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Florida Cancels Test Of Online Bar Exam Because, You Know, 'Issues'

This online bar exam is looking less and less likely.

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There was supposed to be a test of Florida’s online bar exam platform this afternoon. There won’t be.

After Indiana and Nevada had to call off their online examinations due to nagging issues with the ILG platform, we were quick to point out that the provider struggling with Indiana was planning to administer the Florida exam this year, setting the stage for the headline “Florida Man Goes On Rampage After Computer Deletes His Bar Exam.”

But ILG is pushing ahead, using the information gleaned from the earlier debacles in an effort to get the software up and running in time for the exam. Part of that effort was supposed to be today’s test, but that… didn’t work out:

Last week, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners asked applicants to download and complete the trial exam in the latest version of the ILG bar examination software. Many applicants have downloaded the software and some have identified issues of concern and provided substantive, and helpful, comments about those issues to both ILG and the Board. The Board thanks all applicants who have downloaded and tested the software and those applicants who provided substantive comments about the concerns they have identified. The Board is working with ILG on issues that have been identified, and if you have not yet downloaded the latest version of the software, there is no need to do so now. The Live Trial Exam of the software scheduled for Monday afternoon, August 10, is postponed. The Board will update all applicants on the date and time of the Live Trial Exam as soon as possible.

It’s never a good sign when your stress test can’t survive “people identified problems immediately after downloading it.” A cynical read is that the trial was called off just to spare the bar exam and ILG the embarrassing circus that surrounded Indiana’s botched tests. The charitable read is that they’re working hard to get things right and this is all part of the process in creating any sufficiently complex software product (it’s why one test software provider has already dropped out of the effort). Reality is probably somewhere in between.

But there’s a point where it’s just not worth jerking around the applicants and we passed that point about two months ago. If, as the NCBE likes to say to blunt all criticism, “complaining about the relevance of the bar exam distracts from the examinee’s job, which is to pass the exam” then “having to Beta test software” is at least as much of a distraction. And while the NCBE’s cure for that disease is to cram people into a room so they can catch a more deadly one, the more prudent solution would be some kind of licensing regime that doesn’t rest on a one-time, two-day test. It’s almost like people were talking about this back in March, when law professors first outlined alternatives to the test.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that “diploma privilege” is the “wear a mask” of the legal profession. Smart people were pretty sure it was the right solution clear back in March, but we were told it wasn’t necessary and we just need to hold out until the Fall. It would be an easy fix, they said, with a little extra distancing or at worst staying at home. Extending temporary “supervised practice waivers” are the hydroxychloroquine of this analogy because they offer nothing substantive but make people feel like they’ve done something.

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And just like these public health counterparts, those options — even the waivers — were well-intentioned but doomed for a variety of reasons and we’re all staring while the NCBE and state bar examiners throw a fit in a Trader Joe’s.

Earlier: NCBE Prez Issues Threat To Tie Up Licenses Of Bar Exam Critics
Indiana Junks Online Bar Exam Format, Will Run Test Over Email

HeadshotJoe 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.

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