Bar Exam

Law Grad Apologizes for Gay Marriage Bar Exam Question

A law grad who filed a lawsuit because he flunked the Massachusetts bar exam is apologizing to gays for being “an instrument of bigotry and prejudice.” Stephen Dunne had filed a lawsuit claiming he failed the exam because he didn’t answer a question that required him to implicitly support gay…

Jan 11, 2008 12:30 PM CST

Want to Take the N.Y. Bar Exam? Sign a Waiver

Those taking the New York bar exam on their laptops this February will be required to sign a new, detailed waiver protecting the state Board of Law Examiners from liability if the exam software malfunctions. The test takers will be using new software, following a glitch this summer that lost…

Jan 3, 2008 12:27 PM CST

Pass List May Not Be Final for July ‘07 N.Y. Bar Exam

A “fail” may not be the final answer for some individuals who took the New York bar exam in July. If they were among those who failed the exam because of apparent software glitches that prevented some answers on computer laptops from being saved, a successful appeal may be possible,…

Dec 14, 2007 8:45 PM CST

Judge Finds BAR/BRI ‘Puffing’ Not Actionable

A New York federal judge has ruled that advertising claims by BAR/BRI were mere puffery that cannot be the basis for a lawsuit. The suit had claimed BAR/BRI engaged in false advertising and caused tens of thousands of law students to overpay for the bar review course. U.S. District Judge…

Dec 13, 2007 3:08 PM CST

Cardozo and CUNY Gain in Bar Pass Rates

The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law has nudged out higher-ranked Cornell for third place in a ranking of New York bar exam pass rates. The top law school was New York University, with a 96 percent pass rate on the July 2007 bar exam, the New York Law Journal…

Dec 3, 2007 3:06 PM CST

CUNY Bar Scores Up

Bar exam snafus aside, there’s some good news for students at CUNY School of Law. The Flushing school has posted the program’s highest-ever first-try pass rate on the state bar: 83 percent, the New York Post reports. Even though the pass rate trails the state average, it’s far better than…

Nov 27, 2007 6:05 PM CST

Bar Exam Error Handled Differently in 2003

The quandary over how to handle a scoring error on the South Carolina bar exam is similar to a problem that surfaced with the Multistate Bar Exam in 2003. But the solution adopted by South Carolina Supreme Court differs with the tougher approach adopted by some state bar authorities four…

Nov 26, 2007 7:35 PM CST

S.C. Supreme Court: ‘Understandable Concerns’ About Bar Exam

Responding to what it describes as “understandable concerns” about the unusual manner in which some who took the South Carolina bar exam in July 2007 belatedly learned that they had passed, the state supreme court has offered an additional explanation of what happened. A scrivener’s error resulted in one examinee’s…

Nov 20, 2007 7:34 PM CST

S.C. Bar Asks Court to Explain Bar Exam Grading Change

The South Carolina Bar’s board of governors is asking the state supreme court to explain more fully why it changed the bar exam results for 20 test-takers, including the daughters of a trial judge and a state legislator with judiciary responsibilities. The statement indicates the bar is distancing itself from…

Nov 16, 2007 6:33 PM CST

July NY Bar Answers Lost for 47; Officials Estimate Scores

When answers to the New York bar exam written on laptop computers this past summer turned up missing, officials said they expected to be able to get the answers from backup data. But in fact a fraction of those answers apparently could not be retrieved from test-takers’ hard drives, so…

Nov 15, 2007 3:45 PM CST

Plot Thickens: Bar Exam Chief Wasn’t Told of Grading Change

Updated: The South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to change the bar exam results for 20 test-takers was a surprise to the man who oversees the state Board of Law Examiners. Board chairman George Hearn told TheState.com that neither the court nor any of his board members informed him of the…

Nov 13, 2007 7:30 PM CST

Judge’s Daughter Flunks Bar Exam—Until High-Court Grade Change

A trial judge’s daughter is among 20 law grads who flunked and then passed the state bar exam, due to a grading change by the South Carolina Supreme Court. The court said the section of the exam on wills, trusts and estates will be dropped from test scoring, but gave…

Nov 9, 2007 4:25 PM CST

Plaintiff Ends Suit Over Bar Exam Question

A federal court battle over a bar exam question on gay marriage has ended with the plaintiff agreeing to dismiss the case. A Massachusetts federal judge granted the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the case on Monday, the National Law Journal reports. Plaintiff Stephen Dunne had contended he failed the Massachusetts…

Oct 11, 2007 11:37 AM CDT

Law Prof: CA Bar Swayed by Liberals

A UCLA law professor seeking more information about bar passage rates for minority law students is planning his next move after the State Bar of California turned down his request for historical data. The Committee of Bar Examiners refused to release the information, saying test takers provided it in the…

Sep 19, 2007 12:31 PM CDT

New NY Bar Exam Woes

Would-be lawyers who had trouble uploading their essays for the New York bar exam may be facing a new problem: incomplete essay answers. About 400 essays appear to be incomplete, New York Lawyer reports, reprinting a story from the New York Law Journal. The students began getting e-mails this week…

Aug 31, 2007 2:01 PM CDT