SANTA FE, N.M. – The New Mexico Supreme Court approved a new path to a law license that does not require the two-day bar exam. The court approved the plan as New Mexico faces a shortage of lawyers. A committee of lawyers, judges and law professors created the skills-based option as an alternative to the traditional exam. Under the new path, law school graduates would work for one year under the supervision of a lawyer. The new option is similar to a bar exam alternative now in use in Oregon.