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The State Bar Board of Trustees today adopted strategic plan objectives reflecting its mission to support greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.
The State Bar of California Board of Trustees today approved a waiver of licensing fee late payment penalties for attorneys employed by the federal government and affected by the shutdown. Attorneys affected by the shutdown who are unable to remit payment of their 2019 licensing fees by the February 1, 2019, deadline can submit a late payment fee waiver to the State Bar’s Office of Attorney Regulation and Consumer Resources.
The State Bar of California has released its first statewide report highlighting the impact that California legal aid providers have had for individuals and communities living in poverty. The report: Making a Difference: California Legal Aid, highlights outcomes achieved by the 95 nonprofit legal services providers who received grants from the State Bar in 2017.
The State Bar of California launches online complaint forms for attorney misconduct and the unauthorized practice of law in English and Spanish.
Today the State Bar released the fourth report in a series of studies designed to examine the decline in pass rates on the California Bar Exam. The report, Performance Changes on the California Bar Examination, uses detailed data on over 7,000 students who took the Bar Exam in July 2013, 2016, and 2017. Between 2013 and 2016, the pass rate on the exam fell from 56 percent to 43 percent. In 2017, the pass rate rebounded slightly, to 50 percent; it declined again in July 2018 to 40.7 percent.
The first California-specific study of the knowledge and skills needed by entry-level attorneys gets underway December 19, 2018, with a public meeting at the State Bar offices in San Francisco. The California Attorney Practice Analysis will set the foundation for revisiting the California Bar Exam pass line and content, as well as exam format and other aspects of the test.
A State Bar task force studying ways to increase access to justice for all Californians by responsibly harnessing technology holds its first public meeting Wednesday, December 5, 2018, in San Francisco.
The State Bar of California obtained an interim order to shut down an unlicensed law practice that targeted and took advantage of immigrant farmworkers.
Today the State Bar of California released the results of the July 2018 California Bar Exam, and announced that 3,284 people (40.7 percent of applicants) passed the General Bar Exam. The pass rate for first-time applicants was 55 percent.
The State Bar of California issued a fraud alert to warn the public to watch out for and report potential fraud in response to the recent fires across the state. (The fraud alert is also available in Spanish and Chinese.) As a result of California’s ongoing fires, many people may wish to seek legal advice for various reasons, including insurance disputes, landlord tenant disputes, consumer fraud and more. California law prohibits lawyers or others acting on behalf of a lawyer from: