Provisional licenses considered as another California bar exam remedy
Bar candidates who failed or withdrew from February’s problem-plagued California bar exam would be eligible to work under the supervision of an experienced attorney until they could pass the exam, according to the State Bar of California board of trustee’s latest proposal.
The plan would continue the state’s current provisional licensure program, initially enacted during the pandemic when testing protocols were upended, until Dec. 31, 2027, offering February examinees two years to pass the test while working, according to the proposal.
The plan needs the state supreme court’s blessing to go forward. As of Monday, the court had not received the plan, according to Cathal Conneely, public affairs director of the Judicial Council of California, but once it is in hand, it will review the proposal and deliberate before making a decision. The state’s highest court earlier mandated that the July exam happen in person and return to the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ widely used Multistate Bar Exam.
The latest recommendation is fair, Deborah Jones Merritt, a professor emerita at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, wrote to the ABA Journal.
“Provisional licensees practice under an experienced attorney’s supervision and are somewhat limited in the work they can do—this protects the public,” wrote the 2025 Legal Rebel. “At the same time, the provisional licensees can begin working for pay and building their skills (fair to the candidates) and help serve clients (client benefit).”
The plan is just one of several remedies in the works after the disastrous launch of the state’s hybrid and remote exam written by Kaplan and deployed by Meazure Learning that has triggered a flurry of lawsuits.
“We recognize the exam experience was frustrating, to say the least, for many. We are truly sorry for the difficulties that were endured,” board chair Brandon Stallings said in a statement. “The board’s actions today demonstrate our continuing focus on how we can help applicants successfully become practicing attorneys while remaining committed to our public protection mission.”
Other remedies moved forward, including waiving the bar exam requirement for those barred at least four years in other states. The board also extended the time applicants who failed or withdrew in February could use a one-time waiver to the next three administrations of the bar exam. Next step is court approval.
Although 55.9% of February examinees passed after pass scores were lowered, the board has asked the Committee on Bar Examiners to consider other adjustments, such as taking the higher of the first and second read scores instead of averaging them, creating an appeals process for those close to passing and permitting a retake of just the performance exam portion.
Though the decision to create and administer a new exam was motivated by the cash-strapped state bar’s attempt to save up to $3.8 million a year, the avalanche of technical and logistical issues triggered costs of almost $5.6 million, Leah Wilson, the executive director of the California state bar, told the state senate committee on judiciary on May 6.
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