A Uniform Bar Exam?

From the ABA Journal:  ABA's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar adopted a resolution supporting a Uniform Bar Exam to be administered in every state of the United States.

In April, Missouri became the first state to adopt the Uniform Bar Examination, and the National Conference of Bar Examiners reported in June that North Dakota was the second state to do so.

Other jurisdictions considering the idea include Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.

Even states that adopt the UBE would still continue to conduct their own bar exams, which could include testing on that individual state's law. However, the UBE would allow lawyers to transfer a standard bar exam score between jurisdictions.

One nation, one bar exam.  What do you think?

Bar Exam Prep iPhone App

Via the Robert Ambrogi's Law Sites, the currently most expensive iPhone application (at $999.99) is the complete California Bar Exam Preparation available via an iPhone Application.

The app is over 1 gigabyte in size, which is the largest application I’ve ever seen. It includes thousands of pages of materials as well as hundreds of hours of audio lectures. It’s all the information you could ever want for the two-month course. And again, it can be done all on your iPhone. That said, if you do want some more tangible paperwork for certain sections, BarMax will send you that electronically as well. ~ TechCrunch

Legal Research Skills Tested On Bar Exam?

A thought provoking post at Legal Blog Watch by Carolyn Elefant Should Bar Exams Test Legal Research Skills?, is a reaction post to Joe Hodnicki post on Law Librarian Blog Should (When Will) Legal Research Skills Be Tested on bar Exam? It is obviously an involved topic, but I will try to briefly sum it up. Both sides seem to agree that strong legal research skills are important. But they disagree on the testability of legal research skills. The first question seems to be: Are legal research skills 'testable'?

One argument states that legal research skills would be hard to test because lawyers often have access to different kind of resources (electronic vs. print). Other argument says legal research skills could be easily tested because it is about the theoretical approach and knowledge of available resources rather than about having access to them. Well, what do you all think? Are legal research skills testable? And if so, should they be tested on bar exam?

Follow the Instructions Given When Taking the Bar

Via ABA Journal, a bar exam test taker is denied a law license after exceeding the time limit when taking the bar exam. The lesson to be learned is to follow the instructions given when taking the bar! The Michigan bar denied the admission of this applicant, even four years later. The individual did pass the New York bar and was admitted in New York. Now, the applicant asked for a renewal of her New York State license but the State of New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department issued an opinion and order denying the application. The court further said that the applicant may renew her New York license if she is allowed to obtain her Michigan license.
The full blog post is right here. Legal Profession Blog post is here.
Feel free to share your thoughts and comments!

Uniform Bar Exam On The Horizon?

Via Career Center at Law.com, a post titled Uniform Bar Exam Inches Closer To Reality, discusses the efforts of number of states to unify the bar exam. As reported, so far a total of 19 states positioned to implement the uniform bar exam (UBE). To unify the bar exam is believed to standardize attorney licensing state-to-state.

Although many states historically have held onto their testing autonomy by developing some of their own exam questions and by using their own pass scores, legal professionals say that a single exam -- such as those utilized for physicians, architects and accountants -- is an increasing likelihood for lawyers.

As posted, the UBE would consist of three components: the MBE, the Multistate Performance Test, and the Multistate Essay Examination. The test score would include performance on these components but not the state law portion.

Individual states would continue to perform their own grading. The test is expected to ensure same level of competency for lawyers across the board. It should also provide financial relief by not having to create own questions for the test. And as for New Yorkers, Diane Bosse, chairwoman of the New York State Board of Law Examiners, said " A uniform test is something that New York would consider."

Any thoughts, comments, ideas, ... ?