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In a bit of exciting news for those of you registered for the DC Bar Exam for the primary purpose of using the full portability of the UBE, the Court of Appeals just released a new order allowing applicants to request refunds.
DC announced a few days ago that it would cancel its September UBE administration and offer a non-portable online exam in October. Despite being the prudent public health decision, this caused an uproar among those applicants who signed up for the DC administration because their home jurisdictions, for example New York, had announced that certain applicants wouldn’t be able to take the test in the autumn.
For those applicants, removing portability from the DC bar exam eviscerated the whole value proposition. Rather than take an online exam in October and still need to take another exam at a later date, they may as well wait until they can take the home exam and then waive into DC with that score. Unfortunately, in its original order pushing off the exam, DC stuck to its deadline on issuing no refunds. Thankfully, that’s been clarified today.
If, despite these ongoing efforts to establish reciprocity, applicants wish to withdraw from the October D.C. Bar Exam, the court has made arrangements to refund fees. The court had previously indicated in the May 4th order that fees would be creditable to a future application for admission, but not refundable. Applicants may withdraw and request refunds by emailing BarExamRefund@dcappeals.gov. The deadline to request a refund is September 15, and applicants should allow 14 to 21 days for processing. Applicants who wish to withdraw and credit their fees to a future application, no later than July 2021, may do so by emailing BarExamWithdrawal@dcappeals.gov.
Good news for all those who were worried that they were out the money. And an impressive show of responsiveness from the Court!
Earlier: DC Bar Exam Manages To Screw Up Doing The Right Thing
Law School Deans Rail Against Grave Injustice Of… Waiting A Few Months To Take The Bar Exam
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.