In the United States, the diploma privilege is a method for lawyers to be admitted to the bar without taking a bar examination. Once used by as many as 32 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, Wisconsin is currently the only state that offers a broad diploma privilege for admission to its state bar. New Hampshire has offered diploma privilege to a limited number of students in a special practice-based program at the state's only law school since 2008. Originally used as a method to foster the growth of formal legal education, the privilege started to fall into disuse early in the 20th century, in common with the tightening of requirements in other learned professions. The privilege was abolished in California in 1917. Most recently, West Virginia did away with the privilege in 1988, preceded by Montana and South Dakota in 1983 and Mississippi in 1981.
In 25 states, attorneys who were initially admitted to practice by another state's diploma privilege are eligible for admission to the state bar on motion of the admission committee.
Read more about Diploma Privilege: Diploma Privilege in Wisconsin
Famous quotes containing the words diploma and/or privilege:
“A New York divorce is in itself a diploma of virtue.”
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937)
“There is the falsely mystical view of art that assumes a kind of supernatural inspiration, a possession by universal forces unrelated to questions of power and privilege or the artist’s relation to bread and blood. In this view, the channel of art can only become clogged and misdirected by the artist’s concern with merely temporary and local disturbances. The song is higher than the struggle.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)