US Bar Exam Task Force Outlines Plans For Revamped Multistate Test

(Reuters) – The National Conference of Bar Examiners, which develops the multistate portion of the bar exam that almost all U.S. states use, on Monday released preliminary plans for an overhaul of the test.

Monday’s report by the NCBE’s Testing Task Force, issued after a three-year review of the exam, recommended that it cover fewer subjects, test less broadly and deeply within the subjects covered and place a greater emphasis on lawyering skills. The eight recommended subjects include civil procedure and contract law. The seven skills include legal research and client counseling.

The task force also recommended the bar exam change its format. While applicants currently answer multiple choice questions in a separate section from written response prompts, the task force suggested the bar exam instead give applicants a series of legal scenarios and ask them a mix of question types after each one. That’s more representative of “real-world” legal problems and efficient for exam development, the task force said.

The test would be offered twice a year and delivered by computer. Applicants would receive a single combined score, instead of one broken down by section.

Its recommendations aren’t finalized – stakeholders will discuss them this month – and once agreed on the changes will take up to four to five years to implement, the task force said.

The recommendations come after a tumultuous year for the bar exam. In 2020, many recent law school graduates called for an end to the bar exam as states grappled with how to license new lawyers amid the coronavirus pandemic, often canceling tests and changing plans. They instead called for diploma privilege, which lets law grads get licensed without taking the test.

Just five jurisdictions – Louisiana, Utah, Washington State, Oregon and Washington D.C. – granted that option in response to COVID-19. Wisconsin has long allowed a form of diploma privilege.