Faced with bankruptcy, the California Bar seemed to only have one real option to deal with facilitating its expensive lawyer-minting regime. Kaplan offered to author the test but that put the Bar in NBCE’s bad graces. But, between playing nice with the NBCE and going bankrupt, the California Bar kicked them to the curb not long after. Now, with no NBCE to test block Kaplan from scoring big, they’ve entered into a five-year development contract with the California Bar. Here’s the word from the Cal Bar:
The State Bar of California and Kaplan Exam Services, LLC (Kaplan), a subsidiary of Kaplan North America, LLC, signed an $8.25 million, five-year exam development agreement on August 9, authorizing Kaplan to create multiple-choice, essays, and performance test questions for the California Bar Exam. As part of the agreement, Kaplan will also provide faculty and student study guides, which the State Bar will distribute at no cost. Kaplan will also exit the retail bar prep business specific to California, while continuing to serve other bar exam jurisdictions.
The multiple-choice questions will replace the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ (NCBE) Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) in time for the February and July 2025 exams.
Opting for Kaplan over the NBCE’s NextGen shows that the latter’s dominance is still up for grabs. While you should expect the Kaplan exam to test similar subject areas as the traditional bar, there is a concern that the exam will be too similar to what it was meant to replace. Kaplan and the State Bar of California had enough foresight to have factored in a cost-sharing provision in the event that the testing leads to a court date.
Aspiring California lawyers, good luck! Kaplan’s bar rollout is in six months — get to studying!
State Bar, Kaplan, Sign Five-Year California Bar Exam Development Contract [CalBar]
Earlier: NCBE Messed Up, Bro, California Kicked Them Out Of The Bar
California Bar Risks Going Bankrupt Rather Than Change Its Exam
Is The NextGen Bar Really Next Up?
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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