California Supreme Court rejects `diploma privilege' will have online exam October 5 - Bloomberg

Law school graduates looking to practice in California will not be able to completely skip the bar exam, the state’s highest court said. The California Supreme Court on Wednesday shot down a request to grant “diploma privilege,” which would allow grads to work as attorneys immediately without passing the biannual bar exam. The court has, however, already directed the state bar to establish a provisional licensing program for 2020 law school graduates, which would allow them a limited right to practice law under the supervision of a licensed attorney. 

 California is set to hold an online version of the test Oct. 5-6. The exam was previously delayed from July and moved online in response to health concerns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, though there have been concerns voiced over how fair and effective an online test would be. Leaders of the group United for Diploma Privilege filed an emergency petition Sept. 9 to the California Supreme Court, urging justices to waive the state’s bar exam requirement. 

 “What this appears to mean is that our concerns and issues that we’ve reported, are being largely ignored by the court,” said Vincent Bezares, a diploma privilege activist, said in a message to Bloomberg Law. “The lack is response is in keeping with the other state supreme courts throughout the nation,” he added.

 University of California Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky was one of the law school leaders in the state who recently requested that California make its online exam “open book.” “I am not surprised that the California Supreme Court rejected the request for diploma privilege in that they did so earlier in the summer. It means that there will be a test on October 5-6. I hope that they will decide to have an open-book exam without remote proctoring,” said Chemerinsky in an email to Bloomberg Law.