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I passed last year's July administration of the Texas bar exam, and have been a licensed attorney for less than a year. I unequivocally support J.D. privilege for the following reasons.
First and foremost, no currently-licensed attorney, including myself, knows what these examinees are going through right now. Yes, we all passed a bar exam. Yes, many of us had extraneous things going on in our lives that made taking the bar uniquely difficult for each of us.
But none of us had to grapple with taking the bar during a global pandemic. Imagine the personal hardship you were experiencing at the time you were studying--now, imagine that hardship combined with being in the midst of a public health crisis that affects literally everyone.
When deciding whether to take the bar, I never had to worry about bringing home a deadly virus to my loved ones or roommates, much less contracting a deadly virus myself. I never had to worry about being an asymptomatic carrier and bringing the virus to my colleagues at the exam.
I never had to worry, while studying, about when, where, and how that bar would be administered, despite the bar being only weeks away. I never had to worry about whether I'd make rent or pay bills in the event that the bar was canceled or postponed through no fault of my own.
I never even had to decide ~whether~ to take the bar. Despite whatever personally unique hardships I was dealing with last summer, I knew without any hesitation: where the bar would be administered, how it would be administered; that my internet would be reliable; . . .
. . . that literally everyone else taking the bar with me would be taking the bar under the same conditions; and that my sitting for the bar wouldn't subject me to contracting a global and deadly virus.
I knew I was taking the bar under substantially the same conditions that thousands upon thousands of Texas attorneys had taken the bar dating back decades. There was a confidence in that reality I now know I took for granted as I see what these examinees are having to go through.
I realize that it was a privilege to have that certainty, and to not have to worry about so many undefined variables regarding the bar's administration--notwithstanding the health concerns that come with sitting for this bar, whether in a convention center or some random hotel.
These future lawyers deserve better from the profession they have worked so hard, endured so much, and, let's not forget, paid so much money to join.
The bar exam does not test minimum competence to practice law. It is not reflective in any way, shape, or form of actual practice.
Law school has many flaws, but, through being forced to analyze hard cases on the spot during cold-call, through meticulously cite-checking on a journal, through doing a clinic or participating in mock trial, etc., it's more preparation for practice than a standardized test.
Combining that reality with the reality of this global pandemic, these future attorneys should not have to take a standardized test to prove their "minimum competence." Let them practice & prove themselves the same all of us really prove ourselves as attorneys: by practicing.