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Law360 (April 29, 2020, 8:30 PM EDT) -- The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday announced the July state bar exam will take place as scheduled unless public health concerns prohibit it, and added a September bar exam date to the calendar to accommodate extraordinary circumstances related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Along with the previously scheduled July 28-30 exam dates, Wednesday's emergency order establishes Sept. 9-11 as additional testing days. Law school graduates who can't participate in the July bar exam for any reason can request to transfer to the September dates at no extra cost.
The registration deadlines for the September test will be extended through June 1, according to the Texas Board of Law Examiners website. September test-takers can expect their scores to be released three weeks after the July bar exam scores are.
"The court recognizes that disruptions to personal and professional lives caused by the pandemic may result in some applicants not having sufficient time or resources to prepare and sit for the July bar examination, and that some applicants may no longer wish to take the July bar examination due to personal health considerations," the order says.
Ian Klein, a graduating Texas A&M University School of Law student who will take the test in July, described the Supreme Court's decision as the "least bad of a lot of less ideal options." He said his main concern is complying with social distance guidelines, but that nothing could stop him from taking the exam in July in today's job market.
Dozens of law firms have been forced to cut pay, lay off or furlough attorneys and make changes to summer associate programs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic's economic impact.
"Given the employment situation, I would crawl over broken glass to take the bar," Klein told Law360.
Wednesday's order — the 13th emergency order issued by the Texas Supreme Court since Republican Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic — also updates the state's supervised practice rule to allow graduates who can't take either exam to start practicing immediately under the supervision of a licensed attorney.
Susan Henricks, executive director of the Texas Board of Law Examiners, told Law360 the additional exam dates were added not only to accommodate the expected 2,000 test-takers but also to allow the board to employ various health and safety precautions in line with social distancing guidelines.
Henricks said the board is planning to conduct health screenings at testing locations and provide test-takers with pens and pencils, water bottles and masks. Test-takers will also be placed six feet apart.
"We think we can do it with reasonable safety," she said.
Henricks said the board doesn't have an established deadline for canceling the July test if public health circumstances change, but it's a possibility.
Drew Padley, a University of Houston Law Center graduating student who will also take the exam in July, told Law360 he believes the Supreme Court could have done more to accommodate students entering the profession during this time. Padley, who will begin a clerkship in August, said he wished the court had implemented a diploma privilege policy — allowing graduates from certain schools to become certified without taking the exam as long as they met other qualifications.
Or a "clear bright-line postponement" of the exams would have helped, he said.
"This is Schrodinger's bar exam for many of us," he said. "It might be in July. It might be in September. We won't know until we know. In other words, it feels like we are left in the same place as before."
The board consulted with law school deans, Texas Department of State Health Services officials and other stakeholders before presenting its plan to the Supreme Court, board liaison Justice Brett Busby told Law360. He said the decision balanced public health concerns with the knowledge that some law school graduates need to take the exam and start their practices as soon as possible for financial reasons.
"It's not something that can be put off indefinitely," he said.
Those who do take the bar exam in July or September and pass may face a different reality when it comes to their swearing-in ceremony as well. This week marked the first time the state bar allowed attorneys to be sworn in over Zoom and other video conferencing platforms. Justice Busby, who conducted a few ceremonies Monday and Wednesday, said it will definitely remain an option in the future.
John Murphy, director of academic support at the Texas A&M law school, said in a statement to Law360 that the two testing dates allow the university to help their graduates on a student-by-student basis both pass the exam and start practicing as soon as possible.
"Students for whom prompt licensure is the overriding priority can take the exam in July," Murphy said. "Students whose bar prep is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in some way can defer until September and benefit from an extended bar prep session, which should lessen the stress on them."
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
