The push for an emergency diploma privilege in New York is picking up steam, with more than 300 law school professors joining the fray.

The professors on Tuesday sent a letter to New York State Court of Appeals Chief Judge Janet DiFiore and several key state law makers endorsing a temporary diploma privilege that would allow law graduates to bypass the bar exam amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Their letter comes less than a week after the deans of all 15 American Bar Association-accredited law schools requested a diploma privilege. The court on July 16 announced that the planned in-person bar exam on Sept. 9 and 10 was canceled but did not provide alternative licensure plans beyond the extension of a program in which law gradates may practice under the supervision of a licensed attorney.

"We commend the Court of Appeals for responding to this unprecedented crisis by canceling the in-person bar exam scheduled for September," reads the letter from the law professors. "But because the Court has not yet decided what will replace the canceled exam, 2020 law school graduates and others who planned to sit for the September bar are now in an extremely difficult position."

A group of faculty from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law organized the letter and circulated it to colleagues at other law schools over the weekend, said professor Alexander Reinert in an interview Wednesday. "We got to 300 pretty quickly," he said, noting that the professors who signed on likely comprise at least half of all full-time law faculty in the state.

Reinert said the Cardozo organizers were inspired by the emergency diploma privilege advocacy that legal educators in other jurisdictions have done. The introduction of legislation that would establish an emergency diploma privilege for law graduates was another catalyst for the professors to weigh in, Reinert said

New York State Senator Brad Hoylman and State Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon have introduced parallel bills that would allow law graduates to be licensed without having the take the exam. Hoylman and Simon could not be immediately reached Wednesday for comment, but Hoylman on Tuesday tweeted that he is reaching out to fellow legislators and sharing stories from law graduates left in limbo.

"More people have to understand the stakes here, especially for immunocompromised students, and those who could barely afford the process as it was," he Tweeted.

Utah, Washington and Oregon have adopted emergency diploma privileges during the pandemic, and on Wednesday Louisiana joined that list.

Law graduates themselves have been advocating for an emergency diploma privilege since March, though the Court of Appeals has thus far rejected such action. Instead, the court first postponed the July exam until September and extended the supervised practice rule that allows law students and recent graduates to work under the watch of a licensed attorney. But the path to licensure in New York is unclear at the moment. In announcing the cancellation of the planned September exam, DiFiore said she has convened a working group to make recommendations to the court on alternatives. That group will considering using the abbreviated online exam being offered by the National Conference of Bar Examiners on Oct. 5 and 6, as well as an emergency diploma privilege. The working group is expected to deliver its recommendation in early August.

But the letter from the New York law professors raises concerns about using the online exam—which a growing number of jurisdictions plan to administer, including California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

"While administering an on-line exam mitigates some of the serious health concerns posed by in-person administration, it will only amplify the inequities that have been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic," their letter reads.

For example, online bar takers may face challenges finding a quiet place to take the exam or having a reliable Internet connection. And there is no way for graduates to study and perform as well on the test amid the intense stress brought on by COVID-19, national protests over police violence and systemic racism, and economic upheaval, they wrote.

"Diploma privilege is the most humane response for aspiring attorneys," the letter reads. "And, with provisions such as enhanced continuing legal education requirements, the public can have great confidence that our newest New York attorneys will be more competent than ever to serve our community well."