This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Fall 2024 (Vol. 93, No. 3), pp. 42-43.
News
Events
Rule Changes
Connecticut
On October 4, 2024, the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee approved a petition by Purdue Global Law School to permit graduates of their fully online program to sit for the Connecticut Bar Exam. The approval is for 3 years and applies to graduates who receive their law degrees in calendar year 2024 or later. This allows their graduates to apply for the upcoming February 2025 bar exam.
Iowa
As of November 1, 2024, Iowa will allow candidates to transfer their MBE score to MBE-score-accepting jurisdictions.
Minnesota
The Minnesota Supreme Court has appointed an implementation committee to further explore and develop a curricular-based pathway for assessment. In addition, the Court has tasked the committee with exploring a supervised practice–based pathway for assessment. Board member Tom Boyd, a partner at Winthrop and Weinstine, has been appointed by the Court to chair the Committee. The first committee report is due to the Court on or before July 1, 2026.
New Jersey
On October 15, 2024, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued an administrative determination and order that addressed mandatory disbarments for those who knowingly misappropriated client funds. The subject had been studied by a Special Committee on the Duration of Disbarment for Knowing Misappropriation (the Wade Committee), which issued a report with recommendations. The Court ultimately determined that all attorneys should be allowed to seek reinstatement, not just those disbarred for misappropriation of client funds.
Former New Jersey lawyers who are disbarred will in most cases be allowed to apply for reinstatement after five years. In overturning a 45-year precedent, New Jersey joins 42 US jurisdictions in allowing disbarred attorneys to seek readmission.
Lawyers seeking readmission must meet several requirements, including that they prove fitness to practice law, that they take and pass the New Jersey Bar Exam and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, that they complete specified continuing legal education courses, and that they file a statement of restitution paid to former clients and the New Jersey Fund for Client Protection. A new body, the Attorney Regulatory Board, will handle petitions for readmission. The Court retained the authority to impose permanent disbarment in egregious cases and to block successive applications for reinstatement for particular attorneys.
Texas
The Supreme Court of Texas issued preliminary rules on August 6, 2024, allowing licensed paraprofessionals and court-access assistants to provide limited legal services that will help bridge the gap between the civil legal needs of low-income Texans and the resources currently available to fill those needs.
The Court invited public comment on the proposed new and amended rules by November 1, 2024. The rules are expected to take effect on December 1, 2024.
People
Nebraska
Chief Justice Michael G. Heavican of the Nebraska Supreme Court retired on October 31, 2024. Chief Justice Heavican served on the court for 18 years. Justice Jeffrey Funke has been named as Nebraska’s next Chief Justice.
New York
Christine Kenefick is retiring from her position as Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel for the New York State Board of Law Examiners in December 2024. She has worked for the New York State Courts for three decades. Kenefick was 2023–2024 chair of the Council of Bar Admission Administrators.
NCBE News
Troy Wood is NCBE’s new Jurisdiction Relations Manager as of September 16, 2024. Wood will provide jurisdiction support for the transition to NextGen and will also serve as a key liaison for jurisdictions around the current bar exam. He most recently was Regulatory Counsel at the Oregon State Bar, where he worked since 2013. He was a member of NCBE’s Character and Fitness Committee and an active participant in the Council of Bar Admission Administrators. Wood earned his JD at University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and is licensed in Oregon.
NCBE Board of Trustees News
Darin B. Scheer is the new NCBE Board of Trustees chair, replacing John J. McAlary as of August 2024. Scheer is Senior Counsel at Crowley Fleck PLLP, where he works on large-scale natural resources transactional and litigation matters. He has served on the Wyoming Board of Law Examiners since 2014, including a term as chair from 2017 to 2018. He has served on NCBE’s Board of Trustees since 2017, during which time he has led or been a member of several NCBE committees, including the Multistate Essay Examination/Multistate Performance Test Committee, the Special Committee on the Uniform Bar Examination, and the Multistate Bar Exam Committee.
Scheer received his BS from the University of Wyoming with honors, and his JD from the University of Washington School of Law with honors.
Hon. Shellie K. Park-Hoapili was elected to the NCBE Board of Trustees in August 2024. Judge Park-Hoapili is a District Court Judge in Hawai‘i’s First Circuit. Prior to her judicial appointment, she was Staff Attorney of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court for ten years and an Associate Attorney at Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing (now Dentons US LLP) for seven years. She also served as a law clerk to Hawai‘i Supreme Court Justice Paula Nakayama. She has served for many years on the Hawai‘i Board of Examiners, and is currently its vice-chair. Park-Hoapili has also been a member of numerous NCBE committees, including the Communications and Outreach Committee, the Diversity Issues Committee, the MEE/MPT Policy Committee, the Editorial Advisory Committee, and the Content Scope Committee for the NextGen bar exam.
She holds a JD from the William S. Richardson School of Law and a BA from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
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