Bar exam

COMMENTARY
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Bar exam problems persist as jobs go unfilled

BY: - September 21, 2023

Chief Justice Steven Jensen’s State of the Judiciary message to the Legislature in January of this year suggested that reduced State Bar licensure rates were no longer a problem in South Dakota. But results of the July bar exam indicate otherwise.   The University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law graduated 59 students in May. […]

COMMENTARY
Students at the entrance to the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law. (Photo courtesy of USD)

Law school should extend recruitment program to bar-exam reform

BY: - August 19, 2023

In a recent report to the State Bar of South Dakota, Knudson School of Law Dean Neil Fulton noted that law school applications “have been dropping nationwide for three consecutive years” and the “recent downward trend in applications is just beginning … we are projected to see a ten-year decline.” To combat the low enrollment […]

University of South Dakota Law School Dean Neil Fulton speaks to students. (Courtesy of USD)

Lawmaker withdraws effort to drop bar-exam requirement for lawyers

BY: - February 17, 2023

A bill that aimed to create an apprenticeship program as an alternative to the bar exam for South Dakota lawyers has been withdrawn by its sponsor.  House Bill 1076 is sponsored by Rep. Mary Fitzgerald, R-Spearfish. It would have allowed University of South Dakota Knutson School of Law graduates to bypass the bar exam and […]

Students at the entrance to the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law. (Photo courtesy of USD)

Bar exam critics move to strike testing requirement for USD law grads

BY: - January 15, 2023

On Wednesday, the state’s top judicial official asked lawmakers to refrain from any changes to the bar admission process while a committee studies it. Within hours, a lawmaker vowed to file a bill that would change the bar exam. Rep. Mary Fitzgerald, R-Spearfish, wants University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law graduates to earn […]

Chief Justice Steven Jensen addresses the South Dakota Legislature in Pierre on Jan. 11, 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Chief justice: Contested elections for local judges may dissolve under lawmaker proposal

BY: - January 11, 2023

South Dakotans would lose the right to elect judges under a proposal from lawmakers that the state’s chief justice addressed Wednesday during his State of the Judiciary speech. Judges can rise to the bench by way of the ballot, but most do not.  Judicial elections are mandated by the state constitution, but they only happen […]