It used to be obvious which state was the hardest for future lawyers — it had a brutal three-day test and one of the highest minimum passing scores (known as the cut score) in the country. But all of that’s changed.
They now have a leisurely two-day exam — in line with the rest of the country. And the California State Supreme Court wrested control of the cut score from the bar examiners, with the very clear implication that the bar examiners should study the passing standard and come up with something lower. Now the California examiners have released their preliminary findings, and what do you know? They recommend a lower cut score.
California, bro — do you even bar exam anymore?
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Okay, I’m kidding… kinda.
The old California cut score was probably too high. I mean Kathleen Sullivan — former Stanford Law dean and name partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan — failed the California bar exam when she took it in 2005 (she was already admitted in New York and Massachusetts, and passed on her next try). That’s probably too exacting a standard, especially when there is a stark access to justice issue created by a dearth of licensed attorneys. As my colleague Joe Patrice noted:
First of all, the California State Bar’s ethical obligation should be protecting the citizens of California from bad lawyers, not protecting the market share of people who already passed the test. The market will decide how many practicing lawyers the state actually needs — the bar exam just needs to set the floor for certification. Secondly, on the subject of its obligations to the citizens of California, has anyone checked out the state’s justice gap? Because… talk about horrific. That’s certainly not helped by keeping an artificially tight lid on the population of potential pro bono hours. Third, obviously there are some really terrible, borderline predatory law schools in California. Above the Law is well aware of that. But these standards chill attendance even at perfectly good schools, as more and more people decide it’s not worth it to waste the money and be left without a professional certification just so the state could puff up its existing lawyers. On the other hand, maybe this is why California needs an ABA rule requiring 75 percent passage — when roughly three-fourths of the law schools in California are functionally shut down, that might light a fire under these idiots.
But — and this is a really big but, you guys — you have to make sure you don’t go too far in the other direction. The State Bar of California’s staff report, released yesterday, recommends investigating setting the interim cut score at 139, below both the current cut score of 144 and the previously discussed 141 standard. It’s easy to say that a lower standard creates more lawyers therefore it must be good, but the reality is more nuanced then that.
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Against the backdrop of historically bad California bar passage rates, the makeup of law students is also changing. More and more students with high academic credentials are staying away from law school. In an attempt to maintain enrollment numbers, law schools have been admitting students with lower academic qualifications. Just lowering the cut score does not fix the problem of law students unprepared to take the bar exam, it only addresses a symptom that record numbers of people are failing the exam.
It’s a delicate balance. The Board of Trustees are scheduled to meet on September 6th to make their final recommendation on the cut score to the California Supreme Court.
Godspeed.
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).