Proposed emergency rule amendments to allow Bar applicants to be admitted without taking the bar exam, subject to six months of supervised practice, have been denied by the Supreme Court.

The court on September 3 acted on a petition filed by 50 Bar members to amend both Bar rules and the court’s Bar admission rules to allow admitting to practice those who had applied to take the July 28-29 bar exam, were graduates of ABA-accredited law schools, and passed the Florida Board of Bar Examiners character and fitness review. The admission would be “subject to supervision for six months by a Florida attorney who has been a member of The Florida Bar in good standing for five years.”

“This Court has determined and still believes that law school graduation alone does not sufficiently demonstrate the knowledge, ability, and preparedness necessary to admit a law graduate to the practice of law in Florida,” the court said in the opinion. “Therefore, it has long been the Court’s policy to require Bar applicants to demonstrate that they meet these essential requirements by taking and obtaining a passing score on the Florida Bar Examination before admitting them to The Florida Bar….

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