New Paths For Attorney Licensure: California Confirms Kaplan Bar Exam, Arizona Launches Second Chance Program

ABA Journal, New Paths for Licensure: California Confirms Kaplan Bar Exam, Arizona Launches Second Chance Program:

As California grapples with budget issues and Arizona faces a shortage of lawyers, both states announced shifts to their licensure protocols, with ripples potentially impacting other jurisdictions.

On Thursday, the cash-strapped State Bar of California voted to move ahead on a contract with Kaplan North America to create a proprietary bar exam after resolving copyright issues with the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

The Recorder, California State Bar Reaches Agreement With Kaplan to Produce New Bar Exam:

State bar leaders did not say what had eased Kaplan's previously expressed concerns about possibly infringing the intellectual property rights of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, which authors the current multiple-choice portion of the exam.

Reuters, California Forges Ahead With Plan to Give Its Own Bar Exam in 2025:

The State Bar of California is moving forward with a plan to administer its own bar exam as early as February 2025, parting ways with the national attorney licensing test.

The state bar’s board of trustees on Thursday authorized officials to finalize and execute a $8.25 million, five-year contract with Kaplan Test Prep to develop bar exam questions. That means California—which has the second-largest number of bar examinees in the country behind only New York—will not be switching over to the new version of the national bar exam set to debut in July 2026, as 21 other jurisdictions have now said they will.

• Bloomberg Law, California State Bar Negotiating $8 Million Kaplan Exam Contract
• Law360, Calif. Bar Backs Creating New Virtual Bar Exam To Cut Costs

ABA Journal, New Paths for Licensure: California Confirms Kaplan Bar Exam, Arizona Launches Second Chance Program:

On Wednesday, in an effort to close the access to justice gap, the Arizona State Supreme Court ordered that those who come within 10 points of a passing bar exam score can earn licensure after performing two years of supervised practice in a government position, at a nonprofit or in a rural area.

Reuters, To Boost Lawyer Numbers in 'Legal Deserts,' Arizona Adopts Apprentice Plan for Bar Exam Failers:

Law school graduates who fall just short of passing Arizona’s bar exam will soon have the option to become licensed attorneys after spending two years working under the supervision of an experienced lawyer in a rural area or a government or non-profit law setting.

The Supreme Court of Arizona on Wednesday established the first-of-its-kind effort, dubbed the Arizona Lawyer Apprentice Program, to bolster the number of lawyers practicing in the state’s “legal deserts” and to help prosecutors, public defenders and legal aid offices recruit and retain attorneys.

• KTAR News, Arizona Court System Implements Apprentice Program to Address Lawyer Shortage
• New York Sun, Arizona Will Allow Bar Exam Failures To Practice Law To Boost Number of Attorneys in State; The State Consistently Loses Lawyers to New Mexico and Utah

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