COVID-19 Blew Up the Bar Exam. Even Bigger Changes Are Coming.
The J.D. class of 2025 will most likely have to take the bar exam before they can practice, but that exam may bear little resemblance to the test law graduates take now.
April 01, 2021 at 09:00 AM
10 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
The first indication that COVID-19 would upend the bar exam status quo arrived March 22, 2020, in the form of a working paper penned by 11 legal academics and educational policy experts.
The paper argued that it would be unsafe—if not impossible—to administer the upcoming July bar exam in convention halls with hundreds of law graduates packed together. Instead, the academics urged bar exam authorities to rethink the exam and paths to attorney licensure and swiftly announce alternatives.
Their words proved prescient. One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the bar exam looks wildly different in most of the country. Examinees log into the exam from their bedrooms, kitchens or wherever they can find some peace and quiet and a strong Internet connection. Facial recognition technology scans their pictures to ensure they are who they claim to be. And their computer cameras and microphones track and record them to ward off cheating.
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