On April 29th the Texas Supreme Court released an emergency order concerning the plan for the Texas Bar Exam in July. The full order is here. In the words of the Board of Law Examiners (BLE), the Court’s order determined:
- that the Board should administer the Texas bar examination as scheduled on July 28-30, 2020, subject to change based on state and local orders and the guidance of public health authorities;
- that the Board should also offer an administration of the Texas bar examination on September 9-11, 2020; and,
- seating for the July 2020 bar exam will be limited as needed to implement social distancing and other safety requirements. Seating will be prioritized based on registration date. If an eligible applicant is not permitted to take the July bar examination, the Board will automatically register the applicant for the September administration and transfer their fees, unless the applicant requests (on or before a date set by the Board) to change or withdraw registration and transfer the fees to a future administration in Texas or to an application for admission based on a transferred UBE score.
The BLE released an announcement further clarifying that they will extend the final filing deadline for the July Bar Exam to June 1st. You can read the full announcement here: https://ble.texas.gov/news.action?id=1923. The question we have received from many of you is when you will know if you can take the July exam, or if you will be re-registered for the September exam. We do not know the answer yet, but we have reached out to ask the question. We will continue to advocate for more information and clarity to help guide you in your decision-making. Further, we expect that the BLE will take time to fully implement the plan outlined in the Court’s order. That means there are more updates to come.
For those that are concerned about the delay presented by having to take a September exam, the order indicates grading will be sped up for September takers so that bar results are released about three weeks after you would typically get your results for a July exam. In talking to your employers, it may help to emphasize that you are looking at only a three week delay on licensure if you take the September exam. Of course, any delay is upsetting, but that news may offer employers some peace of mind. To help in the interim, the Court expanded the ability to engage in supervised practice over the coming months. You can read more about that expansion in the order. If you have questions about the expansion of supervised practice you can direct them to Dean Alan Haynes.