The 3.8 Million Dollar Plan
To paraphrase the ingenious introductory sequence of a forward thinking 1970’s action series[i]: People, we can rethink this. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY! We have the capability to make the world’s (or at least the U.S.’s) first remote bar exam. California will be that bar exam. Better than it was before. Stronger. Faster. Cheaper for all concerned.
OK - I totally added that last part. But now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, let’s talk about some super big news from the west coast. The State Bar of California Committee of Bar Examiners has announced that, beginning in February 2025, they hope to give examinees the option to take the California bar exam remotely. California is the very first of the U.S. states to offer a remote option. To coincide with this groundbreaking policy shift, California plans to roll out its own fully online version of the bar exam to be offered digitally in small testing centers around the world or even in examinees’ homes.[ii]
California’s Bar Examiners expect to save $3.8 million per year with the move to remote or small testing center bar exams made possible by technology. That is a substantial win for the committee and for technology. It’s also an epic win for examinees. Some examinee benefits are immediately apparent. California bar examinees will no longer be required to travel to the physical site of the exam for 2 to 5 days, which eliminates significant time and expense. That’s right, no more overpaying for limited access hotel rooms to guarantee the best possible access to the testing site on exam day if you plan to take the California bar exam! No more airfare, fuel or food costs to consider on top of everything else.
After all, don’t bar examinees already have enough on their plates? They are typically recent graduates with normal adult living expenses and often limited funds. Few have had regular, full-time employment since the first semester of law school due to the level of time and commitment necessary to graduate. After graduation, the ABA recommends an 8 to 10 week bar prep period at 40 hours per week, so examinees often take time off work, if employed, to optimize their chance of passing the bar. Many have just paid for background checks, character & fitness investigations, the MPRE exam, registration fees, bar review courses/programs, and specialized exam software licensing in the months immediately preceding the bar exam.[iii] Costs vary by state and the bar prep courses selected, but the expense of taking the bar exam is significant by any standard. Any reduction in costs, whether direct or indirect, is a big boon for beleaguered bar examinees, who will undoubtedly thank California for passing the technological efficiencies on to them.
In addition to much needed cost savings, a remote bar exam offers examinees a significant intangible benefit – greater peace of mind. There is almost nothing leading up to the bar exam that could be characterized as “Zen”. Law school is an incredibly demanding, high stakes endeavor. The character & fitness investigation is simultaneously cumbersome and worrisome. Bar prep is mentally and physically exhausting. Travelling to strange environs can be taxing, even in the best of times. Standing in line with a clear plastic bag containing (hopefully) only approved items while waiting to be searched before (lord willing) being admitted to a gigantic, echoey, sweltering hot (or freezing cold – it simply cannot be predicted) exam hall to take the biggest test of your life with hundreds of strangers is – I’m not sure there is even a word adequate to describe it so I will not attempt to manufacture one. Finally, having to find the money to pay to do the nerve-racking activities above is beyond stressful.
Now, California bar examinees will be able to alleviate at least a portion of that stress thanks to smartly leveraging available technologies. They can focus more time, energy, and money on being fully prepared for the bar exam and less on fretting over financial demands, travel arrangements, and temperature controls. I predict an almost immediate increase in pass rates for California. And before anyone suggests it – the increased success will NOT be the result of remote takers cheating. California will still require all examinees to take the exam simultaneously,[iv] and effective remote proctoring software has been widely available for some time now. Pass rates will increase because empowering examinees to take the bar exam from home (or a testing center near home) preserves valuable financial and mental resources they need to ace the exam.
So, I must enthusiastically applaud the California Committee of Bar Examiner’s choice and strongly encourage other states to follow California’s lead. I believe the shift to remote bar exams is the right move at the right time. Remote bar exams are fiscally responsible for examining boards, cost-efficient for examinees, and we do indeed have the technology.
*Lead photo courtesy of Dall-E
[i] “The Six Million Dollar Man”, Facebook, April 13, 2024, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=638639761753437.
[ii] Karen Sloan, “California to allow its new bar exam to be taken from anywhere”, Reuters, October 11, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/california-allow-its-new-bar-exam-be-taken-anywhere-2024-10-11/.
[iii] Kayleigh McNeil, “Hidden Hurdles: The True Cost of the Bar Exam”, Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts, https://wjlta.com/2023/04/24/hidden-hurdles-the-true-cost-of-the-bar-exam/.
[iv] Sloan, supra.
