The State Bar of California is suing the seller that administered its February bar examination, a disastrous rollout of a brand new testing platform that shook confidence within the group’s management, prompted lawmakers to name for an audit and the state Supreme Courtroom to order the company to revert to the normal examination format in July.
The criticism, filed in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom on Monday, alleges Meazure Studying dedicated fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of contract by claiming it may administer a distant and in-person examination in a two-day window.
“Over months, Meazure made illustration after illustration to persuade the State Bar that it might supply a seamless distant and in-person examination expertise worthy of the California Bar Examination,” the criticism mentioned. “However it’s now clear that Meazure couldn’t ship.”
For a lot of aspiring attorneys, the rollout of the brand new examination in February was a debacle. Check takers in search of to observe legislation in California complained of a litany of technical glitches and irregularities. On-line testing platforms repeatedly crashed earlier than some even began the examination. Others skilled display lags and error messages, struggled to complete and save essays, and couldn’t copy and paste textual content from take a look at questions into the examination’s response discipline.
However Meazure Studying pushed again Tuesday on the concept that it was liable for the fiasco. In an announcement responding to the swimsuit, Meazure mentioned it was happy with its “observe document of reliably administering over 4 million exams yearly” and supporting greater than 1,000 organizations over twenty years. It advised the State Bar was making an attempt to move the buck for its personal failures.
“We acknowledge the significance of a easy examination expertise, and we remorse that some take a look at takers had points throughout the February 2025 California Bar Examination,” a spokesman for Meazure Studying mentioned. “This lawsuit is an try by the State Bar to shift the blame for its flawed growth course of for the February examination. We are going to defend ourselves vigorously in court docket.”
When Meazure was being tapped to manage February’s examination, the lawsuit claims, the corporate reassured the State Bar that it had expertise in administering 25,000 exams over a two-day interval and had “no issues” about assembly the State Bar’s distant testing wants. It additionally promoted its expertise with 2,200 clients over twenty years, described itself because the “most safe and accessible” within the “techenabled evaluation options” business and touted its brief chat and cellphone assist wait instances of a minute or much less.
“Meazure promised that it had no distant examination capability limits regarding administration of the Bar Examination, realizing full properly that it did,” the lawsuit states. “The State Bar, moderately and in good religion, relied on Meazure’s persevering with statements and conduct indicating that it may scale up as wanted to deal with the amount for distant exams.”
However for the reason that examination, the lawsuit mentioned, Meazure has impeded the State Bar’s makes an attempt to research its failures and “employed delay and deny ways to stop the State Bar from acquiring full and demanding data.”
“In mild of the numerous hardships endured by the February 2025 candidates and breach of particular contractual obligations outlined in our settlement, the State Bar has taken decisive motion to carry Meazure Studying accountable for its failures,” Brandon Stallings, the chair of the State Bar Board of Trustees, mentioned in a assertion.
The State Bar, represented by attorneys from Hueston Hennigan, seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the “unacceptable February Bar Examination expertise,” and can be in search of an impartial audit of the corporate.
Previous to February’s take a look at, the State Bar promoted the brand new examination as a cost-cutting initiative that will supply take a look at takers the selection of distant testing. After deciding to interrupt away from the nationwide exams it had used for greater than 50 years, the company signed a $4.1-million deal final yr with Meazure Studying to manage a brand new examination. It additionally introduced a further $8.25-million five-year deal authorizing take a look at prep firm Kaplan Examination Providers to create multiple-choice, essays and efficiency take a look at questions.
Within the months main as much as the exams, the deans of lots of California’s prime legislation colleges flagged issues to the State Bar.
Throughout a November examination examine, some take a look at takers had issues logging in to Meazure’s examination platform, the criticism mentioned, and in a January mock examination, technical glitches prevented take a look at takers from getting into the examination, submitting responses and utilizing primary phrase processing features.
“Meazure once more assured the State Bar and potential take a look at takers that it might [and did] repair these points earlier than the February examination,” the criticism mentioned. “However it didn’t.”
Information of the lawsuit got here simply hours after the State Bar launched examination outcomes for the February examination. The company reported that 55.9% of take a look at takers handed — the very best spring move charge since 1965.
The California Supreme Courtroom, which oversees the State Bar, delivered a ruling Friday that allowed the company to decrease scoring for the February examination due to the debacle. The State Bar’s IT and admission employees then labored by way of the weekend to regulate scoring so they might inform take a look at takers in the event that they handed or failed.
The state’s highest court docket additionally ordered the State Bar to desert its new system of multiple-choice questions and revert to the normal Multistate Bar Examination for multiple-choice questions for its July bar examination.
Leah T. Wilson, the embattled govt director of the State Bar who introduced she plans to step down in July, congratulated take a look at takers.
“Given the technical and different points this cohort confronted, the perseverance candidates confirmed is commendable and spectacular,” Wilson mentioned in an announcement.
Check takers who didn’t move the examination will obtain letters later this week detailing their outcomes. They will retake the examination in July.
Some February take a look at takers have urged the State Bar to offer equitable remediation after the debacle, akin to instantly adopting a provisional licensing program with out requiring eventual bar examination passage and granting full legislation licenses in California with out requiring further examination.
California lawmakers are scheduled to satisfy Tuesday afternoon to debate the February bar examination. Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Orange), chair of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, has already proposed Senate Invoice 47, a legislation that will launch an impartial evaluate of the examination by the California State Auditor.
