The California State Bar has hired a former employment lawyer and mediator to investigate how the essay topics for the July 2019 bar exam were erroneously disclosed the week before the test was administered.

The bar will pay Jean Gaskill, once a partner with now-defunct Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison in San Francisco, $200 an hour plus travel, lodging and other expenses to conduct the investigation, according to an agreement between Gaskill and the bar that was released Friday.

The bar's directory lists Gaskill as an Oregon resident and an inactive California attorney since December 2017. Gaskill did not immediately return a message Friday.

Gaskill's retention by the bar does not change the California Supreme Court's plan to conduct its own review of the incident, a spokesman for the Judicial Council said.

State bar officials say the exam topics were mistakenly sent to 16 law school deans as part of an invitation to observe the test's grading process. The invites usually go out after the two-day exam is finished, but a staffer prematurely sent emails to the deans the week before the test was administered July 30 and July 31, said Donna Hershkowitz, the bar's director of programs.

After one of the deans who received the emails notified the bar about the improper disclosure, officials decided to make the exam topics public to everyone registered to take the test. That notice went out on the evening of July 28, setting off a flurry of criticism and questions from law school graduates and their deans.

The state Supreme Court "understands and shares the concerns that this disclosure has generated," the justices said in a statement issued the day before the exam. "The court will make sure that appropriate steps are taken to protect the integrity of the bar examination and identify and address any consequences."

The agreement between the bar and Gaskill, signed by Gaskill on Aug. 2, does not detail the scope of the planned investigation, only saying that the attorney will "conduct an investigation into the premature release of the July 2019 California General Bar Examination topics." No deadline is given for completing the work.

A resume provided by the bar shows Gaskill served as both a member of and chair of a committee that selected and drafted essay test questions on the California bar exam between 1975 and 2007. He also worked as an exam consultant for state bars in Ohio, Texas and Virginia for more than 23 years.

As an attorney with Brobeck Phleger, Gaskill represented a number of major corporations, including Wells Fargo & Co. and United Airlines, in employment and workplace-related litigation.

 

Read more:

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