By: Emily Nuvan
On October 9, 2025, RQN Associate Emily Nuvan spoke with Mya Constantino of Fox 13 News Utah, sharing her insights on the state’s new alternative path to becoming a lawyer. Here is what Emily had to say:
I am very excited about Utah’s new alternate pathway to attorney licensure because the alternate pathway is focused on teaching law students the practical skills they need to be good lawyers. But most importantly, I want to highlight the fact that the alternate pathway does not make it any easier to become a lawyer than passing the standard bar exam. Getting into law school is not easy, and law students will still be required to take and pass a standard set of rigorous classes that are essential to the practice of law. Additionally, law school graduates must have a minimum of 240 hours of supervised practice under the mentorship of a veteran attorney and pass a written practical exam before they can become licensed. Standardized tests like the bar exam simply cannot compete with this model. Rather than focus on the practical aspects of being a lawyer, the bar exam emphasizes students’ memorization and test taking abilities instead of testing students on what really matters in the practice of law: brief writing, forming logical arguments, and specializing in your chosen practice area, just to name a few.
As part of the COVID class of 2020, my fellow law students and I were exempted from taking the bar exam due to the chaos of the times, but we were still required to meet the same standards as those found in the new alternate pathway. As our careers have shown over the past five years, we are capable lawyers who possess the skills necessary to take on cases and help our clients even without a bar exam score. We will continue to prove ourselves, and so will the many other law school graduates who follow in our footsteps. Utah has always had a pioneering spirit, and the alternate pathway is another example of Utah leading the way on important, cutting-edge issues. Under the alternate pathway, Utah’s new lawyers will continue to be some of the best and brightest in the country, and they will be better prepared to begin their practices from the moment they throw their graduation caps into the air. No bar exam necessary.
Beyond the Bar Exam: Utah’s New Pathway to Practice-Ready Lawyers
Emily Nuvan
moc.nqr@navune
801-323-3307
Emily Nuvan is an associate in the firm’s Litigation Section, focusing on securities litigation, white collar crime, and criminal law.
Emily has experience in pioneering cases involving cryptocurrencies and NFTs and maintains a strong pro bono practice assisting Afghan refugees seeking asylum. Before joining the firm, Emily clerked for Chief Judge Robert J. Shelby of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. She earned her J.D. with Highest Honors and Order of the Coif from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, where she conducted research on First Amendment press freedoms and other areas of constitutional law.