With the California State Bar’s Admissions Fund projected to face insolvency by 2026, the Board of Trustees has begun discussing a series of measures designed to tackle this issue. According to an article on Above the Law, these include breaking ties with the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which currently creates the bar examination, to shift to a system that would allow at-home testing and significantly reduce costs.
California’s bar incurs an approximate $4 million deficit each year, while the NCBE has amassed around $158m in total assets, thanks in no small part to the exorbitant costs associated with the administration of the current test. The State Bar estimates that the proposed changes could save between $2.8m and $4.2m annually, besides offering benefits to applicants like the convenience of not having to travel and lodge for physical test centres.
The proposal before the Board is to commission Kaplan to create an exam that aligns with the current format while allowing the State to move towards alternative testing arrangements. There’s a strong interest in a shift towards an online or hybrid option for examinations, despite California’s previous online exam efforts during the Covid pandemic meeting with issues such as technology failures and allegations of widespread cheating.
The remodeled exam process would involve Kaplan leaving the bar prep business in California. The main objection so far to the proposal involves the aggressive timeline that it proposes, with an aim to have the summer’s bar examination be the last one provided by the NCBE. Changes are slated to start by June 2024, but there is potential for the timeline to be slowed down given the short timeframe and the complexity of the process involved.
Irrespective of the hurdles, given the requirement to address the mounting deficit, the process of change appears imminent. The precise shape and form that these revisions will take are likely to become clearer following the Board’s discussions this week.