came back in the bar but bartenders told him to leave and he was escorted out by “regulars,” the affidavit said. Witnesses saw Happy go to his semitruck and then walk toward the bar. He allegedly walked in with a knife with a 6- to 8-inch blade. The victim, identified as 30-year-old Ben Matter, tried pushing Happy back outside. Witnesses saw Happy “make a couple of stab wounds” and Matter collapse, cops wrote.

Other patrons fought with the defendant and wrestled the knife away from him. They held him down until cops came and arrested him. A woman who was entering the bar as all of this was happening told cops Happy identified himself as “the victim” and he shouted “I’m going to f—ing kill you,” according to the affidavit.

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3. New Jersey bar can reserve positions for…

First Amendment

New Jersey bar can reserve positions for members of underrepresented groups, appeals court says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 23, 2024, 2:22 pm CST

The New Jersey State Bar Association has a First Amendment right to expressive association that would be violated if forced to change a diversity program for leadership positions, a state appeals court has ruled.

The Superior Court of New Jersey’s Appellate Division ruled Dec. 20 against Rajeh A. Saadeh in his lawsuit alleging that the program violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

Law360 has coverage.

The diversity program reserves 13 out of 94 leadership positions in the bar for members of certain underrepresented groups. Saadeh is a Palestinian Muslim American attorney who was not eligible for the positions.

The bar association had maintained that it had a First Amendment right to select leaders consistent with its values regarding diversity in the legal profession. The appeals court agreed.

Requiring the New Jersey State Bar Association to change or eliminate its program would “significantly burden the expression of its views, thus running afoul of the association’s First Amendment right of expressive association,” the appeals court said.

The appeals court cited the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, which held that the Scouts had a First Amendment right of expressive association that protected its decision to oust an openly gay assistant scoutmaster.

“Applying Dale to the undisputed facts in this record establishes beyond peradventure that the bar association qualifies as an expressive association, and that compelling it to end its practice of ensuring the presence of designated underrepresented groups in its leadership would unconstitutionally infringe its ability to advocate the value of diversity and inclusivity in the association and more broadly in the legal profession,” the appeals court said.

The appeals court did not decide whether the program amounted to unlawful discrimination because of the First Amendment holding.

A trial judge had ruled that the diversity program was a “quota system” that violated the law.

Saadeh “will promptly seek correction” of the appellate decision, Lindsay McKillop, his lawyer, told Law360.

The New Jersey State Bar Association applauded the decision in a Dec. 20 press release.

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3. Bar admission denied for applicant who won’t…

Constitutional Law

Bar admission denied for applicant who won’t take constitutional oath

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 9, 2024, 2:22 pm CST

A bar applicant who won’t take an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and the New York Constitution has failed to demonstrate that she has the character and fitness to become an attorney, according to a New York appeals court.

The applicant was a 30-year-old Nevada resident who graduated from law school in 2018 and passed the New York bar exam in July 2022, according to the memorandum and order decided and entered Dec. 5 by the Appellate Division’s Third Judicial Department of the New York Supreme Court. She was not identified in the per curiam order.

The woman “has made plain that she cannot unequivocally take and subscribe to an oath or affirmation that she will support” the state and federal constitutions, the appeals court said.

A member of the appeals court’s character and fitness committee had referred the matter for a formal hearing after an interview and an investigation. The applicant waived her right to a hearing.

The applicant has the burden of demonstrating that she has the character and fitness for admission, and she has not met the burden, the appeals court said.

Hat tip to the Legal Profession Blog, which noted the order.

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Bar Exam

Teen who enrolled in law school at age 13 becomes youngest person to pass California bar exam

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 19, 2024, 8:51 am CST

A 17-year-old girl has beaten her brother’s record to become the youngest person to pass the California bar exam.

Sophia Park passed the California bar Nov. 8 when she was 17 years and 8 months old, report YourCentralValley.com, the Sun-Gazette, the Visalia Times Delta, KMPH, ABC News and a Nov. 13 press release.

Park’s brother Peter Park was 17 years and 11 months old when he became the youngest person to pass the California bar in November 2023. Park will join her brother working for the Tulare County district attorney’s office in California.

“I don’t think it was extremely difficult,” Park said of the bar exam in an interview, according to YourCentralValley.com. “But I do think there was difficulty in how much you had to put into your brain in a limited period of time.”

Park graduated from the Northwestern California University School of Law in 2024. The school offers online instruction and is accredited by the State Bar of California, according to its website.

Park first considered a legal career after a sixth grade career survey said she should consider the profession.

Park started law school at age 13 in 2020 while she was in junior high school. During her freshman year of high school, she concluded that her work there was taking up a lot of her time, so she took and passed the California High School Proficiency Exam.

Park worked as a summer intern at the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office at age 16 and has been working as a law clerk in the Tulare County district attorney’s office. She will begin work as a prosecutor after she is sworn in as a licensed attorney in March 2025 upon turning 18, according to the press release.

“I wanted to work for the prosecution,” Park told the Sun-Gazette, “because I like the idea that I get to represent the people of the state of California, keep our community safe and make sure that justice is served.”

Park’s record may be surpassed by her younger sister, who is 14 years old and in her second year of law school, Park told KMPH. Her younger brother, who is 8 years old, also wants to be a lawyer; he dressed as one for Halloween.

Leah Wilson, the State Bar of California’s executive director, told ABC News that passing the bar is a “remarkable achievement” that follows Peter Park’s similar success last year.

“Passing the state bar exam at any age is a tremendous accomplishment, and to do so at 17 is truly exceptional,” Wilson said.

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3. Attorney discipline records short of disbarment…

Ethics

Attorney discipline records short of disbarment would be expunged after 8 years under state bar plan

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 21, 2024, 9:00 am CST

The California Supreme Court is being asked to automatically expunge records of attorney discipline other than disbarment after eight years, provided that there is no further discipline during that period.

The State Bar of California’s board of trustees approved the proposal Nov. 14 and sent it to the state supreme court, according to a Nov. 15 press release. The board also directed staff to remove administrative suspensions from online attorney profiles.

The changes stemmed from recommendations by the state bar’s Ad Hoc Commission on the Discipline System. The commission viewed expungement as a way to address racial disparities in discipline and align the system with the practices of other regulatory agencies, the press release stated.

A November 2019 study found racial disparities in probationary discipline, disbarment and discipline-related resignation, with the greatest disparities between Black and white male lawyers.

Reuters and Law360 had coverage of the expungement proposal.