Authorized Schooling
Modifications in management, oversight come to State Bar of California
September 26, 2025, 2:09 pm CDT
Within the wake of California’s disastrous rollout of a brand new, proprietary bar examination in February, the state is mandating further oversight obligations to its testing course of. (Picture from Shutterstock)
Within the wake of California’s disastrous rollout of a brand new, proprietary bar examination in February, the state is mandating further oversight obligations to its testing course of.
Among the many oversight adjustments adopted Thursday by the California Supreme Court docket, the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners now should evaluation all examination questions; set up requirements for choosing material specialists and validation panelists to evaluation new questions; and create requirements for third-party distributors’ capacity to manage or proctor the examination, both in particular person or on-line.
Some finance-related adjustments embrace mandating a cost-benefit evaluation for proposed adjustments; restoring the Committee of Bar Examiners’ oversight of the state bar’s Workplace of Admissions’ funds; and permitting the committee to set all admissions-related charges, together with these for the bar examination and regulation college accreditation.
The strikes comply with the February bar examination, when the cash-strapped state bar tried to launch its personal check to save cash. It resulted in technical failures, troubles with examination proctors and use of questions created by synthetic intelligence. And lots of candidates had been left hanging for months as makes an attempt to pretty grade the check had been made. Lawsuits are pending, together with the state bar suing ProctorU, which administered the early 2025 check.
In the meantime, final week, the state bar’s board of trustees swore in two new leaders—neither of whom are attorneys. Jose Cisneros, who has been the treasurer for San Francisco for greater than 20 years, was named the brand new chair. Mark Toney, the brand new vice chair, beforehand led the Utility Reform Community, a client advocacy group.
These personnel shifts got here because the board introduced final week that Laura Enderton-Pace will substitute Leah Wilson because the state bar’s government director. Wilson retired in July.
Enderton-Pace was the supervising lawyer of governmental affairs on the Judicial Council of California earlier than being appointed the director of the judicial council’s management assist providers workplace. She’s going to take the publish Nov. 3, based on the state bar.
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