No at-home paper tests for disabled bar exam takers

Three students with disabilities cannot use paper tests and scratch paper or get extra bathroom breaks during the online bar exam, a magistrate judge has ruled.

The plaintiffs immediately appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler's Wednesday decision.

The three test-takers, represented by Claudia Center and Malhar Shah of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, filed a lawsuit on Sept. 14 seeking a preliminary injunction that would require the State Bar to allow them to take the exam at home with extra bathroom breaks, use of physical scratch paper and paper tests.

The bar argued that providing these accommodations could pose security risks if a paper exam finds its way online. The court's order also states accommodations are offered to test-takers with disabilities at in-person exam locations. Gordon v. State Bar of California, 20-cv-06442 (N.D. Cal., filed Sept. 14, 2020).

During the two-day test no one taking it online may leave the monitored computer for breaks during a session. But they will have a 15-minute break between each one-hour or 90-minute session and a one-hour lunch break each day, the bar's website states.

--Henrik Nilsson