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Governors urge more rule-of-law education and discuss emeritus rules and timing for NextGen bar exam
Summary
At the roundtable, Governor Aon proposed expanding hands-on rule-of-law education—such as mock trials—in public schools; governors also raised emeritus re-entry rules, and another governor described uncertainty over timing and impacts of the new NextGen bar exam.
Governor Aon urged the Washington State Bar Association to expand rule-of-law education in public schools, emphasizing hands-on programs such as high-school mock trials as a pathway to increase access to justice and to inspire students from nontraditional backgrounds to consider legal careers.
"If they're actually doing it, then I think that's important," Governor Aon said, describing mock trials and classroom scenarios the association could help support and offering to draft scenarios for an upcoming session. He also encouraged governors to sign up to help scale the program.
Separately, the chair raised a governance question about whether members who retired before the association established Emeritus rules could be given a pathway back to Emeritus status without repeating the full readmission process. The chair asked Chief Garcia, the regulatory chief, for guidance.
Chief Garcia replied that the current bylaws allow returning members who resigned within the past four years to return; expanding that window to include people who left earlier would require a bylaw amendment and a careful discussion of potential unintended consequences.
Another governor reported on the upcoming NextGen bar exam, noting the exam will be introduced for a new cohort mid-year and that it is unclear how student performance and bar passage rates will be affected. The speaker referenced possible late-June or July dates in the course of the discussion, and emphasized that law schools and the Board of Bar Examiners are monitoring preparedness.
No formal decisions were made; governors encouraged sign-ups for the education initiative, asked staff to continue the viability-review work and follow up with sections, and noted governance-committee follow-up will be needed for bylaw changes.
Next steps: volunteers and governors will be invited to participate in drafting education scenarios; Chief Garcia and governance leadership will review the emeritus question and outline any necessary bylaw changes; staff and the Board of Bar Examiners will monitor NextGen exam rollout and report back as information becomes available.
