2023 NCBE/CBAA Annual Meeting
August 11–14, 2023 | Denver, Colorado
From August 11 to 14, 105 attendees from 33 jurisdictions gathered in Denver, Colorado, for the 2023 NCBE and Council of Bar Admission Administrators (CBAA) Annual Meeting.
On Friday, CBAA chair Jeffrey Shipley of Maryland welcomed attendees, and on Saturday, NCBE President Judith Gundersen gave attendees an update on ongoing activities and initiatives at NCBE and other developments of interest to the bar admissions community.
Eleven CBAA committees held meetings throughout Friday and reported back to attendees at the CBAA business meeting on Saturday, during which administrators also shared news from their jurisdictions.
Judith Gundersen, NCBE President and CEO
Jeffrey Shipley (Maryland), 2022-2023 CBAA Chair
Plenary Sessions
Emotional, Cognitive, and Physical Disabilities: Who Should We Accommodate Under the ADA?
- Timothy S. Allen, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, University of Kentucky
A Question and Answer Session on Exam Misconduct Affecting Character and Fitness: From the NCBE Anomaly Report to Making a Successful Copying Case to Recent Trends in Candidate Responses
- Kandace Kukas, Executive Director, Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners
- Christine Kenefick, Deputy Executive Director, New York State Board of Law Examiners
- Mengyao Zhang, PhD, NCBE Senior Research Psychometrician
DEI Dialogues: Informing the Admissions Process Through Literature
- Maureen Braley, Associate Director, Idaho State Bar
- Sherry Hieber, General Counsel, New Hampshire Supreme Court Office of Bar Admissions
- James Klahr, Executive Director, Missouri Board of Law Examiners
- Shela Shanks, Director, Committee on Admissions and the Unauthorized Practice of Law, District of Columbia Court of Appeals Committee on Admissions
CBAA Recognitions and Leadership Changes
NCBE Recognitions and Leadership Changes
The August NCBE Board of Trustees meeting, which takes place over the dates of the Annual Meeting, marks the change in NCBE Board leadership. At the Board’s Annual Recognition Dinner on Saturday, outgoing chair Timothy Wong, who has served on the Board since 2015, was recognized for his leadership during the past year. John McAlary of New York was welcomed as chair for the 2023–2024 term.
The Annual Recognition Dinner is also the occasion at which a former NCBE Board chair is honored for exceptional service to NCBE; this year’s honoree was Robert A. Chong of Hawaii, who served on the NCBE Board of Trustees from 2009 to 2018 and as its chair from 2016 to 2017.
Also recognized for his service to NCBE was former Board chair David Boyd of Alabama, who served on the Board from 1996 to 2006 and as its chair from 2004 to 2005.
2023 CBAA Fall Meeting
November 2–5, 2023 | Washington DC
The Council of Bar Admission Administrators (CBAA) held its Fall Meeting in Washington DC on November 2–5, 2023. Gathering for the meeting were 113 attendees from 45 jurisdictions.
The meeting began with a New Administrator Gathering on Thursday evening to welcome these attendees to their first Fall Meeting with introductions and information about the CBAA.
On Friday morning, CBAA Chair Christine Kenefick of New York introduced Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby of the DC Court of Appeals, who welcomed attendees to Washington DC. That afternoon, Kenefick introduced NCBE chair John McAlary of New York, who also welcomed attendees to the meeting.
Ten CBAA committees met throughout the day on Friday, during which attendees discussed a wide variety of topics, such as cybersecurity, preparing for medical emergencies during the bar exam, issues surrounding test security, determining the unauthorized practice of law in the age of increasing remote work, and the transition to the NextGen bar exam launching in July 2026.
On Saturday morning, NCBE President and CEO Judith Gundersen addressed attendees and informed them about NCBE initiatives and activities, as well as other developments in the broader bar admissions community. Following two plenary sessions on Saturday morning, the CBAA business meeting took place, during which committees reported to attendees on their meetings the previous day and jurisdiction representatives shared any news from their jurisdictions.
Three plenary sessions were presented on Friday and Saturday morning:
Emerging Issues and Best Practices in Testing Accommodations
- Emily Eschweiler, Executive Director, Minnesota Board of Law Examiners
- Natasha Melchionne, Managing Attorney, Minnesota Board of Law Examiners
An Update on the NextGen Bar Examination and Q&A from the UBE Committee
- Marilyn Wellington, NCBE Chief Strategy and Operations Officer
Effective Questioning During the C&F Process: Non-Discrimination Provisions and Other Pitfalls to Avoid
- Saundra Schuster, TNG Strategic Risk Management Solutions
New Bar Admission Administrators Mini-Seminar
Madison, WI | September 18–20, 2023
(Left to right) Emily Lee, Utah; Amanda Kohlman, Kansas; James Klahr, Missouri; Karen June, New Jersey; Eric Lohrenz, Illinois; Christine Kenefick, New York (CBAA Chair); Cody Hounanian, California; Sydney Lisy, Nevada; Ashton Bias, West Virginia
NCBE hosted a seminar in September for new bar admission administrators at its Madison headquarters. The seminar’s goal was to familiarize the new administrators with the resources and services NCBE offers.
Topics covered:
- Introduction to the Council of Bar Admission Administrators (CBAA)
- Character and fitness investigation services
- NCBE’s bar passage report service, for transmittal of bar passage reports from jurisdictions to law schools for law schools’ use in ABA reporting
- Information technology services
- Overview of NCBE’s Assessment and Research Department: test development and production for the MBE, MEE, MPT, and MPRE; scoring of exams equating the MBE and MPRE, scaling the MEE and MPT; psychometric and research services to jurisdictions; foundational standards of reliability, validity, and fairness
- NCBE’s diversity, fairness, and inclusion research
- Overview of NCBE’s Test Operations Department: exam ordering, nonstandard and custom testing materials for examinees requesting ADA accommodations, test security, score services
- NCBE meetings and educational programs, including MEE/ MPT Grading Workshops and NCBE’s Annual Bar Admissions Conference
- NCBE’s Secure Site and bar exam listserv for administrators
- The NextGen bar exam: history, current and upcoming milestones, guiding objectives, content similarities to and differences from the current exam, fairness and accessibility
Attendees:
- CALIFORNIA: Cody Hounanian, Assistant Director of Data, Policy, and AIMS
- ILLINOIS: Eric Lohrenz, Director of Administration, Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar
- KANSAS: Amanda Kohlman, Attorney Admissions Program Manager, Kansas Board of Law Examiners
- MISSOURI: James Klahr, Executive Director, Missouri Board of Law Examiners
- NEVADA: Sydney Lisy, Director of Admissions, State Bar of Nevada
- NEW JERSEY: Karen June, Executive Manager, New Jersey Board of Bar Examiners
- UTAH: Emily Lee, Deputy General Counsel for Admissions, Utah State Board of Bar Examiners
- WEST VIRGINIA: Ashton Bias, Bar Admissions Administrator, West Virginia Board of Law Examiners
- Also attending: Christine Kenefick, Deputy Executive Director, New York State Board of Law Examiners, and 2023–2024 CBAA
