The California Supreme Court, citing the coronavirus pandemic, decided Thursday to permanently lower the passing score for the bar exam and allow aspiring attorneys to take it remotely in October or obtain temporary provisional licenses and practice under supervision. .
“The changing circumstances surrounding the current COVID-19 pandemic in California, and across the country, have had an unprecedented impact on professional licensing tests for graduates seeking admission to many professions,” the court wrote to the State Bar Association. “Many graduates of law school are being substantially affected by the resulting disruption.”
The court met by videoconference this month with deans and graduates of law schools. Plans for a July exam had been canceled due to the pandemic and rescheduled for September, which the court moved Thursday to October 5-6.
Graduates told the court that they were losing job offers, were unable to find work to make ends meet, and feared they would not be able to pay the student loan bills due in November without a legal license.
“The court has sought the safest, most humane and practical options for licensing law graduates by encouraging and working with the State Bar to seek the option of administering the California Bar Association Exam online as a remote testing, to avoid the need and dangers posed by, massive in-person testing, “the court wrote in a letter signed by its secretary and executive director, Jorge E. Navarrete.
The California bar test has been considered one of the most rigorous in the nation, and the court decided to lower the passing score from 1440 to 1390. The letter said the court based its decision on bar test studies.
The court said it recognized that some 2020 law graduates might not be able to prepare for the October exam and ordered the State Bar of California to create and oversee a supervised and temporary licensing program, which will end no later than June 1, 2022. Graduates would be required to work under the supervision of licensed attorneys.
“This time period will provide 2020 graduates with various opportunities to take the exam of their choice until February 2022 and await the results of the exam,” said the letter to the chairman of the board of trustees.
California is one of the 16 states that moves its bar exam online.
The court encouraged law schools to help graduates who did not have Internet access at home or whose home situations were not subject to two days of uninterrupted examination.
