Students in exaimination hall.

Seventeen California law school deans have asked the state Supreme Court to create a provisional licensing program for applicants scheduled to take the July 2020 bar exam, a test now threatened with postponement or cancellation due to the novel coronavirus.

In a letter sent Friday via email, the deans of the American Bar Association-accredited schools urged the justices not to reschedule the two-day exam to Sept. 9 and 10, one of the recommendations the state bar's board of trustees made to the high court last week.

The deans said they are "very concerned" that ongoing public health concerns won't allow the exam to be conducted in traditionally large venues.

The court should consider administering the exam online as trustees also suggested, the deans continued. But the law school leaders added that an official with the National Conference of Bar Examiners told them that it's unlikely an online test can be developed and administered that quickly.

"We therefore urge that the court create a form of provisional licensing for those who were going to take the July 2020 bar exam," the deans wrote. "We favor that it be provisional licensing for a period of time long enough to permit our graduates some degree of flexibility and the ability to launch their careers, available for those who practice under the supervision of a licensed lawyer and who meet the other requirements for admission to the California bar."

The deans' request does not endorse a clean version of diploma privilege, which would allow recent graduates to practice law without passing the bar exam. But their support for a temporary licensing scheme would offer protections for some 2020 students eager to enter the workforce, to start paying off school loans and to avoid crowded testing sites.

The bar's trustees last week recommended that the California Supreme Court either delay the July exam to the fall or to cancel it all together. Trustees also suggested that if the court cancels the test it convenes a working group to consider some sort of provisional licensing.

The justices have given no indication publicly which options, if any, they favor. Court spokesperson Cathal Conneely said members will review the recommendations at their regularly scheduled conference on Wednesday and could take action before the end of the month.

Asked if the justices had spoken with deans, students or others with an interest in the July test, Connelly noted the hundreds of comments that have already been sent to the court, to trustees and to the committee of bar examiners.

 

Read more:

Postpone July Bar Exam or Cancel It, State Bar Tells Calif. Supreme Court

'Please Offer an Alternative Pathway': State Bar Gets Earful Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Pandemic Threatens to Upend Legislation on Court Construction, State Bar

California Is Pressed to Grant Diploma Privilege to Law Grads Amid Virus Crisis

How Law Schools Fared on California's July 2019 Bar Exam