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Going through deadline, California debates method ahead on bar examination
By Julianne Hill
August 15, 2025, 1:53 pm CDT
Time is of the essence as State Bar of California officers think about their choices for the way forward for the state’s bar examination after its disastrous try to launch a proprietary examination in February. (Picture from Shutterstock)
Time is of the essence as State Bar of California officers think about their choices for the way forward for the state’s bar examination after its disastrous try to launch a proprietary examination in February.
At a uncommon joint assembly of the California Board of Trustees and the Committee of Bar Examiners on Thursday, the 2 teams thought-about three choices: utilizing questions from the February 2025 check till a brand new examination is created; administering a Nationwide Convention of Bar Examiners-developed check with a attainable California-specific part; or creating a brand new everlasting examination modeled after Nevada’s deliberate 100-question multiple-choice check.
The professionals and cons of every had been mentioned, together with the timing of July 2028 bar overlapping with the Los Angeles Summer season Olympics, when massive venues to carry an in-person examination could be at a premium.
“If we’re rolling out a brand new examination, are we going to roll it out in July 2028, the place we would have some challenges about the place we may be seating individuals who could be taking the examination in Southern California?” mentioned Donna Herskowitz, state bar chief of admissions.
The assembly’s objective was to take steps now to keep away from repeating the pitfalls made in the course of the try to launch a hybrid examination in February. The check, written by Kaplan and administered by Meazure Studying, was affected by technical woes, points with proctors and issues with the questions themselves—some later revealed to have been generated with the assistance of synthetic intelligence.
Pending state laws would require two years’ discover to modify distributors that aren’t the NCBE. The state supreme court docket should approve a call to modify by July 2026.
Kaplan has a five-year contract that if terminated two years early would power the state to pay a $712,000 penalty, in accordance with a presentation on the assembly. The teams voted to keep away from long-term vendor contracts sooner or later.
The assembly adopted the state’s court-ordered about-face to return to an in-person administration of the NCBE’s Multistate Bar Examination final month. The administration confronted no main points reported as 7,741 candidates took the check, in accordance with a presentation.
Deans from 11 of California’s ABA-accredited legislation faculties want to maintain issues that method. On Aug. 5, they wrote the committee of bar examiners requesting that the state proceed utilizing NCBE exams, stating its new NextGen UBE is the most effective path for complying with the state supreme court docket’s directives for the bar examination.
“In our view, the NCBE is the one entity with the assets, experience and expertise to efficiently meet the parameters set out by the (state supreme court docket’s) order and to keep away from a repeat of this spring’s catastrophe,” the letter states.
Thus far, 45 jurisdictions have dedicated to adopting the NextGen UBE.
Initially, California’s transfer to create a proprietary examination with a distant possibility was largely aimed to assist the cash-strapped state bar.
Nevertheless, February’s fiasco value the state $6.2 million as a substitute of saving $3 million, in accordance with reviews within the assembly.
A proposal to lift charges by $150 to take a seat the February 2026 examination was voted down by each teams. College students will proceed pay $850 and attorneys $1,500.
Nevertheless, the majority of February candidates who comply with the provisional licensing pathway face a $1,200 charge to offset the estimated $609,000 value of this system. In earlier years, candidates following a provisional path paid $50 or $75.
Officers debated however didn’t rule out sometime creating one other distant examination whilst they proceed to type by means of the February fallout, together with suing Meazure, in addition to decreasing go scores for impacted candidates. In reality, three February test-takers realized July 18 that they handed after a assessment of scoring errors on the efficiency check annotation, it was introduced on the assembly.
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