The Florida Board of Bar Examiners announced on Friday that it has replaced its scheduled July bar examination for recent law school graduates with an online examination that will take place in August. Other states, including Oregon, Utah, and Washington, have already canceled the bar exam entirely.
According to a report by the Palm Beach Post, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners announced on Friday that July administration of the bar exam will be offered as a single-day exam that students will take online in August.
Cathren Page, who previously taught at Barry University’s School of Law in Orlando, started a petition in May in which she urged bar examiners to administer the test online. “I felt certain that someone I knew was probably going to die or become disabled as a result of this process…or they would have to forego the bar,” Page said.
Page says that the bar examiners made the appropriate decision given the circumstances.
“I’m ecstatic. I had tears in my eyes and I’m getting choked up again,” Page said. “They’ve made the right decision. I’m so glad that they did this and I’m so thankful to everyone who fought so hard for it.”
Florida A&M University College of Law Dean Deidre Keller said that the decision will alleviate stress for law school graduates that are preparing for the exam.
“These measures are responsive to the concerns expressed by prospective bar takers and will certainly help to eliminate an enormous stressor for FAMU Law grads and others who will take the exam this summer,” Keller wrote.
Utah, Washington, and Oregon recently announced that recent law school graduates will not be required to sit for the bar exam due to the Chinese virus pandemic. Wisconsin had already permitted graduates of accredited, in-state law schools to practice law within the state without passing a bar exam.
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