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NEWS JULY 27, 2020 ¦ 23

on websites, to things they heard from professors, couldn’t hold this exam. New York reopened reg-
attorneys, and people they know at the board of law istration in June without venues confirmed, even
examiners. I get lots of information. Most of the for the first round of registrations.. What New York
people who message me are test takers, but a lot of did by shutting out the vast majority of applicants
times their sources are not. Often they will send me in May and telling them to go take [Uniform Bar
screen shots that I cannot share. Exams] in other jurisdictions swamped other juris-
Your exam predictions have mostly come to dictions. It really hurt those other jurisdictions and
fruition. What elements do you consider when led to a lot of other jurisdictions having to go on-
putting out a prediction on when a test will be line or having all these logistical issues. New York,
canceled or moved online? There are lots of things I to me, is the worst offender because of that. It’s not
can’t share, but sometimes it’s helpful to know those only that they have handled it poorly themselves,
things in terms of making a prediction. There is an but they really have made other jurisdictions’ lives
order of the things I look at that are predictive. The harder too. That’s really disappointing.
best predictors are the views of law school deans. What’s it like to be a test taker facing all this un-
Those are really important. Venue problems are re- certainty over the bar exam? I’m fortunate enough
ally important, if it’s an in-person exam. Tennessee that I have a job that will accommodate this. It is
and Texas didn’t cancel because of pressure. They frustrating, but not devastating to my personal pros-
cancelled because they could not hold their exams. pects. I feel like a lot of my role is lifting up the voices
COVID-19 restrictions are a good predictor. Pro- of applicants for whom this is devastating—who are
tocols and waivers are sometimes helpful to look losing jobs, who are losing the ability to pay their
at. Politicians are influential, but they don’t always rent, who are looking for jobs but now don’t have a
come out. Board of law examiners tend to not be that [Uniform Bar Exam] score to transfer. Or they have
helpful. What courts or bar examiners say is almost to sit out a cycle of the bar exam because they are
meaningless. I think it was the Tennessee Board of high risk. I think that’s why this account has reso-
Law Examiners that told someone 20 minutes before nated. People are very frustrated.
they announced the cancellation that it was still on. A lot of people have found solidarity with each
That has happened in multiple states. other. I get a lot of messages thanking me, which I
How do you think jurisdictions should handle didn’t expect. People feel very powerless right now.
attorney licensure this year? The case for diplo- My Twitter is the product of everyone who follows
ma privilege gets stronger the more things change. me. This is people taking back control.
When you cancel an exam two weeks beforehand Do you think these planned online October bar
and everyone had already made plans based on hav- exams will actually happen? I don’t have enough
ing a July bar exam, the case for diploma privilege is information to make that prediction. I think I’ll
very strong even if there are lots of reasons against know more after the July exams happen. Depend-
it. It would be different if a jurisdiction had spent ing on how the July exams go, I think there will be
their time since March creating an online bar backup more jurisdictions potentially reconsidering diplo-
plan, but it turned out they hadn’t. I don’t want to say ma privilege or partial diploma privilege because it
it’s too late at this point, but there has to be a more will reduce the load on an online exam.
timely plan than pushing our bar exam because they ¦

didn’t come up with a backup plan. We all knew in Karen Sloan is the Legal Education Edi-
March—and everyone tried to tell them—that these tor and Senior Writer at ALM. Contact her at
in-person exams are not happening. It’s very frustrat- [email protected]. On Twitter: @KarenSloanNLJ
ing to find out that they didn’t plan for a backup. Sign up for Ahead of the Curve—her weekly
Which jurisdiction do you think has been the email update on trends and innovation in legal
worst offender, in terms of their handling of the education—here: https://www.law.com/briefings/
exam? New York. New York knew in May that it ahead-of-the-curve/

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