California won’t cancel bar exam despite COVID-19 but offers options to law school graduates
California is refusing to cancel its bar exam despite complications created by the COVID-19 pandemic — but is offering would-be lawyers the option of taking an online test or accepting a “provisional” license that’s good for up to two years.
The decision Thursday night by the California Supreme Court was a disappointment to hundreds of recent law school graduates, who had urged the court to cancel the exam altogether and simply grant them permanent law licenses through a process called “diploma privilege.”
The deans of many of California’s law schools, including UC Davis and McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, had made a similar proposal to the court earlier this month. Three states have opted to use “diploma privilege” to stop the spread of the pandemic: Washington, Oregon and Utah.
About 9,000 graduates are registered to take the California exam, which was supposed to be held this month but was already postponed to early September because of COVID-19 worries.
The graduates said making them sit through a grueling two-day test would have created enormous health risks at a time when coronavirus infections are spiking in many parts of California.
And they said online testing would lead to other problems. Among other things, the test would have employed facial-recognition software to verify the graduates’ identities — something that the ACLU says is discriminatory. The ACLU, in a letter to the Supreme Court, said the software has been known to confuse law-abiding minorities with police mug shots of people of color.
“This fight is not over,” said Pilar Escontrias, a UC Irvine law school graduate who leads a grassroots organization called “United for Diploma Privilege.” She said she’s trying to enlist members of the Legislature in the group’s crusade.
The court said it came up with a reasonable compromise. Instead of the in-person exam, an online test will be given Oct. 5 and 6. The court also permanently lowered the passing score, from 1,440 to 1,390 — answering critics who’ve charged that California’s exam is far too difficult and discriminates against people of color.
Those who want to skip the exam can do so and accept provisional licensing. However, this option is limited to this year’s graduates and carries restrictions; the option offers “a limited license to practice specified areas of law under the supervision of a licensed attorney,” the court wrote in a letter to the State Bar of California, which administers the exams.
The provisional license will remain in effect through June 2022.
The court acknowledged the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the graduates as they await licensing. “Some graduates have lost job offers. Many are about to lose health insurance, cannot find a job to pay bills, or are in fear of deportation if they cannot enter the bar in time to retain job offers,” the court wrote. “Many more have student loan payments that become due in mid-November, but without a law license and the ability to work, they fear going into default.”
But it said granting permanent licensing through diploma privilege wouldn’t work. The other states that have adopted diploma privilege are limiting it to graduates of law schools accredited by the American Bar Association. While California’s more prestigious law schools are ABA-accredited, the state has nearly four dozens schools that “would not meet those criteria and would be excluded,” the court said.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 7:38 PM.