A divided Texas Supreme Court decided Friday to cancel the bar examination scheduled for late July due to increasing concerns about “the recent surge in COVID-19 cases” and “uncertainty regarding the availability of examination sites.”
In a four-page emergency order, seven of the nine justices instructed the Texas Board of Law Examiners to continue to plan to conduct in-person examinations on Sept. 9-10 and an online examination Oct. 5-6. Prospective lawyers scheduled to take the exam later this month can reschedule for either set of exams at no charge.
Two members of the state’s highest court – Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and Justice Paul Green – dissented from the majority’s decision. They would like the Board of Law Examiners to adopt a diploma system in lieu of the bar exam this year.
Six other justices wrote concurring opinions.
Justices Eva Guzman and Debra Lehrmann stated that online testing should be considered and that law schools should assist students who would have the needed technology.
Justices Brett Busby and Jane Bland, in their concurring decision, would also allow recent law school graduates to be licensed through an apprenticeship option.
Justices Jeffrey Boyd and Jimmy Blacklock agree with the majority but would still allow prospective lawyers to take the bar in July as planned – though Boyd would also allow licensing this year through an apprenticeship program or a diploma option.
The majority point out that applicants may practice law under the supervision of a licensed lawyer until the February examinations.
The state Supreme Court’s decision came only a few days after the deans at all 10 Texas law schools and the presidents of all four city bar associations petitioned the justices to take action.
Here is a link to the order: https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1448432/209083.pdf.
Bar Presidents and Law Deans Seek Bar Exam Alternatives
By Mark Curriden
(July 1) – The deans of the 10 Texas law schools and the presidents of the four largest city bar associations have asked the Texas Supreme Court to consider alternatives to in-person bar examinations this summer due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Earlier this year, the state justices agreed to add a third bar exam date to the normal July and September dates, and they reduced the tests from three days to two.
The law deans, in a seven-page letter dated June 28, said they approve of the two steps, but they said it is not enough.
“In recent days, however, the arc of the coronavirus has changed, and these measures no longer seem sufficient,” law school leaders stated in the letter, which was addressed to all seven justices and the heads of the Texas Board of Law Examiners (BLE).
“Our concern is that there is unlikely to be a guarantee that these exams can be held as planned, leaving our students (who are near the finish line of their preparations) with ongoing uncertainty,” the letter states. “Therefore, if there is uncertainty regarding whether either or both of these exams can proceed, the need for an alternate plan is evident. Moreover, as we hope you fully appreciate, we do not believe that the announcement of such an alternate plan can be delayed.”
The law deans suggested these three alternatives:
- Convert the July and September exams to optional or mandatory remote administration;
- Adopt an apprenticeship system that would permit licensure upon the completion of a certain number of hours of supervised practice – a number that should be commensurate with the number of hours students typically prepare for the Texas Bar Exam; and
- A one-time diploma privilege option for graduates of Texas law schools. While this approach is unprecedented in recent times, Texas has utilized the diploma privilege to license new attorneys in the past.
“But, these are unprecedented times, as this appears to be the first time that taking the Texas Bar Exam potentially involved risking one’s health and the health of others – as evidenced by the fact that BLE staff may opt out of test administration,” the letter states. “Alternatively, all 10 law schools would support a provisional license administered with a probationary period.”
The law deans point out that the first day of testing is July 28, which makes it problematic to conduct the examination remotely via Zoom.
“It is important and necessary to provide bar takers a great deal of certainty at the earliest juncture concerning their path ahead,” the deans stated. “Each of us is regularly fielding concerns from graduates regarding their uncertainty.”
The bar presidents of Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, in a letter to the state Supreme Court Tuesday, “strongly support” the law deans’ recommendations.
“We feel that such a flexible approach is needed,” the two-page letter states.
Here is a link to the full letter by the law school deans to the Texas Supreme Court: https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Deans-Letter-June-29.pdf.