Plaintiffs’ brief filed in challenge to Wisconsin’s
‘diploma privilege’
By Alex De
Grand, Legal Writer, State Bar of Wisconsin
Sept.16, 2009 – Plaintiffs filed a brief today in their
challenge to Wisconsin’s “diploma privilege,”
following the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision to remand the case to the federal
district court.
Proponents of the diploma privilege, codified in SCR 40.03, contend that a diploma from an
ABA-accredited law school whose curriculum includes the specific study
of Wisconsin law is sufficient evidence of competency to practice in
Wisconsin, eliminating the need for a bar exam. Challengers contest,
among other issues, whether Wisconsin-specific law is actually taught
that extensively to justify the privilege.
Currently, only graduates of the law schools at Marquette and the
University of Wisconsin are asserting the diploma privilege, although
the rule is written to theoretically encompass others.
A class of recent graduates from ABA-accredited schools outside
Wisconsin who must take a bar exam to receive a Wisconsin law license
have challenged the diploma privilege under the U.S.
Constitution’s dormant commerce clause in Wiesmueller v.
Kosobucki, 07-C-0211.
In the newly filed brief, the plaintiffs ask for summary judgment on
the question of whether Wisconsin discriminates against interstate
commerce when it requires an examination of graduates from out-of-state
law schools in subject areas not particular to Wisconsin law. That is,
the plaintiffs contest the rationale for administering only to them the
Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), which tests areas of federal and
common law.
Specifically, the plaintiffs ask the court to bar Wisconsin from
enforcing SCR 40.04(2) which imposes the MBE and counting the
MBE toward the requisite passing score on the bar exam. The plaintiffs
also seek an injunction against bar examination fees attributable to the
MBE and any examination questions testing federal law, the Uniform
Commercial Code, or common law principles.
The Wisconsin Attorney General’s reply brief may be filed by
Oct. 7.
