You may not be aware, but the lack of racial and cultural diversity within the legal profession is tied to the racial and cultural bias within standardized testing, including the Bar exam. Even under the best of circumstances, our current legal education system perpetuates systemic inequities within the legal system. To add insult to injury, some states, like Colorado, are still requiring hardworking law students to sit for the Bar exam in the midst of a global pandemic. It has become evident that attorney regulation councils are too concerned about gate keeping during a major health and economic crisis. Aspiring lawyers, nonwhite, low-income students, and those with additional health concerns, are all more significantly impacted by the corona virus. It will be even more difficult for these minority law students to become lawyers. Students travel from across the nation to sit for their chosen state’s Bar exam. Hundreds of dedicated and ambitious future attorneys will be forced to sit indoors, for hours, over the course of 2 days… while their health and professions hang in the balance.
If you are in a state that is still requiring you to take the Bar exam, as opposed to other states that have extended diploma privileges to graduating law students, please know that you are not facing these unjust circumstances alone. Your physical and mental health is a major concern to former and current lawyers and employers.
We are here fighting for a legal system that looks out for those who work within it and affected by it, rather than only looking out for itself.
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