The Uniform Bar Exam, early tell of the tape.

One of the threads most hit upon here is the one on the Uniform Bar Exam.  As folks who stop in here will recall, Wyoming's adoption of the UBE put the state in a class of states which now uses it, and which basically allow a person taking the test in one state to be admitted to practice in nearly any other state which uses it. 

When this passed, I maintained that the end result would be the exportation of legal jobs from Wyoming into the hands of out of state law firms, probably mostly in Denver.  Well, the state reported admissions from the last test the other day, and therefore it might be interesting, in this context, to look at the results.  Now, it must be considered of course that this was the mid winter test, which is always a bit abnormal anyhow, as recent law school graduates do not take it, and the results of one single test might not mean that much. And even if they do, we might not quite recognize what they actually mean. With that said, here's the results, with the names admitted..

Wyoming State Bar Members,

The Wyoming State Bar today announced that 23 people have been recommended for admission to practice law in Wyoming.  An admission ceremony before the Wyoming Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming will be held this fall. The ceremony will be a combined ceremony of both Courts at the Wyoming Supreme Court building.

The Wyoming State Bar and the Wyoming Supreme Court would like to congratulate these future members of the Wyoming State Bar.

The following people are being recommended for admission after receiving a passing score on the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) and meeting all other requirements for admission.

The Uniform Bar Exam consists of three major parts:

1. The Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) - This portion of the UBE test has been used in Wyoming for many years and is now used in every state except Louisiana.
2. The Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) - Essay questions on major areas of the law.
3. The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) - Requires prospective lawyers to complete practical application of the law on tasks associated with certain resource materials. 

•  – Cody, Wyoming
•  – Ft. Collins, Colorado
•  – Denver, Colorado
•  – Cheyenne, Wyoming
•  – Denver, Colorado
•  – Enid, Oklahoma
•  – Cheyenne, Wyoming

The following people are being recommended for admission after successfully transferring a passing score from another UBE jurisdiction and meeting all other requirements for admission. Scores are only transferrable between those states that have adopted the Uniform Bar Exam.        

•  – Ft. Collins, Colorado
•  – Ft. Collins, Colorado
•  – Torrington, Wyoming
•  – Dayton, Wyoming
•  – Belle Fourche, South Dakota

The following people are being recommended for admission on motion. This applies when attorneys are licensed in another jurisdiction and meet all requirements without examination in Wyoming.

•  – Lakewood, Colorado
•  – Salt Lake City, Utah
•  – Denver, Colorado
•  – Bethpage, Tennessee
•  – Riverton, Utah
•  – Williamsville, New York
• – Denver, Colorado
•  – Ft. Morgan, Colorado
•  – Castle Rock, Colorado
• – Lakewood, Ohio
•  – Denver, Colorado

 Pretty interesting results.

So we have twenty three people who are being admitted.

Of the twenty three, seven actually took the test here.  So, less than 1/3d of those being admitted, took the test in Wyoming.  Of those, three indicated that Wyoming was their home, but that may be deceptive.  Recent grads of a law school might really be from Wyoming, or might have long ago determined to make Wyoming their home but still reflect their homes of origin.  Still, interesting results.

Five transferred in scores from another state's UBE, almost the same number as which took it in Wyoming.  Of those five, two list their homes as Wyoming.  Again, the same caveats on home listings remain, and additionally its not really uncommon for new lawyers to take a bar exam in more than one location, so this may be a variant of that.

Finally, there are those being admitted by motion, which basically means being waived in.  I don't know what the current rules on reciprocity are, but basically that reflects states with which we had reciprocity prior to the UBE.  This is something that has been slightly controversial over the years as well, as at one time, within the past 20 years, the state Bar halted reciprocity, and then re authorized it.  Like the UBE, in my view, reciprocity isn't the greatest idea in the world, but it does generally take into account some years of practice usually as an element.  Eleven lawyers are coming in through reciprocity.  At least we know they took a real state specific bar exam somewhere.

So, what if anything does this tell us?  Well, maybe not much. But what's interesting about these mid winter results is that of the twenty three individuals being admitted to the bar, five claim Wyoming as their home.   Eleven claim Colorado as their home.  Our other neighboring states claim a combined.three.