Latest news with #StateBarOfCalifornia
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
California bar exam lawsuits against vendor consolidated
June 3 (Reuters) - A California federal judge on Tuesday consolidated three lawsuits against exam vendor Meazure Learning over California's problem-plagued February bar exam. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in Oakland in his order, opens new tab also appointed attorneys from law firms Tycko & Zavareei and Sauder Schelkopf as lead lawyers for the test takers pursuing the proposed class action. The judge said combining the lawsuits into a single case will promote efficiency and preserve judicial resources. A Meazure Learning spokesperson said that the company stands behind its "track record" of administering millions of exams. The lawsuits accuse Meazure Learning of failing to properly administer California's February bar exam, which experienced technical and logistical problems. The company is also facing a separate lawsuit filed last month by the State Bar of California. The state bar signed a $4.1 million contract with the company in September 2024 to administer the exam. The company did not oppose the request by plaintiffs' lawyers to consolidate the lawsuits by test takers but urged the judge in an April filing to name only one of the firms as interim lead counsel for the combined case, arguing that the plaintiffs did not show the appointment of two firms "is necessary or would be efficient." The judge on Tuesday named Annick Persinger of Tycko & Zavareei and Joseph Sauder of Sauder Schelkopf as co-lead counsel. "These software failures during the February 2025 bar exam disrupted a critical moment in the careers of thousands of test-takers," Persinger and Sauder said in a Tuesday statement. The judge's leadership appointment "will allow us to move the litigation forward and seek relief on behalf of those impacted." The February exam was the debut of California's hybrid remote and in-person test without the components of the national bar exam the state has used for decades — a change that was intended to save as much as $3.8 million annually. But addressing all its problems for the July exam is now expected to add nearly $6 million in costs.
Fox News
2 days ago
- General
- Fox News
More than 200 California bar exam-takers move from fail to pass after new scoring adjustment
More than 200 people who took California's bar exam in February will have their scores changed from "fail" to "pass" after a California Bar committee approved new scoring adjustments. The grading change affected 230 test takers in the State Bar of California's latest attempt to mitigate the fallout of its disastrous February test, which was plagued with technical and logistical problems. That exam prompted several lawsuits, including at least two filed by test takers and one filed by the state bar against the company that administered the exam. With the changes approved on Friday, the exam's overall pass rate jumped from 56% to 63%, nearly double the state's historical average of 35%. Applicants who nearly passed and received a second read on their written questions will be given the higher of two scores for each question, as opposed to the average of the first and second-read scores that the Bar had initially done. Test takers will be notified this week if the adjustments gave them passing scores. This change, unlike many other remedies, does not require approval from the state Supreme Court, the Bar told Bloomberg Law. Applicants for the July exam will automatically be withdrawn if the Bar determines they passed the February test, the Bar said. The scoring changes are the latest in a series of remedies Bar leaders are approving for thousands of applicants whose legal careers were impacted by the exam that crashed on test day. After approval from the state Supreme Court, the state bar has already implemented a lower raw passing score and "imputed" scores for test takers who failed to complete significant portions of the two-day exam. The Committee of Bar Examiners will soon ask the state Supreme Court to also approve a scoring method that could increase some scores on the performance portion of their exams using statistical analysis, according to Bloomberg Law. The state Supreme Court was also asked to consider a proposal to allow all February applicants — including those who withdrew before the exam — to practice law provisionally under an attorney's supervision. The February exam was the debut of California's hybrid remote and in-person test without the components of the national bar exam the state has used for decades. The change aimed to save as much as $3.8 million annually, but resolving all its issues for the July exam is now expected to add nearly $6 million in costs. Some state Bar trustees have expressed discomfort with some of the exam's proposed remedies and the higher pass rate, pointing to the bar's duty to protect the public from unqualified lawyers. The Bar said it faced the difficult task of finding "fair solutions" that maintained the exam's integrity. The Bar "would never take any steps to detract from its public protection mission," it said in a statement. Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Bar of California.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Hundreds of California bar exam-takers move from fail to pass with new scoring
June 2 (Reuters) - More than 200 people who took California's disastrous February bar exam will go from failing to passing under a new round of grading changes approved on Friday, boosting the test's overall pass rate from 56% to 63% — nearly double the state's historical average of 35%. The grading change affecting 230 test takers is the State Bar of California's latest attempt to mitigate the fallout of its February test, which was plagued with technical and logistical problems. That exam has sparked several lawsuits, including at least two filed by test takers and one filed by the state bar against the testing company that administered it. The February exam was the debut of California's hybrid remote and in-person test without the components of the national bar exam the state has used for decades — a change that was intended to save as much as $3.8 million annually. But addressing all its problems for the July exam is now expected to add nearly $6 million in costs. With the approval of the California Supreme Court, the state bar already implemented a lower raw passing score and 'imputed' scores for test takers who weren't able to complete significant portions of the two-day exam. Some state bar trustees have expressed discomfort with some of the exam's proposed remedies and the higher pass rate, citing the bar's duty to protect the public from unqualified lawyers. The state bar faced a difficult task in finding "fair solutions" that maintained the exam's integrity, the organization said in a Monday statement. The bar "would never take any steps to detract from its public protection mission," it said. On Friday, the State Bar of California's Committee of Bar Examiners voted to