Posted on 08/08/2026 3:24:52 PM PDT by Libloather
They’re lowering the bar.
New Mexico is the newest state in the country to offer an alternative to the traditional bar exam — which critics bashed as yet another woke example of lowering academic standards.
New Mexico has become the latest state to give law school graduates an alternative to the traditional bar exam, allowing them to earn a license by completing 675 hours of supervised legal work under an attorney or approved host organization.
Law school grads will now be able to get their license after finishing 675 hours of supervised legal work under an attorney or host organization, the state’s supreme court announced Tuesday.
Graduates can still take the two-day bar exam, but supporters of the new program say hands-on legal work could be a better test of whether someone is actually prepared to practice law — while helping fill a shortage of attorneys in rural parts of the state.
New Mexico’s court explained that two-thirds of its counties have less than one attorney per every 1,000 residents, making them a region the American Bar Association refers to as a “legal desert.”
“This new option for admission to the practice of law also has the potential to increase the number of attorneys in New Mexico to address unmet legal needs, particularly in rural areas where it is difficult to find a lawyer,” New Mexico Chief Justice Julie Vargas said in a statement.
Critics bashed the alternative.
“Too dumb to pass the bar, so we back door them in,” one said on a KRQE News Facebook post.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
So run wokester activists through non-accredited programs, then have them work for 6 months in a left-wing non-profit, get their license and then distribute them around the country.
Any law license obtained this way should to have an asterisk on it. In fact, what NM needs is a separate category of attorney for those don’t pass the bar, in the interest of full disclosure to the public.
Nope. No opportunities for fraud there.
We've "examined" more than a few bars. Some had standards; some did not.
Ideally, a completely separate system of tribunals with very limited jurisdiction.
I never pass a dive bar.
The Red Or Green Chile state is full of lawyers that are so stupid that they can’t count to 10 on both hands. Real bird brains. The same dildoes who dropped the Alec Baldwin murder case after he his shot his cinematographer and wounded another employee on the set of a movie.
Another commiecrat state trying to lead the race to the bottom.
I happen to believe hands on legal work is a better way to tell if a person is suited to practice law.
Remember even those who pass the bar might very well have been last in their class.
NOT EVEN A FULL YEAR OF 40 HOUR WEEKS
Before formal law schools became standard, “reading the law” or completing a legal apprenticeship was the primary way to enter the profession. Famous historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson all became lawyers through apprenticeships rather than attending university law programs.
No shortage of ambulance chasers though, their ads are on constantly.
This isn’t just about lowering standards for the lawyer, it is about removing operating barriers of the law, these poorly educated free grazing new lawyers, mostly more energetic activist than academic, will introduce new unacceptable standards of legal theory and ways of looking at the law, and judges will accommodate much of it as it continues the breakdown of American law, and in time these lawyers will become judges and legislators themselves.
Will these new “lawyers” be able to keep up with the illiterate marble mouth moron, Ben Crump?
The way lawyers bill hours this will take about a week and a half.
A handful of states still allow lawyers to 'read the law" through apprenticeships -- but they still have to pass the bar exam -- except in New Mexico.
New Mexico has one of the lowest adult literacy rates in the nation.
You mean back when people received an actual education prior to learning the law?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.