When New Hampshire's 13 newest lawyers were sworn in to the state bar in May, the ceremony took place a day before they actually graduated from law school. This speedy swearing-in as officers of the court was part of an unorthodox program at the state's only law school, Franklin Pierce Law Center. And while their classmates and thousands of other law-school graduates nationwide will spend two or three days in July sweating over state bar exams, the first class of Daniel Webster scholars spent the past two years honing their courtroom skills and demonstrating them to judges and lawyers. The alternate certification program that allowed them to bypass the usual bar exam was initiated by a New Hampshire Supreme Court justice who felt there must be a better way to prepare students to practice law. Linda S. Dalianis, a senior associate justice, who gave the keynote address at the students' graduation and her fellow Supreme Court justices teamed up with the New Hampshire Board of Bar Examiners, the state's bar association, and Franklin Pierce Law Center to create a training and certification program that would require students to prove that they know how to prepare and try a case, examine a witness, negotiate a settlement, and reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses as future lawyers.