California and Arizona are pioneering new approaches to lawyer licensure. California, which has always taken a different approach to other US states on many lawyers regulatory issues, has decisively moved away from the uniform system of examinations run by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The State Bar of California has contracted with Kaplan North…
Potential causes of differential outcomes by ethnicity in legal professional assessments
The University of Exeter has published the results of a study commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales, which seeks to explore the reasons behind varying legal qualification outcomes among students of different ethnicities. The research revealed that these differences are likely to stem from a complex interaction of factors including social,…
Bar exam alternatives gain American Bar Association backing
The American Bar Association (ABA) Section on Legal Education has endorsed alternative pathways to attorney licensing that do not require taking the bar exam. This represents a significant shift in policy from its traditional stance of only recognising the Bar Exam route to qualification. The move comes in response to the growing number of states…
The Law Society of Hong Kong is currently formulating a proposal to introduce its planned common entrance examination
The Law Society of Hong Kong is proposing the introduction of a new entrance examination, which would ensure that newly admitted solicitors studying different postgraduate law courses have all met the same academic standards on admission. Reform of legal education in Hong Kong was reported here in the ICLR newsletter in 2017, in comments by…
Bar Standards Board publishes independent review of 2020 qualifying exams
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has published the results of an independent review of the August 2020 Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams, the exams used by the Board as part of the qualification process for barristers. The review was commissioned by the BSB in November 2020 and was conducted by Professor Rebecca Huxley-Binns, the…
American Bar Association data shows increase in bar passage scores during the pandemic
New bar score data from the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, released on the 23rd of April 23, showed an increase in the scores compared to 2019 on both the ‘ultimate’ pass rate and for first-time takers, with the aggregate score of law graduates taking the exam for the first…
American Bar Association Recognised Law School requirements relaxed due to COVID
The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has announced that they will consider individual law school circumstances due to COVID-19 if bar passage rates fall below 75%. During the announcement at it’s November 20th public meeting, the council said law schools failing to meet Standard 316, sometimes called…
Washington Supreme Court grants bar exam exemption
On the 12th of June the Washington Supreme Court issued an order allowing graduates, currently registered to take the July or September UBE in Washington, with a J.D. from an ABA accredited law school, to be admitted to the Washington State Bar Association and practice law in the state without taking the bar exam. The…
More regulatory responses to COVID-19
Following on from last month’s newsletter, we’ve put together the following list to examine different regulator responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here it is interesting to note the development and changes, as regulators begin to get a grasp on the crisis and develop innovative responses to meet the changing environment. If you have any questions…
Singapore’s Ministry of Law Accepts Recommendation to Strengthen Professional Training of Lawyers
The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) announced on 30 August 2018 that it has accepted in principle the recommendations of the Committee for the Professional Training of Lawyers on strengthening the professional training regime for lawyers in Singapore. The key recommendations include: (a) uncoupling admission to the Bar from the completion of a practice training contract;…