State Bar sends Supreme Court proposals for upcoming exams

Different scenarios for conducting the September bar exam and the June "baby bar" online or in person have been submitted to the state Supreme Court.

The workplan the State Bar sent Monday contains critical dates for when various steps should be met from now until the bar exam results are released Dec. 31.

The June first-year law students examination, known as the "baby bar," will be administered online with remote proctoring on June 23 and will work as a pilot for the general bar exam in September, the bar said.

The findings from the baby bar will be presented to key stakeholders on July 10 and depending on the results, the September bar exam will be held online or in person. according to the workplan.

Other obstacles the bar mentioned in its letter include: whether the National Conference of Bar Examiners will be able to provide the Multistate Bar Examination materials for the multiple choice portion of the test in a way that can effectively be used to scale the written portion of the exam to determine passing scores.

There's also no guarantee the Conference of Bar Examiners will be able to provide an online exam at all for the Multistate Bar Examination, which law school deans mentioned in a letter to the bar in April.

The bar has asked deans for input on the exam as part of the workplan. Some of their proposals include asking applicants to sign honor code policies in advance of the test and disallowing scratch paper, unless the exam is an open book, wrote bar spokeswoman Teresa Ruano in an email.

Deans have also said dual camera systems would work well, but bathroom breaks will present a challenge. According to the workplan, the video review from the exam will be completed for incident reports by Sept. 21.

Michael Colatrella, interim dean and professor of law at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, doubts the exam will be administered in September, either online or in person.

Instead, he points to other states, such as New Jersey, which have implemented provisional licensure. He believes that would be fairer to students who are paying back loans until they can take the exam. The uncertainty of the virus makes a September exam unlikely, according to Colatrella.

"We think allowing students to work until an exam can be definitively set is the best way to go," Colatrella said.

Provisional licensing is not mentioned in the workplan.

The bar is working simultaneously on providing the in-person exam and the online exam. According to the workplan, facilities that meet social distancing guidelines will have to be ready by Sept. 8 for an in-person exam, one day before the test starts.

As circumstances change, the plan could be modified. Ruano said the bar is working closely with the court and is ready to assist the court should other alternatives need to be explored.