Bar Exam

Lowest bar exam results in nearly a decade prompt some states to consider options

Last summer’s Multistate Bar Exam produced the lowest results in nearly a decade, spurring questions about test reliability and a search for alternatives. About 80 law deans sought details on how questions were chosen and tests were scored, but the National Conference of Bar Examiners did not provide additional information,…

Mar 20, 2015 1:22 PM CDT

Following New York’s lead, California bar officials plan to require pro bono work for admission

Following New York’s lead, bar officials in California are in the process of developing a pro bono program for law students who plan to practice in the state. Like the policy adopted by the New York Court of Appeals, which took effect Jan. 1, the California plan requires 50 pro…

Mar 13, 2015 3:55 PM CDT

ABA to fund startup projects to hire new and underutilized lawyers

The ABA has announced it will award $40,000 in Catalyst Grants to groups with proposed programs to hire new and underutilized lawyers. The grants will be awarded to bar associations, courts, law schools and other groups planning innovative programs to provide for unmet legal needs of poor and moderate-income individuals,…

Feb 26, 2015 6:15 AM CST

New mom will get stop-the-clock breaks to pump breast milk during bar exam

Told there was no procedure for appealing a decision by Illinois bar exam authorities not to provide stop-the-clock breaks when she needed to pump breast milk, Kristin Pagano nonetheless wrote a letter requesting reconsideration. On Tuesday, that request was unanimously granted by the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar.…

Nov 26, 2014 9:30 AM CST

Expectant mom is denied extra time to breast pump during February bar exam

An expectant mother who plans to take the Illinois bar exam a month after she gives birth to her child has been denied extra time to breast pump. Kristin Pagano, a California lawyer who recently moved to Illinois with her husband, plans to breastfeed her newborn. Her due date is…

Nov 20, 2014 9:19 AM CST

Laid-off lawyer follows his disappointing New York Knicks passion with hopes of a better future

When Georgetown University Law Center grad Dennis Doyle got laid off in March from his job with a small Manhattan law firm, one of his sisters asked him to list his passions. Doyle, 31, listed three things: writing, traveling and the New York Knicks. Now he is combining all three…

Nov 18, 2014 2:16 PM CST

Drop in nationwide bar exam scores is likely due to ‘less able’ test takers, memo says

Scores on the Multistate Bar Exam dropped throughout the nation in July, apparently because the group of test takers was “less able” this year, a bar official’s memo asserts. The explanation offered in the Oct. 23 memo by Erica Moeser, president of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, doesn’t satisfy…

Nov 11, 2014 8:11 AM CST

Will New York jump on the Uniform Bar Exam bandwagon? Top state court seeks comment

New York’s highest court is seeking public comment (PDF) on a proposal to begin administering the Uniform Bar Examination prepared by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. Fourteen states currently offer the standardized test, most of them west of the Mississippi, but California, Florida, Illinois and Texas are not among…

Oct 21, 2014 5:10 PM CDT

Oops! Clerical error leads to mistake in Nebraska bar exam scores; three didn’t pass after all

The day before ceremonies on Thursday to swear in new lawyers in Nebraska, three would-be lawyers got some bad news. They didn’t pass the bar exam after all. But the news was good for three other test takers, the Omaha World-Herald reports. The mistake, now corrected, meant that they had…

Sep 26, 2014 7:09 AM CDT

Iowa won’t end bar exam for state law grads but considers scheduling test during 3L year

The Iowa Supreme Court has turned down a proposal to eliminate the bar exam for graduates of the state’s two law schools, but it is still considering changes to the process. The court turned down the Iowa State Bar Association’s diploma privilege proposal on Friday, report the Gazette, the Associated…

Sep 8, 2014 7:26 AM CDT

Louisiana Supreme Court settles ADA probe by DOJ over mental-health queries on bar application

The Louisiana Supreme Court has agreed to settle a U.S. Department of Justice probe over claims that some mental-health questions on the state’s bar application could violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Specifically, the DOJ found that those involved in evaluating bar applications have been making admission recommendations focused on…

Aug 18, 2014 8:40 PM CDT

Law grads sue over ‘Barmageddon,’ seek refund of software fee and punitive damages

Law graduates in at least two states have filed suit over a so-called Barmageddon software glitch that reportedly made it impossible for a number of test-takers to submit their answers on time last month on the first day of the bar exam. Although the deadline was extended in all affected…

Aug 7, 2014 3:45 PM CDT

Students try to avoid law school costs with ‘reading law’ path to law license

Chris Tittle doesn’t want to rack up a $100,000 debt to attend law school, so he is trying an alternative: He is “reading the law” as part of a four-year apprenticeship, a route to a law license that is allowed in his home state of California. Only a few states…

Jul 30, 2014 5:53 PM CDT

Barmageddon? Bar exam takers in multiple states can’t upload tests; deadlines extended

Bar exam test takers have overcome test-day roadblocks in the past. Above the Law recalls persistent test takers who carried on after fainting, while in labor, and during an earthquake. But the website says there was a disaster of greater proportions Tuesday evening when students in multiple states experienced delays…

Jul 30, 2014 4:58 PM CDT

Should Iowa eliminate bar exam for in-state law grads? State’s lawyers have mixed views

A proposal to nix the Iowa bar examination, as far as graduates of in-state law schools are concerned, has met with a mixed reception from the state’s attorneys. Some support the idea, arguing that the test doesn’t measure knowledge and skills needed to practice law. But others say the bar…

Jul 14, 2014 2:30 PM CDT