Law School Deans Want October Bar Exam To Be Open Book

And they want to eliminate remote proctors, too.

We write now to urge that California administer the bar exam on October 5-6 without remote proctoring and without limits on what materials the student may consult during the exam. Indiana and Nevada took this approach in July for their bar exams. …

The bar exam always is a source of stress for those taking it, but the situation this year is dramatically different. We still are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected many of our graduates and their families. Many are dislocated by the fires and adversely affected by the smoke. We are in the midst of a national reckoning with racism and anti-Blackness. Administering the exam without remote proctoring and in an open book manner would decrease the stress for many taking the bar. In addition, there is a non-trivial risk of significant technical issues or snafus in the planned administration that would be substantially alleviated by this alternative approach.

— an excerpt from a letter signed by the deans of California’s 15 ABA-accredited law schools that was sent to the the California Supreme Court, requesting that the October bar exam, with questions provided by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), be open book, without remote proctoring. The NCBE has a remote proctoring requirement for states using its testing materials, and has said that it “supports the California Supreme Court and its decisions regarding administration of the October exam … consistent with NCBE’s interest in jurisdictions administering a secure exam.” The California Supreme Court has yet to respond to the deans’ letter.


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sponsored