Bar Exam

State bar examiners change rules after dustup over religious headwear

The Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners announced last week that bar takers will be allowed to wear religious or medical necessity headwear without prior written approval. The policy change comes in response to a miscommunication with a young Muslim woman who was asked to remove her religious headgear by a…

Aug 23, 2013 8:28 PM CDT

Law prof creates ‘experimental’ calculator for bar exam-takers to predict whether they’ll pass

Will you pass the bar? At WITNESSETH, University of Pepperdine law professor Robert Anderson has posted an “experimental bar passage calculator” to help recent bar exam-takers calculate their odds. “This bar examination calculator designed to predict the probability of passing a particular state bar examination based on LSAT, law school…

Aug 16, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Muslim woman taking bar exam endures miscommunication about her headwear

Corrected: As she was taking the Massachusetts Bar Exam on Thursday, a Muslim woman was handed a note by a proctor informing her that she would have to remove her hijab because prior written approval of religious headwear is required, the legal blog Above the Law reports. The unnamed woman,…

Aug 2, 2013 7:48 PM CDT

What are your tips for what not to do on bar prep / bar exam days?

For thousands of recent law school graduates, the bar exam is just days away. And more than a million other law grads have already experienced the bar exam and the preparation for it—sometimes passing on the first try, sometimes not. Today, we’d like to ask lawyers who have lived through…

Jul 24, 2013 4:52 PM CDT

Law grad, an ex-felon, gets her civil rights restored in hopes of getting a law license

A single mom and law graduate has been unable to take the Florida bar exam because of a 15-year-old felony drug conviction. Since serving a seven-month sentence, Jessica Chiappone of Boca Raton has worked to turn her life around, the Miami Herald reports. She achieved an important milestone on Wednesday…

Jun 27, 2013 3:51 PM CDT

Law firm versions of big-box stores; IRS summer hours; Airbnb for the bar exam?

Some law firms have a “big box” model, New York City-based law firm consultant Bruce MacEwen writes at Adam Smith, Esq. Which is to say that they are highly specialized in one practice area, have a great depth of resources and expertise in that practice area and are deeply invested…

Jun 14, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Did you take a bar exam prep course? If so, did you take out a loan to finance it? Any regrets?

The time has come for new law graduates to turn their attention to the bar exam. Many law grads take bar preparation courses that cost between $3,000 and $4,000, and many finance those fees—as well as their living expenses while they study—with a bar review loan of up to $16,000.…

Jun 5, 2013 7:12 PM CDT

Simpler, tougher bar passage accreditation standard to be considered by ABA committee

An ABA committee has agreed in principle to a proposed new law school accreditation standard that would raise and simplify the current bar passage requirement. Under the proposed new standard, a law school would be required to show that 80 percent of its graduates who sat for the bar exam…

Apr 29, 2013 9:57 PM CDT

Quicker route to JD, uniform bar exam on ABA task force agenda; session will be live-streamed

Should law school be shortened with lower credit or time requirements for a JD? Should bar admissions officials offer the bar exam before law school graduation? Or create a unified national licensing system to reduce entry costs for new lawyers? Or create a category of limited-license legal professionals? Those are…

Apr 23, 2013 6:23 PM CDT

It’s not an April Fool’s joke: Illinois bar exam gets harder; which states have hardest tests?

Illinois has decided to make its bar exam more difficult beginning this summer by raising the minimum passing grade by four points. The minimum score will go up by another four points in July 2015. Above the Law first heard of the development when it received a professor’s email to…

Apr 8, 2013 10:39 AM CDT

Gulp! Civil procedure will be added to Multistate Bar Exam

Would-be lawyers who take the multiple choice Multistate Bar Exam beginning in February 2015 will have to deal with a seventh section—on civil procedure. The National Conference of Bar Examiners announced timing of the change in a Feb. 21 letter, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. Kaplan Bar Review…

Mar 8, 2013 3:07 PM CST

A bar applicant is denied a law license for completing her sentences

An Ohio bar applicant won’t be able to practice law just yet because of a complaint that she continued writing for up to 60 seconds after time was called on some bar exam essay questions. In a Jan. 29 opinion (PDF), the Ohio Supreme Court denied a license to Jasmine…

Feb 6, 2013 1:19 PM CST

Proposal to let law students take NY bar after 2 years is worth study, says state’s chief judge

A proposal to let individuals who have completed two years of law school take the New York bar exam before they have earned their juris doctor degree is worth further study, the state’s chief judge said at a recent conference. Jonathan Lippman didn’t formally endorse the idea, which is still…

Jan 23, 2013 7:47 PM CST

No more 3Ls? Proposal would let law students skip their third year

A law professor who says two years of law school is sufficient preparation for the bar exam is getting a serious hearing for his idea. New York University law professor Samuel Estreicher is proposing that New York change its bar exam requirement to allow students to take the test after…

Jan 14, 2013 12:00 PM CST

Arizona Supreme Court OKs Proposal to Allow 3Ls to Take Bar Exam

Arizona will allow third-year law students to take the bar exam in February under a three-year experimental program approved on Monday by the Arizona Supreme Court. The Supreme Court order (PDF) approved an amended rule paving the way for the pilot program. Arizona is now the only state that currently…

Dec 12, 2012 2:28 PM CST