The Pandemic Is Proving the Bar Exam Is Unjust and Unnecessary

Twice a year, recent law school graduates nationwide prepare for the bar examination, the biggest test of would-be attorneys' lives. "Bar prep," the shorthand for the two months of exhausting 12-hour days of study, costs upward of $3,000 and culminates in thousands of applicants filing into convention and conference centers in major cities for two days. The spread of COVID-19 has made this traditional arrangement unsafe and, frankly, unethical. Nonetheless, 23 states are still opting for in-person bar exams next week, placing applicants at risk for contracting COVID-19 while mandating that applicants sign liability waivers releasing state bars of all legal culpability should the applicant become ill as a result of an in-person exam. The sad reality is that many will need to risk their lives to take an exam that some have called "an unpredictable and unacceptable impediment for accessibility to the legal profession" that does nothing to protect the public.