The legal world is watching South Dakota closely this year, as the state’s Supreme Court has approved a groundbreaking new path to licensure—one that allows law students to trade the traditional bar exam for real-world, supervised public service. 

Starting this fall, a select group of students from the University of South Dakota School of Law—the state’s only law school—will be eligible to complete 500 hours of supervised legal work in the public sector as an alternative to taking the bar exam. This hands-on experience will count as the students’ fifth semester, during which they’ll also build detailed portfolios and submit weekly reflections for review by licensing examiners.

South Dakota School of Law Dean Neil Fulton believes that the program will give participants the advantage of real world experience before entering practice.  He also expressed the hope that it will increase the number of lawyers choosing public sector work. As is true in most states, South Dakota has a shortage of lawyers working in public service.

Importantly, students in this new pathway will still need to meet other licensure requirements, including passing the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination and clearing the character and fitness review. But unlike traditional bar exam candidates, these students will be sworn in as attorneys immediately upon graduation.

This initiative aligns with a growing national trend that reimagines how lawyers are trained and licensed. While Oregon’s Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination has received praise for its flexibility and paid apprenticeship model, South Dakota’s program sets itself apart by integrating public service directly into law school and focusing on experiential education before graduation

At its core, the South Dakota approach reflects a deeper goal: addressing the state’s significant access-to-justice challenges. Rural communities across America often face attorney shortages, and South Dakota is no exception—there are only 2.22 lawyers per 1,000 residents, compared to the national average of 4.

This new licensure pathway offers hope for improving that ratio by encouraging more law graduates to pursue public service in underserved regions. It’s a bold experiment. If it succeeds, it could become a model for other rural states seeking to build stronger, more community-oriented legal systems. It is unclear how the current Administration’s executive orders regarding public service loan forgiveness will impact programs like the one in South Dakota. Without the assurance of loan forgiveness for public sector work, students may be less likely to opt for public service work.