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'COVID Cases Are Spiking, So Let's Hold The Bar Exam In Person!' Say Cocky Bar Examiners

The apathy required to make this call in the middle of a surge in cases is mind-blowing.

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There are effective vaccines now and medical experts envision a return to normal society by late summer/early fall. But until that time, the COVID situation remains very dangerous in the United States, with the country reporting roughly four times the daily deaths of any other nation and a total deaths per capita figure that should crack the top 10 any day now. But because people are tired and infinitely lazy, they’re ready to just pretend it’s already over.

Apparently that extends to the bar examiners in South Carolina, who announced yesterday that they’ve thought about the state’s spiking COVID numbers and decided an in-person superspreader exam sounds like a fantastic idea!

South Carolina’s seven-day average of new cases is around double what it was at its worst point over the summer and the death toll average is on par with those peaks. But online exams were fraught with disaster and rather than come up with some sort of alternative, professional licensing agencies remain wedded to the bar exam’s square peg regardless of the round holes it may encounter. So an in-person exam it is!

In defense of the examiners, they’re promising mitigation measures including masks and social distancing, and the February exam is traditionally less attended than in July so there could be an opportunity for more expanded distancing unless they plan to use a smaller venue. And there is something to be said for the original public health advice — before it became clear that the government was putting no resources at all into it — that avoiding all human interaction isn’t the answer as much as constant hand and face sanitizing, keeping distance, and contact tracing.

But past in-person exams have failed to provide contact tracing. We’ve learned of past exposures at in-person exams solely because the examinees who later tested positive have volunteered the information. If South Carolina is really going to do this, hopefully they’ve invested in a formal program.

Why? Why are states doing this? The death-cult of the bar exam is completely out of hand. If you’ve got to run a test, give people a set of legal scenarios and eight hours at home to draft a memo. That’s a much better test of a potential attorney’s capacity to perform the job than a generalist memory test in a convention center. It’s not “cheating” to look up caselaw, it’s the whole job! This is basically what Indiana ended up doing over the summer and I’ve not heard any complaints about the format.

Alas, too many jurisdictions just aren’t there yet. And they don’t care how many applicants suffer to protect their precious test.

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February Bar exam to be held in person [South Carolina Lawyers Weekly]

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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