Delaware is changing the bar exam. Here's what that means for current, future lawyers
The Delaware Bar examination will now be given twice a year, as well as require fewer essays and a lower score to pass, officials from Delaware's Supreme Court announced Tuesday.
With corporations coming from across the country to benefit from the state's friendly laws and taxes and to litigate their disputes in Chancery Court, Delaware's Bar is considered to be one of the most exclusive in the nation.
Delaware Bar Exam has a higher cut score than other states, more potential test topics to study than most states and is the only one in the country offered once a year.
Aspects of the three-day exam's setup are of questionable value in measuring minimum competency to practice law and have contributed to a diversity problem in the state's legal industry, according to a recent report by a Delaware Supreme Court committee that recommended reforms. The goal of the report was to diversify the local legal industry.
Historically, about half the people that take the test fail.
What is changing with the exam?
The exam will now be offered in both July and, starting next year, in February.
The "cut" or passing score of the exam will be reduced from 145 to 143.
The essay portion of the exam will require applicants to write four essays instead of eight and the areas of law applicants could be tested on will be reduced from 14 to ten.
What other changes are coming?
The clerkship requirement will be reduced from 21 weeks to 12 weeks.
The number of so-called checklist activities that require potential Delaware attorneys to observe certain legal proceedings will be reduced from a mandatory list of 25 to a requirement of 18 out of 30 potential items.
The total application fee for those applying late to take the bar exam will be reduced from $1,400 to $900 for law school graduates and from $1,600 to $1,000 for attorneys already admitted elsewhere.
Where is this coming from?
The Delaware Board of Bar Examiners conducted a review of the test and recommended the changes to the Supreme Court, which signed off on them. The Board of Bar Examiners review was informed by recommendations from a Diversity Committee made up of judicial officials and practitioners in Delaware.
Underpinning the change is a debate over whether the bar actually measures the required competence to practice in Delaware.
“The bar exam is not supposed to be a barrier to entering the profession but is supposed to be a test of an applicant’s ability to successfully practice law in Delaware," said Delaware Supreme Court Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. "I believe these reforms will help better reflect that purpose."
Why these specific changes?
The Diversity Committee recommended offering the exam twice as the current setup may disadvantage applicants who don't have the luxury of waiting one year to reattempt and start their legal career.
The committee also recommended studying what exactly an entry-level lawyer knows and knows how to do in order to competently practice law in Delaware, as well as how the cutoff bar exam score could better reflect that minimum required competence.
Multiple elements of the Delaware Bar Exam are tied to uniform examinations used by other states. The state-centric essay portion is regarded as making the actual test more difficult than other states, according to the committee's report.
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The committee suggested reducing the number of essay topics that could be on the test from 14 areas of the law and reducing the overall number of essays required on the exam. In its recommendations, the committee acknowledged a "concern that the essay portion of the bar exam as constructed is not a measure of minimum competence but merely a rite of passage."
The committee's full report on diversity in the state's legal system can be found here.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware Supreme Court is changing the bar exam. What you need to know
