State Bar of California Releases Proposed New Rules Governing Law School Accreditation for Public Comment

By Juan M. Villalvazo At its November 19, 2020 meeting (Item 701), the State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees voted to release a series of proposed rules to replace the existing Rules for Accredited Law Schools (Rules of the Continue reading

Two New Studies Reveal the California Bar Exam Cut Score’s Racially Disparate Impact, and State Bar of California Continues its own Study of the Bar Exam

By Juan M. Villalvazo In October 2020, two studies analyzing the various ways in which California’s minimum bar exam passing score (“cut score”) on the Bar exam impacts examinee outcomes. Both studies were conducted by the same authors, and were Continue reading

California Supreme Court Approves State Bar Provisional Licensure Program for 2020 Law Graduates, Adopts Rule 9.49 of the California Rules of Court

By Juan M. Villalvazo On July 16, 2020, the California Supreme Court sent a letter to the State Bar of California, directing it to “implement, as soon as possible, a temporary supervised provisional licensure program—a limited license to practice specified Continue reading

The COVID-19 Pandemic Brings Significant Changes to the California Bar Examination

By Juan M. Villalvazo The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc in recent months on the legal profession’s most important requisite for licensure—the Bar exam. With giant convention centers full of thousands of test-takers being infeasible during the pandemic, the California Continue reading

Committee of Bar Examiners Holds Emergency Teleconference Meeting to Address Legal Education and Exam Administration in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Halie Turigliatti On March 30, 2020, the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE) held an emergency and special meeting over teleconference. The meeting began by voting to start an official emergency meeting, according to the Bagley-Keene Continue reading

Committee of Bar Examiners Tables Vote Regarding Notice of Intent to Terminate Pacific Coast University School of Law’s Accreditation

By Halie Turigliatti At the Committee of Bar Examiners’ (CBE) meeting on January 31, 2020, the Committee considered staff’s recommendation that CBE issue a notice of intent to terminate the California State Bar’s accreditation of Pacific Coast University School of Continue reading