Representative Mary Fitzgerald (R-31/St. Onge) has previously proposed bills to get rid of South Dakota’s bar exam and create alternative routes to becoming a lawyer in South Dakota. Rep. Fitzgerald is trying again this year, offering House Bill 1270 to create a lawyer apprenticeship program.
HB 1270 would allow the state to license individuals to practice law after they complete 675 hours (that’s four months of full-time work) of apprenticeship under supervision of a qualified attorney in South Dakota. Apprentices must complete those hours within a one-year period. Supervising attorneys must certify that appreentices demonstrated “satisfactory performance of assigned tasks and responsibilities” and “knowledge and proficiency in legal ethics and professional responsibility.” Once licensed, former apprentices would have to perform at least 50 hours of pro bono legal services per year for the first five years of their licensure.
Rep. Fitzgerald isn’t proposing a full-tilt Abraham Lincoln (or Kim Kardashian) pathway to lawyering. HB 1270 apprentices would have to earn a degree from USD Law. Apprentices would also have to reside in South Dakota when they start and finish the apprenticeship. Their supervisors would have to hold South Dakota law licenses, be in good standing, and have been lawyering full-time for at least seven years.
Rep. Fitzgerald appears to copy HB 1270’s 675-hour requirement from Oregon, which became the first state to recognize legal apprenticeships as an alternative to the bar exam in 2024. Washington followed suit, adopting six-month apprenticeships for law school graduates. Utah adopted 240-hour apprenticeships for new lawyers last year.
How is this not a move confining lawyers to practice under South Dakota’s red state failure?
Is Noem’s daughter going to law school? If you are thinking of this, think about doing it to Med students who become doctors. You could use those to check out your Medicaid users. All kinds of benefits for using substandard professionals.