JULY 2020 UPDATE:
----This Petition is no longer active. The Board of Law Examiners has since postponed the Pennsylvania bar exam twice (from July to September and now September to October).
---LSERC has developed a specific proposal, which is available at this link: https://bit.ly/2WrTm9K 
---LSERC is also currently preparing a NEW petition, and we are asking anyone registered for the PA October Bar Exam to complete the following hardship survey: https://forms.gle/YgrLXZKQcU7SWugY7


Date: April 8, 2020 (Links updated April 19, 2020)

We are:

—Law students who have recently graduated law school or will graduate in May 2020 and who plan on practicing
   law in Pennsylvania
—Members of Pennsylvania bar associations
—Professors of Pennsylvania law schools, and
—Practitioners in Pennsylvania.

We appreciate the steps taken thus far to help Bar applicants, including the decision to extend the deadline for submitting the timely application fee for the July 2020 PA bar exam.  

However, we urge the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners to take additional measures in adapting to the current crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic by revising the state licensing system in Pennsylvania to ensure that the legal needs of our communities and of students are met during this uncertain, unprecedented time. Specifically, we respectfully request that the Board enact a diploma privilege for all recent graduates and 2020 graduates who plan on taking the July 2020 Bar Exam and practicing law in Pennsylvania, including those who recently took the February 2020 exam and may need to take the exam again.
Emergency diploma privilege, in short, allows graduates of ABA approved law schools to enter the Bar and become fully licensed attorneys after  passing character and fitness requirements, without the requirement to pass a bar exam.  

Please use this form to sign onto a letter (available here: https://bit.ly/3cxiXUt) asking that the Board support emergency diploma privilege, instead of exam postponement.

The linked letter outlines the reasons why emergency diploma privilege is the most equitable and humane option.

Should you have any questions, please contact:
Ryan Smith: ryan.smith@temple.edu
Pretty Martinez: pretty.martinez@temple.edu

Suggested tweet:

Support an emergency diploma privilege for law students applying for admission to the Pennsylvania bar. #DiplomaPrivilegeNow #lawtwitter #barprep. Sign here: https://forms.gle/pm7XwiCFSg1Y6bvy8