With the successful Provisional Licensure program due to come to an end on 31st December 2022, The California State Bar of trustees has approved 3 options for extending the programme which are to be presented to the Supreme Court.
The programme, a response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and directed by the Supreme Court, has seen nearly 1,200 attorneys achieve licensure since the programme launched in November 2020.
The Programme offered 2020 law graduates the ability to attain a provisional license to entre the profession and postpone achieving a full license via the California Bar Exam. An addition to the programme in February 2021 allowed those who had taken the bar exam in the previous five years and scored between 1390 and 1439 to achieve a full license without retaking the exam, only after 300 hours of supervised practice.
The extension proposals were:
- Extending the original PLP for remaining participants to provide more opportunities to pass the bar exam, allow development of a pilot supervised practice pathway to licensure, or allow development of a permanent alternative licensure status;
- Extending the original PLP for remaining participants and allowing them to take the one-day Attorneys’ Exam instead of the full two-day Bar Exam;
- Extending the Pathway PLP for remaining participants and reopening it to new participants.