COVID-19 and the Bar Exam

March 23rd, 2020 / By Deborah J. Merritt

The news about COVID-19 gets worse by the hour. People are dying. The virus is spreading. Health care workers lack protective gear. Businesses are closed. We are sheltered at home. In the midst of these life-or-death matters, it seems mundane to worry about the July 2020 bar exam.

But we need to plan for the July bar, just as we need to think about every other part of life affected by the pandemic. Jurisdictions almost certainly will not be able to administer the exam in its usual format–to hundreds of test-takers gathered in large rooms or arenas. What should they do instead?

Over the weekend, I joined with a team of researchers to propose alternatives for licensing the Class of 2020. Our short paper is available at
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3559060. We don’t have all the answers, but we think it is critical to start the conversation. Decisions about the July bar must be made during the next few weeks.

If you have comments or additional suggestions, please let us know. As we state at the end of the paper: These are unprecedented times and we must work together to meet them. Our society must first work to secure its health, but intense legal needs will follow soon thereafter. We can’t afford to leave the talented members of the Class of 2020 sitting on the sidelines as those needs erupt. It is time to call all hands on deck.