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The California Supreme Court has hired a retired appeals court justice and his law firm to probe the State Bar’s disclosure of bar exam topics prior to the July test.
Arthur G. Scotland, a former administrative presiding justice of the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, will lead the investigation. California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye served on the Third District bench with Scotland for several years.
The state Supreme Court also hired the Sacramento firm where Scotland works, Nielsen Merksamer, to assist with the probe.
The $60,000 contract runs through the end of 2019. Scotland will be paid $995 an hour for his work. The hourly rates for the other attorneys at Nielsen Merksamer expected to assist with the work range from $375 to $675. The State Bar will cover the costs.
The court’s announcement follows its July statement that it would conduct “a thorough and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disclosure, and that appropriate steps are taken to protect the integrity of the bar examination and identify and address any consequences.”
Just days prior to the July exam, the State Bar sent some law school deans a list of the general subjects to be tested on the essay and performance test portions. This early release prompted the bar to disclose the topics to all test takers.
The scandal was a significant setback for an agency that seemed to be making progress on other fronts.
The State Bar also recently announced the hiring of a former California employment lawyer and mediator to investigate the topics disclosure.
Jean Gaskill, an inactive California attorney based in Oregon, will be paid $200 an hour for work on the probe.
Gaskill previously worked for the now-defunct Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison law firm.
As for former Justice Scotland, his career included more than 21 years on the appellate bench and almost two years as a Sacramento County Superior Court judge.
“After retiring from the Court of Appeal in 2010, he reactivated his license to practice law and represented the President pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly in a successful lawsuit against the State Controller, regarding the constitutional requirements for passage of a balanced budget bill,” the California Supreme Court said in a release.
Scotland joined Nielsen Merksamer in 2012.
Lyle Moran is a freelance writer in San Diego who handles both journalism and content writing projects. He previously reported for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Diego Daily Transcript, Associated Press, and Lowell Sun. He can be reached at lmoransun@gmail.com and found on Twitter @lylemoran.