If the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee gets its way, graduating law students in Connecticut will be allowed to represent clients in clinics under the guidance of a licensed attorney until those students have a chance to take the bar examination, which has been pushed back from late July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anne Dranginis, a Pullman & Comley member and chairwoman of the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee, said the full committee will meet Friday and is expected to suggest amending the Connecticut Practice Book to allow law students to work with a supervising attorney and "have some autonomy in the process."

The Bar Examining Committee is expected to recommend to the Rules Committee of the  Superior Court that the practice book be amended. The Rules Committee would have the final say on the matter.

"I'd hope they would sign off on it," Dranginis said.

Amending the practice book in such a fashion—something other states are also considering—would "allow law students to get their feet wet," Dranginis said. "It's all to benefit law school graduates who have been delayed in taking the bar examination. It might be useful to a firm that might hire them and the amending of the practice book allows the student to go into court alone on a limited basis."

As it stands now, Dranginis said, the bar examinations in Connecticut have been pushed back from this summer to Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at the Hartford Convention Center. The dates are dependent on the status of the COVID-19 situation at the time, Dranginis said.

Law school officials and administrators said students have been anxious about the delay in taking the bar examination and said faculty is doing everything to ease those concerns.

"It's hard on our students in many ways and not knowing when the bar exam will be taken is among them," said Brad Saxton, interim dean at Quinnipiac University School of Law. "It's hard not knowing when the exam is because it affects when you start studying. You have to plan that out and do more extensive studying right before the test is taken."

Saxton continued: "We are very aware of how stressful and difficult this time is for them and are listening to the requests from our students."

One request that was granted as of April 2, Saxton said, was to move from the normal letter grading to a pass/fail grading for law school students.

"These are unusual circumstances. Our students can't go to study room and the law library and by going to a pass/fail grading system, it takes some of the pressure off of them," Saxton said. "Many of our students say the pass/fail grading system is more helpful and they don't have to worry about the anxieties associated with wondering what their letter grade will be."

The difference between 2019 and 2020 in the tumultuous times that are the COVID-19 world is like day and night, said Suzanne Hard, director of the Center for Career Development at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

"The hardest part for our students and for all of us is the uncertainty," Hard said. "I tell our students to focus on things they can actually control like their mental health and well-being and to be the best remote law school student they can be."

Hard said about 145 University of Connecticut School of Law students are expected to take the bar examination, while Saxton said about 80 of his students are expected to take the test.

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