Local attorney passes state bar exam

Cathlamet resident Jennifer Johnson Hanigan was one of 688 candidates who passed the 2008 Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) examination, the association announced Monday.

Of the 962 candidates who took the exam, 71.5 percent passed.

Administered in two parts over a three-day period in July in Bellevue, the bar exam includes a substantive law exam and an exam on the Rules of Professional Conduct. Candidates must successfully pass both parts in order to qualify for admission to the WSBA. If a candidate passes one part of the exam and fails the other, that candidate may sit for the next exam without having to retake the portion previously passed.

In 1999, the Washington State Supreme Court approved Admission to Practice Rule (APR) 18, which provides a procedure for the reciprocal admission of lawyers without requiring that those lawyers pass the Washington State Bar Exam. Under APR 18, lawyers from other states, U.S. territories, or the District of Columbia are admitted to the WSBA on the same terms and conditions that a Washington lawyer could be admitted in the other state.

This rule also enables Washington lawyers to seek admission in those states that provide for some form of reciprocal admission.