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There was a plan for California to provide an alternative to its notoriously difficult bar exam (with a cut score 40 points above the national average). The Portfolio Bar Exam, which was designed similarly to the Covid-era Provisional License program, would have allowed law school graduates to bypass the bar exam instead opting to shadow experienced attorneys for four to six months to become barred in the state.
But as you might have gleaned from the past tense usage (and the headline), that has been scrapped. The Supreme Court of California rejected the bar exam alt, saying it would cause an “array of ethical and practical problems.”
As reported by Reuters:
The court also said the program would compromise “fairness, validity, and reliability as a measure of an applicant’s competence.” It noted that applicants placed with more skilled or more dedicated supervisors could establish better portfolios of work than counterparts with “less committed supervisors.”
Despite the California Supreme Court’s harsh word about alternative licensing programs, they are, in fact, trending. Two other West Coast states, Oregon and Washington, have already approved similar programs as the one rejected by the Golden State.
Earlier: Oregon’s Supreme Court Could Greenlight Hands-On Bar Exam Replacement
Washington’s Supreme Court Green-Lights Three Ways To Skip The Bar Exam
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].
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