NH law school grads have option to bypass the bar exam

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that New Hampshire has an alternate certification program that allows law students to bypass the usual bar exam, and its first 13 members were sworn in last month. Supreme Court justices teamed up with New Hampshire Board of Bar Examiners, the state's Bar Association, and the Franklin Pierce law school to create a training and certification program that would require students to prove that they know how to prepare and try a case, examine a witness, negotiate a settlement, and reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses as future lawyers. Students in the program, called Daniel Webster Honor Scholars, have spent the past two years honing their courtroom skills and demonstrating them to judges and lawyers.