This week, our students sat for bar exams across the country. Many of us may have once again been thinking about the myriad of critiques we have about the current bar exams – critiques that have been published time and again. Over the years, we hoped the critiques would motivate the National Conference of Bar Examiners [NCBE] to explore and pilot test alternatives. Thus far, that has not happened.
While there likely are many reasons the NCBE has failed to develop and pilot test alternatives, one oft-heard reason for not changing bar exams is that while the current exams are not perfect, they are the best that can be done.
As Professors Eileen Kaufman, Carol Chomsky and I recently wrote elsewhere – this is simply not true. We note that for the last ten years, the Law Society of Upper Canada has been administering an open book multiple choice test that covers a much wider range of competencies than is currently tested in the U.S. and that asks questions in context of how lawyers use information when representing clients. That is just one example of a viable alternative.
As academics, while most of us don’t have the same psychometric background as NCBE employees, we do have the ability to engage in scholarly research and publish what we find. What are other countries doing? What licensing methodologies from other professions could we adapt? What are we doing in our own courses that could be adapted to a law licensing process?
There is momentum for change. States such as California have begun to look at the bar exam’s content validity as well as bar exam passing scores. Professor Deborah Merritt and Dean Nick Allard have both made persuasive arguments as to why bar leaders should convene a national task force to examine potential bar exam reforms.
The current momentum for change recognizes that existing bar exams have fundamental flaws that should be addressed. As academics, we can build upon this momentum by researching and writing about alternatives. We can encourage our law review student editors to consider symposium issues focused on bar exam alternatives. We can create pressure for meaningful change by showing that change is possible. Let’s do it.