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Law360 (November 23, 2020, 8:45 PM EST) -- The North Carolina Board of Law Examiners announced Monday it would hold the February 2021 bar exam remotely after refusing to adopt such an option for the July 2020 exam, citing the availability of new options from the National Council of Bar Examiners and the state's rising COVID-19 cases.
In the announcement, which comes weeks after the Nov. 3 registration deadline for the upcoming exam, the board said additional details about the exam would be provided in the coming weeks.
"While it is possible that conditions might permit an in-person [Uniform Bar Exam] in February 2021, with coronavirus cases continuing to increase in North Carolina at record levels and the unknowable path the pandemic may take here in the coming months, there is a substantial risk that an in-person administration may have to be canceled," the announcement said. "The board feels this risk creates an unacceptable level of uncertainty for applicants and could result in significant stress and anxiety."
Kimberly A. Herrick, chair of the NCBE, told Law360 Monday the board decided a remote exam was a viable plan this time around because the NCBE is now offering a remote option for the Uniform Bar Exam, which is the exam used in North Carolina. The NCBE announced that the February 2021 UBE could be administered remotely on Oct. 19.
Although the board still feels that an in-person exam is the best option in general, it also recognized that a remote exam would be safest for test-takers, Herrick said.
She added that the board also plans to work with any attorney hopefuls who require accommodations or who don't have a quiet, distraction-free space to take the exam. It is currently talking to law schools and local law firms about potential safe options for those who will need a special space, Herrick added.
"I feel good about the decision, but I know there's some people that that's not going to be the best decision, and we're going to try to accommodate everybody," she said.
However, Herrick said, the board does not plan to reopen registration for the test, explaining that under the state's current rules, the board does not have the discretion to change the deadline. Extending the deadline, she explained, would therefore require a change to the rules themselves.
However, some in the state feel the delayed decision has been unfair to those who chose not to register because of safety concerns.
Britni Prybol, a 2020 law school graduate who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer, told Law360 Monday her doctors were "adamant" that an in-person exam would not be safe for her. As a result, she chose to delay taking the exam in July after the state board decided against a remote option.
Without any sign the board was considering a different course for the February exam, she said she decided to forfeit the fee she'd already paid for the North Carolina test and instead paid to take the remote exam in Washington, D.C., in the hopes of transferring her scores — and she's not the only person she knows who made a similar choice, she added.
"We felt sure they would not do a remote exam," she said. "We were told they would not do a remote exam."
Now, she said, she and other 2020 graduates who relied on the public statements by the board before the deadline and planned accordingly were once again shut out.
"I would absolutely take the North Carolina bar instead [if I could]," she said. "I could get my license soon and not have to pay so many extra fees."
--Editing by Janice Carter Brown.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
