3Ls get facts on bar exam, moral character determination
Third-year law students planning to take the California Bar Exam next July assembled in a law school classroom yesterday to learn about how the exam is developed, administered and graded. They also received emphatic advice for filling out the State Bar of California’s moral character application.
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| State Bar Exec. Director Joseph Dunn |
“Disclose, disclose, disclose,” said California State Bar Deputy Executive Director Bob Hawley. “You can explain virtually anything that went wrong; you can never explain a cover-up.”
Hawley explained that a determination of good moral character from the State Bar is as crucial to one’s ability to land a job as is passing the bar. He advised students to begin their applications 10 months prior to receiving their bar exam results, which typically are released in November.
Hawley also explained the State Bar’s rationale for determining moral character as a requirement for practicing law.
“If you were getting an MBA, you would have none of that,” he said. “It’s because… you are being trained to exit this experience as a trained professional. It’s not that we’re better than the MBA or businessperson, but we are different, because of the classic meaning of the term.”
Hawley said that professions have been distinguished from trades or businesses by certain criteria dating back to medieval times, when the three recognized professions were the clergy, law and medicine.
“First of all, there’s a body of knowledge that you have to learn. There’s also a body of ethics, of professional responsibilities,” he said. “Professionals are held to a higher standard.”
Hawley then elucidated the types of information the State Bar asks about and will investigate, including previous residences, jobs and academic records.
“The big question is about arrests and convictions,” he said. “Better to clear your soul and get it out there. If there are inconsistencies… there are going to be questions about that.”
Gayle Murphy, senior director of admissions for the State Bar, provided details on how the bar exam is developed, administered and graded.
“We use real lawyers to develop it, a variety of lawyers,” she said. “The essay questions are solicited from professors from all over the country.”
Murphy said that senior graders have been grading exams for 15, 20, even 30 years. They are professional lawyers largely from the Sacramento and San Jose areas, near where the State Bar is headquartered in San Francisco.
Murphy described the format of the exam, which takes place over three days, and talked about some of the mistakes some test-takers make.
“It’s important to answer in a lawyer-like way,” Murphy said. “The biggest problem people have is they don’t read the whole question completely. They may have answered for the wrong side, or may not have answered according to the law listed there.”
The lunchtime presentation was part of the State Bar’s efforts to visit California law schools to answer questions about both the bar exam and the moral character determination process, explained State Bar Executive Director Joseph Dunn, a former California State Senator.
“There are a lot of myths out there, particularly about how the exam is developed and how it is graded,” Dunn said. “We want to get those myths out, so you can… focus solely on the one and only thing that’s important: knowing the substantive area of the law that is covered by the bar exam. That’s it. That’s your inside secret to how to pass the bar exam.”
Students can learn more about the California Bar Exam at http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/.
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