Proposed Changes to State Bar Rules to Revise the Role of the Committee of Bar Examiners for the Purpose of improving Governance and Service Delivery

The State Bar seeks public comment for proposed changes to the Admissions rules that include:

• Shifting the responsibility to staff for conducting informal conferences to determine if an applicant for the Bar examination possesses the requisite moral character, with Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE) hearing “appeals;”
• Shifting the responsibility to staff for determining violations of exam rules and the appropriate sanctions with the CBE hearing “appeals;” and
• Memorializing that staff and the Board, not CBE, are responsible for budget development and management for the Office of Admissions.

Deadline: March 15, 2019

Background

In September 2018, the Board of Trustee approved recommendations regarding the number, size, organizational structure, and functions performed by many of the committees, commissions, boards, and councils that support the work of the State Bar, also known as the “subentities.”

The proposed rule revisions are necessary to effectuate changes to the operation of the Committee of Bar Examiners and of Office of Admissions.

Discussion

The proposed revisions involve Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE) in the development of policy while in large part leaving administration of policy to staff.

Changes include:

• Providing that CBE would assume responsibility for evaluating the examination grading process;
• Directing CBE to develop an empirically sound sampling plan to determine the appropriate distribution of subjects across multiple bar exams;
• Shifting the responsibility to staff for conducting informal conferences to determine if an applicant for the Bar examination possesses the requisite moral character, with CBE hearing “appeals;”
• Shifting the responsibility to staff for determining violations of exam rules and the appropriate sanctions with the CBE hearing “appeals;” and
• Memorializing that staff and the Board, not CBE, are responsible for budget development and management for the Office of Admissions.

Proposal

• In general, the rules are revised to replace references to the “Committee” with the “State Bar” (or add the words “State Bar”) when referring to functions handled by the State Bar staff.
• Pursuant to Court Rule 9.3 (effective 1/1/18), the phrase “pursuant to the authority delegated to it by the Board of Trustees” is added to Rules 4.1 (Authority), 4.56 (First-Year Law Students’ Examination), and Rule 4.60 (California Bar Examination) when referencing the Committee’s authority.
• Rule 4.60 is also revised to reflect that pursuant to Court Rule 9.6(a) (effective 1/1/18), the Supreme Court must set the bar examination passing score.
• Rule 4.56 is revised to note that the State Bar develops the questions for the First-Year Law Students’ Examination.
• The term “Director of Admissions” replaces the term “Senior Executive” to reflect the current position title.
• Business and Professions Code section 6060.25 (effective 1/1/16; amended effective 10/2/17) provides that any identifying information submitted by an applicant to the State Bar for admission and a license to practice law and all State Bar admissions records that may identify an individual applicant shall be confidential. This section is added as a reference to Rule 4.4, which addresses confidentiality.
• Rule 4.5 (Submissions) is revised to clarify how information obtained by the State Bar as a result of fingerprinting of an applicant is used and that it is confidential.
• Rule 4.10 (Fees) is revised to note that the fees paid by applicants are fixed by the Board of Trustees.
• Rule 4.17 (Admission certification and time limit) is revised to provide that an applicant may request a review by the Committee of the State Bar’s decision regarding extending the five-year limit from the date the applicant passes the bar examination to meet all the requirements for admission.
• The dates for registering to take the bar examination and to request testing accommodations in Rules 4.61 and 4.84 were revised to conform to the dates in Business and Professions Code section 6060.3 (amended effective 1/1/19).
• Rules that require applicants to submit requests are revised to also apply to electronic submittals by removing reference to being “written” and removing reference to the location of the Office of Admissions.
• Moral Character: Moral character informal conferences will be conducted by the State Bar. The State Bar will issue moral character determinations. The applicant may request a review of an adverse moral character determination by the Committee and may request review by the Committee of the State Bar’s decision concerning an application for Extension of Determination of Moral Character. The applicant may also request review by the Committee of the State Bar’s decision regarding abandonment of an application for moral character determination. (Rules 4.43, 4.45, 4.46, 4.47.1, 4.52.)
• Examination Conduct Violations: If the State Bar affirms a Chapter 6 Conduct Violation that was issued during an examination, staff will notify the applicant of the proposed sanction. The applicant may request a hearing with the State Bar. The State Bar must render Findings and Recommendations no later than 30 after the hearing. The applicant may request a review by the Committee of the State Bar’s Findings and Recommendations. (Rules 4.70, 4.71, 4.72, 4.73.)
• Review of Denied or Modified Testing Accommodations: The term “appeal” is replaced with “review” to be consistent with the other review procedures. Rule 4.90 is also revised to note that the Committee delegates decision-making authority to the Examinations Subcommittee for all time-sensitive testing accommodation reviews.

Any fiscal/personnel impact

None

Background material

Board of Trustees Agenda Item

Source

Board of Trustees

Deadline

March 15, 2019

Direct comments to

Greg Shin
Special Projects Liaison
Admissions
State Bar of California
845 S. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phone: 213-765-1000
Email: Greg.Shin@calbar.ca.gov