The Case Of The Stolen Exams Leaves Students In A Lurch

Sympathies to students who may have to (read: will almost certainly have to) retake the exam.

Car theftWe’ve received some disturbing information for law students actually hoping to become lawyers. It seems the answer books for the most recent MPRE — a required element in most states for admission to the bar — that was administered at Lewis & Clark Law School were stolen.

Yup, the exams are just gone and the students who are waiting on the results are, well, still waiting. From an insider:

At Lewis & Clark law school, students took the MPRE two weekends ago [ed. note: the exam was administered Saturday the 13th]. What they haven’t yet been told is that a law school assistant dean left the completed test materials in her car overnight and the materials were stolen out of her car. Many of these students have already taken various states bar exams and were simply awaiting the results before being able to swear in. Now, their careers will likely be delayed by several months. Is anyone even going to tell them what happened to their tests?

That’s an awful lot to unpack, but tests left unsecured overnight doesn’t seem like best practices at all. And when exactly will test takers be informed that their exams have gone missing? (If you took the exam at Lewis & Clark last weekend, we’d love to hear from you to sound off about how it has been handled.)

It is also unclear who was responsible for the theft. Was it a test taker who bombed? Some youthful mischief makers who didn’t understand the importance of the test? With few details to go on, there is little but wild speculation as to the responsible parties.

One thing that is certain is the uncertainty for the students who took the MPRE at Lewis & Clark. Lewis & Clark Law could not be reached for comment, but LSAC, the organization that administers the exam, confirmed the theft and indicated the investigation in the incident in ongoing:

The test occurred this past Saturday… and we were made aware of the situation on Monday. It is currently under investigation.

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So we don’t know how this will be handled and if/when students will be forced to retake the exam. But the potential irony of a professional ethics exam being stolen is almost too perfect, perhaps better suited for mediocre heist movie than real life.

Sympathies to students who may have to (read: will almost certainly have to) retake the exam.


Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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