With in-person exams dangerous exercises that have avoided mass outbreaks mostly through luck and online exams imploding, you might think that every bar exam calamity was already covered. However, you’d be wrong.
In another wrinkle of the state reliance upon the NCBE monopoly for all licensing needs, many applicants are being told that they can’t sit for any other bar exam during 2020 because there’s too much risk that they’ll see NCBE questions repeated.
For example, California writes to its applicants:
Candidates shall affirm that they do not, and will not, plan to sit for any other jurisdiction’s bar exam administration in July, September, or October 2020 during which NCBE tests are used. Jurisdictions should prohibit candidates from participating in the remotely administered test if they will sit for any of these in-person administrations of the bar exam, as such participation may provide an opportunity for nonbona fide candidates to gain access to NCBE’s copyright-protected test material.
Did we say too much risk of repeated questions? Because we meant too much risk that they may see “NCBE’s copyright-protected test material.” Yes, the restriction seems less concerned with exam integrity and more with the risk that… what? A test prep company would send in spies to learn all of NCBE’s secrets before they publicly release the questions? None of this makes a lot of sense and it seems a bold leap to assume anyone looking to be admitted in multiple jurisdictions is a “nonbona fide” examinee.
Regardless of its logic, this standard presents a severe barrier to applicants wishing to practice in neighboring jurisdictions without in-person UBE portability or independently negotiated reciprocity.
Most people don’t need multi-state jurisdiction at the outset of their careers so this isn’t going to have the same detrimental impact as a crashed online platform, but it’s a real problem for folks that do. Assuming California isn’t alone in this position — and I suspect this is going to be the universal position — this could put a crimp in a lot of people’s careers.
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.