modify how February scores were calculated for examinees who initially fell just shy of passing and qualified for a second read of their essays and performance test. Instead of using an average of the first and second-read scores — as the bar initially did — the new scores will be based solely on the higher of the two reads. The latest scoring change was detailed in a report, opens new tab from the state bar's staff to the committee, and the 230 new passers will be informed by the bar this week, according to a Friday email to test takers reviewed by Reuters. The state bar has also asked the California Supreme Court to extend an existing provisional licensure program, which it had enacted in 2020 when the bar exam was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, to give unsuccessful February bar examinees or those who withdrew a period of two years to pass that test while working under supervision. The court has not yet ruled on that proposal. Read more: California bar exam meltdown on Tuesday prompts offer of March retakes California Bar backs provisional licensing after February exam mess
Reuters
23-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
More California bar examinees wrongly told they failed, state bar says
May 23 (Reuters) - Nine more people who were initially told they failed California's troubled February bar exam actually passed, the State Bar of California said in an email, opens new tab sent to test takers on Thursday, which Reuters reviewed. Those errors were in addition to the four test takers whose status changed from fail to pass last week after scoring and grading problems were identified. The mounting number of scoring mistakes is the latest problem to arise from the February test, which was marred by widespread technical and logistical problems including computer crashes and distracting proctors. The February exam was the debut of California's hybrid remote and in-person test without the components of the national bar exam the state has used for decades — a change that was intended to save as much as $3.8 million annually. But addressing all its problems for the July exam is now expected to add nearly $6 million in costs. The February exam had a 56% overall pass rate — far higher than the historical average of 35% — after the California Supreme Court allowed the state bar to implement a lower raw passing score because of all the exam's problems. But many examinees have raised concerns over how their exams were graded and scored. The state bar has sued testing platform Meazure Learning over the many tech problems, as have at least two groups of test takers. Meazure has said the state bar is trying to "shift the blame" for the flawed rollout of the test. State Bar Executive Director Leah Wilson has said she will step down in July, citing the botched rollout of the new exam. During a state bar board of trustees meeting on Friday, Wilson said criticism of her handling of the bar exam is "appropriate and deserved" and that she will continue to address the problems through her last day on the job. Read more: California bar exam-takers were told they failed. Oops, they passed. California scraps new bar exam for July, adjusts scores on botched February test
Reuters
15-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
California bar exam-takers were told they failed. Oops, they passed.
May 15 - The State Bar of California said on Wednesday that a number of scoring errors had occurred on its February bar exam — the latest black eye for the disastrous test plagued by logistical and technical issues. A review of the February exam's scoring revealed three separate categories of mistakes, which resulted in four examinees going from failing to passing after those problems were corrected, the bar said in an email to test takers, opens new tab that Reuters reviewed. More than 4,200 people sat for California's February exam. The state bar is still looking into a fourth category of potential problems involving the incomplete transfer of performance test answers and does not yet know how many examinees were impacted by that issue, it said. The February exam was marred by problems ranging from delays and computer crashes to lax exam security and distracting proctors. Those issues prompted the state bar on May 5 to sue Meazure Development, the company that delivered the exam. Meazure, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, said after the bar filed its lawsuit that the bar was trying to "shift the blame" for the flawed rollout of the test. Test-takers have filed a separate lawsuit against the company. The faulty February exam also spurred the resignation of the bar's top administrator. The state bar's email on Wednesday also said the agency plans to hire an 'independent third party' to undertake a comprehensive review of the registered complaints of the scoring and grading of the exam. California isn't the first to give out incorrect bar exam results. Kentucky in 2020 wrongly told 15 bar examinees they had passed when they actually failed, while three were wrongly told they failed when they passed. Three Michigan bar examinees were incorrectly marked as failing in 2021. And scoring errors led to 90 Georgia bar examinees in 2015 and 2016 being wrongly told they failed. Some February test takers raised concerns about scoring anomalies in public comments to the state bar and on social media after the results were released on May 5. The February exam had a 56% overall pass rate — far higher than the historical average of 35% — after the California Supreme Court allowed the state bar to implement a lower raw passing score because of all the exam's problems. The state bar also plans to ask the court to approve a provisional licensure program under which those who failed osuedr withdrew from the February exam can work under the supervision of an experienced attorney for up to two years while they retake the bar exam. The February exam marked the debut of California's hybrid remote and in-person test without the components of the national bar exam the state has used for decades — a change that was intended to save as much as $3.8 million annually. In addition to the tech issues, the state bar later revealed that a small portion of the multiple-choice questions were generated by a third-party contractor using ChatGPT. The state high court has ordered the July exam to be conducted in person and to return to the Multistate Bar Exam—the 200-question multiple choice portion of the exam developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners which the state had used prior to the February test. Those changes are expected to add nearly $6 million in costs. State Bar Executive Director Leah Wilson has said she will step down in July, citing the botched rollout of the new exam. And the state bar has sued testing platform Meazure Learning over the many tech problems, as have at least two groups of test takers. Read more: California Bar backs provisional licensing after February exam mess California scraps new bar exam for July, adjusts scores on botched February test
