The Supreme Court today approved the charter for and the composition of a joint Supreme Court/State Bar Blue Ribbon Commission on the Future of the California Bar Examination. The court’s letter to the State Bar says the commission “is charged with developing recommendations concerning whether and what changes to make to the California Bar Exam, and whether to adopt alternative or additional testing or tools to ensure minimum competence to practice law.”
The court directs that the commission “should expressly consider whether the examination, including any of its subparts, should be administered online and/or in-person” and, because of that, “the commission’s membership should also include an individual with appropriate technological expertise to evaluate the capability of any online testing software and any security and privacy issues that may be associated with the use of such software.”
The commission will be composed of two former members of the California Attorney Practice Analysis Working Group; two members of the Committee of Bar Examiners; one member from the National Conference of Bar Examiners Testing Task Force; two members of the Council on Access and Fairness; two members of the California Lawyers Association, including at least one lawyer who took the bar exam within the past 3 years; and two law school deans or faculty members.
This is one of those things the court does that’s not case related.
[Update: The commission will also include two judges (active or retired), one member representing the California Department of Consumer Affairs, one current State Bar Board of Trustees member, and one national expert on examination development or grading.]
Related:
Judicial Council news release: “California Supreme Court Approves Charter for Bar Exam Commission”
“Law deans meet with state Supreme Court on bar exam”
A revealing interview with the Chief Justice
Supreme Court will not lower bar exam passing score, at least not now