News Releases

Board of Trustees Approves Scaling Plan for Fee Increase

The State Bar Board of Trustees today authorized restructured fee-scaling options to expand reduced or waived licensing fee increases among attorneys whose incomes fall below certain thresholds. The new model will be proposed during the legislative process for setting the State Bar’s licensing fee for 2020.

“The State Auditor’s report last month acknowledged the need for a licensing fee increase,” said Leah T. Wilson, Executive Director. “We agree with the State Auditor’s recommendations in their entirety. Regardless of the increase amount, we are mindful that we need to minimize the impact of an increase on attorneys at lower incomes. Like our licensing fee, the fee-scaling model has not been adjusted in many years, so updating it to reflect the realities of the high cost of living in many parts of our state is an important equity issue.”

The Board delegated authority to staff under the leadership of Board Chair Jason Lee and Vice Chair Alan Steinbrecher to negotiate details of a fee-scaling proposal, within the following general framework:

• Scaling thresholds would be based on attorneys’ individual income of approximately $90,000 per year and household income of approximately $200,000 per year.
• Attorneys below the eligibility threshold would be protected from a fee increase, while those at higher incomes would subsidize that protection.
• Attorneys who work for non-profit organizations that provide legal services may also be considered under an expanded fee waiver proposal.   

Other actions taken by the Board of Trustees today included:

Online Proctoring Pilot Approved

The Board approved the State Bar’s plans to pilot online proctoring in June and July this year. Online proctoring, which uses remote proctors and artificial intelligence to supervise test-takers and prevent cheating, is expected to help the agency deal with a staffing shortfall; hiring enough people as part-time proctors has become increasingly challenging in an active job market. The State Bar expects online proctoring to help improve proctoring quality while reducing costs over time. Online proctoring is already used by many law schools and in other licensing exams, but California is the first State Bar to test it for bar exams. The first test will occur during the First-Year Law Students’ Exam on June 25 at two sites, South San Francisco and Culver City. Assuming the initial test goes well, the State Bar plans to continue the pilot with online proctoring at two sites during the July Bar Exam, July 30−31: Ontario and Sacramento. After the pilot, the agency will evaluate plans for expanded rollout during future exams. 

NOTE: the online proctoring trial has since been postponed to the October 2019 First-Year Law Students Exam and the February 2020 Bar Exam.

Accreditation Rules for Online California Accredited Law Schools Approved

The Board approved a change to the State Bar Accredited Law School Rules that will allow California Accredited Law Schools to request accreditation for law school curricula offered up to 100 percent online. This is the first time in the U.S. that a fully online accredited curriculum will be allowed. The American Bar Association places hour limits on online education, and State Bar of California rules previously limited schools to 12 hours of online instruction. Permission is not automatic; schools will need to apply to the State Bar through the Committee of Bar Examiners. Materials implementing the rule change will be released in June. 

Modernized Monitoring of Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Compliance Approved

In another move to increase efficiency through technology, the Board of Trustees approved rule changes that will enable the State Bar to modernize how it audits attorney compliance with continuing education requirements. 

Attorneys licensed by the State Bar have been required to certify completion of MCLE requirements since 1992. Until now, attorneys have had to maintain their own records and, at the end of each three-year reporting cycle, declare under penalty of perjury that they are in compliance.

The rule changes enable the State Bar to require instead that MCLE providers supply attendance records electronically. This method, used in at least 18 states, has multiple benefits. It will reduce the time-keeping burden on attorneys, streamline the audit process, enable the State Bar to provide licensees with accurate progress reporting, and afford the State Bar better data on MCLE provider offerings. The new process will be implemented by December 1, 2020.

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The State Bar of California's mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.