BY BRENNA PINK PAMPENA
For many, the path to the legal profession is fairly predictable: three years of law school—often in one’s 20s—with clerkships or internships along the way, followed by several months devoted almost entirely to studying for the bar exam, which is in itself a formidable and daunting undertaking. For some aspiring attorneys, especially those with the responsibilities of raising a family or those facing major life disruptions, dedicated full-time bar exam study simply isn’t possible. Many of these people are fully capable of practicing law, but lack the time, bandwidth, or resources to follow the traditional path. Consider, for example, Bayley Rea.
After completing her undergraduate studies, Rea lived in Washington, D.C., and worked on Capitol Hill for Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and later for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure under Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio’s leadership. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Rea and her husband decided to move to Oregon, where her husband grew up. Rea had always wanted to go to law school and had already taken the LSAT. So, in 2020, she enrolled at Willamette University School of Law.
The pandemic made law school (and many other education and work environments) more difficult than usual. Rea attended many classes online, networked over Zoom, and struggled to find virtual study groups. When she graduated, she met with more unexpected challenges. Rea’s father was diagnosed with cancer. In addition, Rea was pregnant with her first child. As her father underwent treatment, Rea studied for the bar exam in ICU rooms. Her father eventually received a necessary transplant but tragically died from an infection shortly after. Just two weeks after his death, Rea learned that she didn’t pass the bar. “That was the least shocking part of all of that. It was just horrible,” Rea said. She gave birth to her son six weeks later.
Around this time, Rea heard about a new program in Oregon that would allow law school graduates to earn their bar license through a means other than the bar exam.
“I’d been working at the local district attorney’s office at that time, and I knew I was not going to be in a headspace to go take the bar again,” Rea said. “It’s a huge financial strain, and now I have a baby to provide for, it just didn’t work for my family [to retake the bar]. It’s months that you have to take off from your life.”
So Rea started researching the Oregon State Bar’s (OSB) Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination (SPPE),11 Oregon State Bar’s SPPE Applicant Handbook, updated January 2026. an apprentice-style alternative to the traditional written bar exam. The program allows law school graduates (the OSB calls them provisional licensees) like Rea to gain bar admission by demonstrating legal competence through their work under the supervision of a licensed attorney.
Milton-Freewater, Oregon, where Rea lives with her family, is a small town with a population of just over 7,000. Walla Walla, to the north, is the nearest big city for miles, and attorneys in the area are few and far between. There is no directory of attorneys interested in being SPPE supervisors (though you can find a list of past supervisors), one cannot be supervised by an immediate family member, and the supervising attorney’s firm must be willing to pay the provisional licensee the same salary as other recent law school graduates.22 SPPE Applicant Handbook, pages 9–10.
Rea decided to call one of the few law firms in town—Monahan, Grove & Tucker—and make her pitch.
“I just kind of threw myself down at their feet, and said I know I can do this,” Rea said. “I had a career in Washington, D.C., I came back to Oregon to go to law school during COVID and was successful. I just couldn’t pass the bar.”
Rea proposed the SPPE program as an opportunity for her, for Monahan, Grove & Tucker attorney Molly Tucker Hasenbank, and the whole firm. If they agreed to supervise her, they could trust that she would stick around. “This is an opportunity for you to decide if you want to hire me and have another attorney join your firm,” Rea said.
Tucker, who grew up in Oregon as the daughter of an attorney, readily agreed to supervise Rea.
“It’s really hard to get new attorneys in our area. It’s hard to get people enticed to come out here …,” she said. “This was an opportunity where we knew the Rea family, we knew that [Bayley] was likely to stay in the area, so we were willing to invest the time.”
It took Rea about seven months to complete the program. She was able to work 40 hours per week, earn income, learn the ropes under the supervision of seasoned attorneys, and was ultimately hired by the firm.
How the SPPE Program Works
The SPPE program was approved by the Oregon Supreme Court on Nov. 7, 2023, and became available as an alternative pathway to bar licensure for law students graduating in May 2024.33 www.osbar.org/sppe. This new pathway emphasizes practical skills and knowledge and seeks to ensure the protection of the public while also removing inequitable barriers for attorneys to obtain licensure.44 Id.
To participate, applicants must first connect with a supervising attorney willing to take them on and submit an application to the OSB.55 https://www.osbar.org/sppe. If accepted, the OSB issues the applicant a certificate of eligibility and a provisional license.66 Id. Throughout the apprenticeship, participants are required to submit eight written work products, complete two client interactions, demonstrate negotiations skills twice, provide evidence of competence in professional responsibility, complete 675 hours of work (including pro bono work or volunteering with a bar-affiliated agency), and complete training videos around legal ethics and other topics.77 SPPE Applicant Handbook, page 4. Once these program requirements are complete and approved, the applicant is admitted to practice in Oregon.88 Id.
A common concern that Rea and Tucker hear is that an alternative to the bar exam would not be rigorous enough. Both enthusiastically reject this idea.
“It was not easy,” Rea reflected. “There were two portfolios. One was a ‘halfway portfolio,’ just to make sure that you were on track. … You were incentivized to submit as much as you possibly could.” The halfway portfolio is an opportunity for participants to receive feedback and learn what they need to do differently or better for the final portfolio. “It was a lot of writing, and you had to touch on different aspects of the law each time,” Rea said.
Finding opportunities for negotiations was difficult. “Attempting to communicate with other very seasoned attorneys in a way that was, maybe not organic to them, because I was trying to create this situation in some ways,” Rea said, was a challenge.
When asked about the supervisor workload, Tucker explained, “I would say you’re taking on one and a half times your caseload. … You’re trying to help them build [their portfolio], and we did that by getting her own clientele.” While Rea did the research and drafting for her cases, Tucker was required to review everything. “[U]ltimately, it’s still my name and bar license going on it,” she said.
The next obvious question was whether all this effort is beneficial for the supervising attorney. “I do think it’s absolutely worth it, especially if you get a good attorney like Bayley, who’s able to pick it up quickly,” Tucker said. At the start of the program, Tucker shared, the workload is greater because there’s more teaching involved. But as the supervisee becomes more comfortable with the work and more knowledgeable, the supervising attorney spends less time teaching and more time reviewing.
And not only did the program push Rea out of her comfort zone, Tucker said it also encouraged her to do new things.
“Well, honestly, because Bayley had to do a variety of things, it forced me out of my shell and into different areas of the law that I don’t normally do,” Tucker said. “Which was honestly nice. It’s nice to get out of your comfort zone. … Learning something new and learning how to explain things and why I do them are real highlights.”
When Rea recently went on maternity leave, Tucker was able to cover her family law caseload because her supervisory role required her to learn that area of the law. “I can’t emphasize enough what a great program I think it is, and how I think it sets up lawyers better for the future,” she said.
When asked what advice she has for recent law school graduates who may be experiencing barriers to passing the bar exam, Rea said she highly encourages people to pursue Oregon’s SPPE but to be intentional about finding a supervisor. Both Rea and Tucker shared that they think it’s important for program participants to find a supervisor in the community where they intend to practice, as some firms may be reluctant to invest in someone they do not expect to stay long-term.
As states like Oregon and Washington continue to develop these models, it appears that the legal profession is beginning to rethink what it truly means to be ready to practice law.
Rea also highlighted the benefits of rural practice:
“Go find a rural law firm and commit yourself to working out there for a few years. You’re going to learn a ton. You’re going to get to have your hands on more complex, interesting things sooner. … And you’re going to meet real people,” she said. “This person who’s sitting in front of you, you can make a difference in their life. … I just think if people would give the eastern part of the state a chance, they would find themselves on the fast track to being a really impressive lawyer.”
A key issue moving forward is reciprocity. Tucker hopes that Washington and Oregon can develop reciprocity as alternative licensure pathways grow in popularity. She further notes that there can be a stigma for people who don’t take the bar exam, but that she finds most younger attorneys do not have this bias. While the bar exam is notoriously difficult, Tucker said she thinks the SPPE program might be even harder.
“I honestly think the SPPE program is probably more difficult in some respects, because you’re truly being graded on your ability to be an attorney, and not your ability to memorize answers, or be good at multiple choice,” she said.
Alternative Pathways in Washington (and Elsewhere)
Oregon is not alone in rethinking how attorneys prepare for and enter the profession. Here in Washington, similar efforts reflect a growing recognition that the traditional law school-to-bar-exam pathway is not the only way to assess readiness to practice law.
For nearly 100 years, the WSBA has offered an alternative to attending law school, most recently through its Admission and Practice Rule 6 (APR 6) Law Clerk Program.99 www.wsba.org/for-legal-professionals/join-the-legal-profession-in-wa/law-clerk. This four-year apprenticeship allows aspiring attorneys to gain hands-on, paid legal experience under the supervision of a licensed Washington lawyer in lieu of attending law school.
More recently, the Washington Supreme Court has taken additional steps to expand access to licensure by considering a new experiential pathway. (Read about Washington’s proposed Portfolio Evaluation program on page 24.) This program would allow prospective attorneys to demonstrate competency through a supervised practice and portfolio-based assessment like Oregon’s, signaling a shift toward evaluating lawyers based on practical skills and real-world experience.
While only a handful of jurisdictions currently offer alternatives to the traditional law school-to-bar exam pathway, a growing number of states (now approaching a dozen) are piloting, studying, or actively developing similar models.1010 https://lawyerlicensingresources.org/jurisdictions.
As states like Oregon and Washington continue to develop these models, it appears that the legal profession is beginning to rethink what it truly means to be ready to practice law. For aspiring attorneys facing financial, personal, or structural barriers, these pathways offer something the traditional system often does not: a realistic, rigorous, and more accessible route to licensure. For attorneys like Rea, that difference can be the reason they are able to practice law at all. As these models continue to develop, they have the potential to not only broaden access to the profession, but also strengthen it through rigorous, real-world training and evaluation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brenna Pink Pampena is a plaintiff bad faith and personal injury attorney at Ruiz & Smart. Her path to law was nontraditional; she chose to change careers and go to law school during the COVID-19 pandemic. She brings tools from her background in HR and marketing to her legal work, shaping a thoughtful, people-centered approach. She has volunteered with Girl Scouts since 2019 and is an advocate for public education. She can be reached at:
NOTES
1. Oregon State Bar’s SPPE Applicant Handbook, updated January 2026.
2. SPPE Applicant Handbook, pages 9–10.
4. Id.
5. https://www.osbar.org/sppe.
6. Id.
7. SPPE Applicant Handbook, page 4.
8. Id.
9. www.wsba.org/for-legal-professionals/join-the-legal-profession-in-wa/law-clerk.
10. https://lawyerlicensingresources.org/jurisdictions.