The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state’s “diploma privilege” granted to graduates of the University of Wisconsin and Marquette law schools. (source) For those of you not in the know, if you graduate from UW or Marquette, you don’t need to take the Wisconsin Bar exam: Just pass character and fitness after avoiding the very bottom of your class while taking a few classes you’d want under your belt anyway – criminal procedure, administrative law, advanced constitutional law and the like – and BING! You’re a member of the Wisconsin Bar.
I have taken three bar exams. I can tell you with all honesty that each bar exam was progressively more convincing evidence of the uselessness of the entire process. I recently hired an attorney to work for me who was admitted by diploma privilege, and the guy was able to start getting admitted Pro Hac Vice and kicking ass within a month of getting his diploma. (Take a bow, DeVoy). So, if I can do this and pass the California Bar, then really, what use is it?
