FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: [email protected]
Earlier today, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued a new order establishing rules for temporary licensure and emergency exam-waiver admission (popularly known as “diploma privilege”) in response to a petition from Diploma Privilege for the District of Columbia (DP4DC).
DP4DC thanks all of our fellow applicants, family, friends, and supporters throughout the legal community for their support and advocacy through this tumultuous summer. We are especially grateful to those of you who signed on to our petition or commented in support of our petition during the public comment period. Our mission, from the very beginning, has been singular: to petition the D.C. Court of Appeals to grant diploma privilege to all 2020 applicants to the D.C. bar in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our society. Sadly, we did not fully succeed in that mission. The court’s order today provides for a small, narrow, restricted version of diploma privilege that excludes the vast majority of those we were advocating for. In our analysis of the order, we note the following: