Law school graduates have earned an opportunity to work. In response to the Covid-19 crisis, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners postponed the exam once, in order to develop an online version. When the company contracted to develop the online exam was unable to perform in every other jurisdiction, the Board of Bar Examiners refused to critically examine those failures and develop a contingency plan. When the deans of Florida’s law schools wrote a joint letter suggesting an alternative proposal, they arrogantly refused to consider it.
So here we are, three days before the rescheduled examination, at 10:49 PM on a Sunday and the Board of Bar Examiners decides it is appropriate and reasonable to inform applicants that the exam will not go forward with no plans on how these young people should earn a living. These applicants have worked hard not only to earn their law degrees, but to prepare for the exam — they have earned the right to seek employment in the profession they have worked so hard to enter. Postponing the exam, at the last minute, with the promise of beginning the process of developing a “supervised practice program” is outrageous — such a program should have already been developed. It is difficult to fathom a more cavalier and arrogant attitude being displayed by the examiners.
The reality that the contracted company would be unable to develop an online version of the exam on a timely manner was apparent to everyone (except apparently the Florida Board of Bar Examiners). To fail to prepare for what was apparent to everyone and either allow for diploma privilege or an alternate means of examination, as proposed by the law school deans, is either grossly incompetent or evidence of a more nefarious motive. Either way, our law school graduates deserve better!
