General Topics Slated To Appear On Upcoming Calif. Bar Were Inadvertently Released, State Bar Confirms
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Sitting for a bar exam in any state can be a grueling and anxiety laden process.
But in California, the exam may have been made arguably easier, albeit inadvertently, by the mistaken release of the subject matter topics slated to be on the essay and performance testing portions of the July bar.
The inadvertent release of general topics occurred on July 25, according to the State Bar of California, which emailed all applicants of the upcoming exam the following:
"It has come to our attention that the State Bar inadvertently provided a number of deans of law schools in California a list of the subject matter topics contained in the July 2019 California Bar Examination essay questions and performance test."
The statement went on to say:
"Out of an abundance of caution and fairness, we are sending the same information, verbatim, to all those preparing to take the examination."
The email went out to share the topics that would appear on the essay portion, as well as the type of performance exam that would be issued.
The State Bar of California then took to Twitter and indicated, "The email you received this evening regarding bar exam topics is authentic. This account has not been hacked. The email was sent as soon as the error became apparent. We are working to confirm an official statement."
On Sunday, the State Bar of California, released another statement attributed to Donna Hershkowitz, Chief of Programs, that stated:
"On Saturday, July 27, we became aware that the State Bar inadvertently prematurely provided deans of several California law schools a list of the general subject matter topics contained in the July 2019 California Bar Examination essay questions and performance test. This was in a routine invitation to observe a grading session – the invitation typically goes out after the completion of the exam. The release occurred on Thursday, July 25; the exam takes place July 30 and 31. We have no evidence the information was shared with students. However, out of an abundance of caution and fairness, and in an attempt to level the playing field should any applicants have had access to the information contained in the memo, on Saturday evening, we emailed the same information, verbatim, to all those preparing to take the examination. We apologize for the error. We will post answers to frequent questions from applicants in the Admissions section of the website as soon as possible."
But news of the inadvertent release of the subject matter topics had many on social media sounding off, including Rob Lowe who took to Twitter to share:
"Ok, so how will this effect (penalize?) everyone who's been studying for months to take the test next Tuesday? … This is unconscionable. How do you plan to rectify this?"
