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A third jurisdiction has moved its July bar exam online.

The Supreme Court of Nevada has ordered a reformatting of the state's attorney licensing exam and called for it to be delivered remotely. It joins Indiana and Michigan in the move to an online test. But Nevada is taking a different tack by making its online test open book—a concession to the fact that it's difficult to police test takers when they are in their own homes. It's also keeping the test at two days, whereas Michigan and Indiana has reduced it down to one day.

"The [Nevada Board of Bar Examiners'] proposal adequately balances a number of important issues," reads the court's order May 20. "First, proceeding with a modified examination in July 2020 provides stability to applicants in uncertain times. Second, the proposal protects applicants and examination administrators by following COVID-19 social distancing requirements."

Many jurisdictions have struggled with how to handle the July bar exam amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Bar examiners are weighing the public health concerns of gathering hundreds of test takers for in-person exams, as well as the worries of law graduates who can't begin jobs until they take the bar. Though the National Conference of Bar Examiners is offering two alternative bar exam dates in September, some fear that those tests could also be canceled if the virus flares up.

Nevada's decision to proceed with an online bar exam was not unexpected. The state's high court put the proposal out for public comment earlier this month, and later said it received "extensive" feedback. The court also considered postponing the bar exam until September—as many other jurisdictions have done—or extending a diploma privilege that would allow law graduates to be admitted to the bar without taking and passing the licensing exam.

But it ultimately rejected those alternatives, finding that a diploma privilege would not sufficiently protect the public from unqualified practitioners, and that the safe administration of the exam may not be possible in September. (Thus far, Utah is the only jurisdiction to adopt and emergency diploma privilege.)

Five of the seven justices signed the order, while two more dissented, writing that the exam should be postponed until September in hopes that it could be given in its traditional format.

Nevada will not use the Multistate Bar Exam—the 200 multiple-choice portion of the test that is given over one day. Instead, test takers will complete eight Nevada essay questions and a performance test. The state will use ILG Exam 360, which is a suite of software used by bar examiners and law schools to administer online tests. Nevada is also retaining a psychometrician to make certain that the grading of the essays ensures protection for the public, according to the court's order. Nevada is a relatively small bar exam jurisdiction. Just 313 people took its July exam in 2019.

The California Supreme Court has urged its bar exam to be delivered online when it is administered in early September, though officials have not yet announced that it will be offered remotely. And Massachusetts has committed to offering an online bar exam in September if it's unsafe to deliver an in-person test at that time.