California bar exam’s passing score should be lowered, critics say

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The State Bar of California has agreed to launch a comprehensive assessment of whether the minimum score needed to pass its bar examination should be lowered to allow more prospective attorneys to pass.

In recent weeks, a growing chorus of voices — from state legislators to law school deans to court officials — have registered urgent concerns that the lowest score needed to pass the exam, commonly referred to as the “cut score,” is too high, flunking would-be attorneys who would qualify to practice law nearly everywhere else in the country.

That sense of urgency has increased since November, after it was revealed that the passage rate for the state’s latest bar exam had tumbled to a 32-year low, with just 43 percent making the grade — nearly a 3 percent slide from the previous exam.

California’s bar exam tests law school grads with a mixture of multiple-choice questions, essays and a performance exam that assesses practical skills, like writing a legal brief or analyzing a contract.

California requires a score of at least 144 out of 200 to pass the bar. Only Delaware’s cut score is higher.

While there is near-universal support for a system that ensures only competent individuals practice law, critics say California’s cut score, which has remained unchanged for more than 30 years, is burdening potential attorneys with undue financial and psychological burdens and limiting the number of attorneys available to take on public-interest work.


Critics also say that the state’s high cut score is warping legal education to emphasize passing the bar exam, rather than promoting practical knowledge and legal skills, and that it disproportionately disadvantages lower-income and minority law students.

Helping minorities via lower standards in the news.