In a supervised practice pathway to licensure, law school graduates practice for a period under the supervision of a licensed attorney. In some models, the graduate obtains a license after completing a specified number of hours and receiving a positive evaluation from the supervisor. In other models, candidates must complete a specified number of hours and also submit a portfolio of work product to bar examiners. The examiners review the work product and determine whether the candidate is minimally competent to practice law.
Some jurisdictions are considering whether to require all candidates (including those who opt to demonstrate their competence through a written exam) to complete a period of supervised practice, either during law school or after graduation. No other profession licenses candidates without requiring some period of supervised practice, and there are excellent arguments for implementing that requirement in the legal profession. The information we provide in this section can inform jurisdictions that want to require supervised practice for all graduates as well as jurisdictions seeking to institute a supervised-practice pathway that candidates may choose instead of the bar exam.
This page offers an overview of licensing through supervised practice. You may also want to visit the Jurisdictions page to find updated information about jurisdictions that have adopted or considered this method for measuring minimum competence. And check this handout for a summary of ways to make a supervised-practice pathway valid, reliable, fair, and feasible.
Acting on report and supplemental report from a task force, the Oregon Supreme Court approved development of a supervised-practice pathway to licensure in early 2022. A committee published draft rules governing the proposed pathway in spring 2023 and invited public comment on those rules.
The Lawyers' Justice Corps is a specialized type of supervised practice that improves access to justice while also assessing competence to practice law. Candidates in these programs complete their supervised practice hours while working for organizations that provide legal assistance to individuals or communities. The candidates submit portfolios of their work product to bar examiners who assess their competence based on those authentic practice materials. For more information, see our Lawyers' Justice Corps page.
In recent years, three jurisdictions have allowed candidates to demonstrate their competence by completing a specified period of practice under the supervision of a licensed lawyer. Utah opened this pathway during the pandemic for some candidates who had applied to take the July 2020 Utah bar. To qualify, candidates had to have obtained a JD from an ABA-approved law school that had an overall first-time taker bar examination passage rate in 2019 of 86% or greater. Those candidates could then demonstrate their competence by completing 360 hours of supervised practice. Supervisors had to attest to the hours completed by the candidates, but did not have to attest to the quality of their work. The Utah Supreme Court's order offers details on how the Court defined "supervised practice," the type of work that supervisees were allowed to perform, and other details about the program.
The District of Columbia also used a supervised-practice pathway to offer relief to 2019 and 2020 graduates of ABA-approved law schools. Graduates who qualified for the pathway received a limited license that allowed them to practice under the supervision of a licensed lawyer. While practicing under supervision, they had to provide notice in all business documents that they were admitted to the bar under DC's Emergency Examination Waiver. After three years, the license will mature into a full license that does not require further supervision. The court's order provides further detail.
California, finally, used supervised practice to address inequities caused by its decision to lower the passing score for the bar exam. Candidates who had failed the exam during the five years before the cut score was lowered, but who had achieved the new (lower) cut score when they took the exam, were allowed to demonstrate their competence by (1) completing 300 hours of supervised practice and (2) obtaining a statement from their supervisor attesting that they “possess[ed] the minimum competence expected of an entry level attorney." Further details are available in the California Supreme Court's order establishing this "Pathway Provisional Licensure Program."
These pathways rest upon three requirements to assure that licensed practitioners are minimally competent to serve clients. First, these pathways were open only to candidates who qualified to take the bar exam. In Utah and the District of Columbia, this meant that candidates were limited to those with JDs from ABA-accredited law schools. In California, the candidates had to hold a law degree or satisfy other requirements showing that they had studied law. Professional education assures that candidates have studied legal writing, legal research, some other lawyering skills, and a range of doctrinal subjects.
Second, the pathways require candidates to find a licensed lawyer who is willing to supervise them during a period of practice. The licensed lawyer must devote time to mentoring and supervising the candidate, and shoulders responsibility for the candidate's mistakes. Busy lawyers are unlikely to devote this time to candidates who are not minimally competent.
Finally, the California pathway requires the supervisor to attest to the candidate's minimum competence to practice law. Although the supervisor need not elaborate, a responsible professional should not approve a candidate who lacks minimum competence.
Although these requirements offer strong protections, other states have chosen pathways that combine supervised practice with examination of work product produced by the candidate.