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So, at the time that the NY Board of Law Examiners announced its priority seating decision for the September #barexam, most jurisdictions had already closed their application pools.
Test takers from non-NY law schools were left scrambling to find another UBE jurisdiction where they could take the exam because they were likely not going to be able to get a seat for the #NYbarexam.
Indeed, NY even encouraged their non-NY law school test takers to look for another UBE jurisdiction to take the exam.
Those *few* jurisdictions that were still accepting applications at the time NY announced its priority seating decision are now instituting their own priority seating, OR they are moving to an online bar exam that will not produce a transferable UBE score.
A non-transferable score does not help these test takers—many of whom already have jobs lined up in NY.
So, these 2020 graduates have yet another obstacle to face in their efforts to become licensed attorneys.
If these test takers are currently planning to take the bar exam in a state that is not the state where they will be practicing (& if that exam will not produce a transferable UBE score), then that exam may not be the one they ultimately want to or should take.
Otherwise, they will likely have to take another exam in order to get licensed in the state they are practicing in. Yeah. Fun times.
If these test takers can’t get a seat for NY in September (and no other UBE jurisdictions open up their application pools for a September exam), sadly, it likely makes most sense for these graduates to wait & take a February UBE.
This option is not perfect, & it likely creates further challenges with employment. But, it’s one option that wouldn’t require them to take two bar exams.
My hope is that—with more jurisdictions opting to administer the online exam—the @NCBEX will be forced to begin working with those jurisdictions to try to figure out some way to have some transferability of online exam scores.
This is not a diploma privilege, which few states have instituted (despite much pressure favoring it). But transferability of an online bar exam—created by the @NCBEX—is at least one possible positive step forward.
Let's hope we take some positive step forward. The 2020 graduates deserve it.
