California Bar Eyes Creating Its Own Licensing Exam With Kaplan

The California State Bar’s Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote this week on adopting its own bar exam to replace the national standardized test, part of a bid to cut costs during a budget shortfall.

The state bar wants its Board of Trustees on Thursday or Friday to approve a $1.475 million, five-year agreement with Kaplan North America LLC to replace the Multistate Bar Exam in California with a different, “cost-effective” exam.

Securing a private vendor to supply multiple-choice and written questions would let the state bar administer the test fully remotely or at small vendor-owned test centers, according to the agenda item.

Bar staff estimate that switching the way the test is given could save between $2.8 million and $4.2 million annually starting in 2025. That influx of cash could either mostly or fully eliminate a deficit in its admissions fund, which the proposal said faces insolvency by 2026.

“While the impetus of this proposal is budget-driven, applicants will also benefit from the change to a new administration approach,” the agenda item said. “Each administration option would result in reduced travel and lodging expenses for many applicants.”

The style and overall content of the test won’t be a significant departure from the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ test, so law schools won’t need to train students differently for it, the proposal said.

It’s not the first way the state bar has sought to throw the admissions fund a lifeline—the Board of Trustees voted in January to reduce the number of contracted sites where the exam will be administered in July to eight, down from 13 last summer, while relying more on free facilities.