This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Summer 2024 (Vol. 93, No. 2), pp. 36-38.By Eric Lohrenz and Suzanne J. Schmitz
On May 29, 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court and the Board of Admissions to the Bar announced that Illinois will adopt the NextGen bar exam, making it the 19th jurisdiction to do so. Illinois’s first NextGen administration will be in 2028, although it has not yet finalized whether it will be with the February or July administration.
Steps along the Board’s pathway to adopting the NextGen exam included
- educating Board members and staff (key stakeholders themselves) about the NextGen exam and alternatives to it;
- reaching out to other stakeholders, such as deans and administrators at Illinois law schools and members of bar organizations, to educate them about the NextGen exam and receive their feedback; and
- supporting the Supreme Court in its role as the ultimate policymaker and decision maker.
As it considered whether to adopt the new exam, the Board sought to promote and utilize stakeholder engagement whenever practicable; this article discusses some examples of such engagement.
Stakeholder Engagement Along the Path to a NextGen Decision
Board and Staff Participation in Learning and Engagement Opportunities
Beginning with the January 2019 NCBE Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) Jurisdictions Forum and the May 2019 NCBE Annual Bar Admissions Conference, the Board and staff learned of the plans underway to prepare for the NextGen exam. Board members participated in listening sessions conducted by NCBE’s consultants to assess the current exam, including all relevant pros and cons. Some Board members participated in written surveys assessing the content of the proposed exam. Additional conferences between 2019 and the present provided more opportunities for Board members and staff to learn, ask questions, raise concerns, and prepare.
From the start of NextGen development, Board representatives and staff participated in Jurisdiction Advisory Committee meetings, which allowed jurisdictions to raise issues and practical concerns with NCBE. This Committee helped the Board director learn more about NCBE’s plans and share updates with other stakeholders.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court’s chief justice and board liaison justice engaged in additional opportunities to learn about NextGen development and implementation through meetings of the Conference of Chief Justices and NCBE’s Judicial Advisory Committee and kept the Court informed. The Board’s president and director supplemented the Court’s knowledge through the Board’s annual reports to the Court.
In September 2022, Illinois Board member Arlene Coleman—also a member of the NCBE Board of Trustees—arranged for NCBE representatives to meet in person with members of the Illinois Supreme Court, the Board, and senior staff. Court and Board members asked questions and raised pertinent issues. Following this meeting, NCBE planning staff held at least two more in-person meetings with the Board, including its director, and engaged in many informal communications. Board members, senior staff, and the liaison justice all participated in NCBE conferences the past two years where NextGen issues were discussed. In addition, select staff members attended several meetings of the Council of Bar Admission Administrators where these issues were raised.
Stakeholder Outreach and Engagement
As the development process for NextGen unfolded and more information became available, the Board and staff stepped up their efforts in stakeholder outreach and engagement. In the fall of 2023, they began meeting periodically with Illinois law school deans and other administrators and faculty to discuss topics of mutual interest, particularly the NextGen exam. Outreach efforts also included engaging with the Illinois Commission on Professionalism, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, the Supreme Court Committee on Rules, and the Lawyer’s Assistance Program, as well as the Illinois State Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Education, Competence, and Admissions to the Bar.
At a meeting held in the spring of 2024, Illinois law school deans expressed to the Board and staff that, assuming Illinois ultimately planned to adopt the NextGen exam, law schools’ most pressing issue was knowing the adoption time frame, so the schools could plan their curricula accordingly. This feedback was a key factor motivating the timing of the Board’s recommendation in May 2024 that the Court should adopt the NextGen exam beginning in 2028.
Illinois representatives also personally participated in recent NextGen development processes. Experienced Illinois graders were invited to grade the NextGen pilot test; although there were limits on what the graders could share with the Board, their comments helped the group understand the grading process likely to be used. The Board and staff also observed the January 2024 NextGen field tests at six different Illinois law schools. This provided opportunities for engaging with law school representatives and asking field test examinees about their impressions of the NextGen exam.
Supporting the Supreme Court
Perhaps the most crucial opportunities for stakeholder engagement were via interactions between the Board and the Supreme Court. The Board supported the Court in three primary ways:
- By serving as a subject matter expert on the NextGen exam, supplementing the expertise gained through the Court’s interactions with NCBE and other stakeholders
- By checking in with the Court periodically to ensure the Board was moving in a direction consistent with key Court policy objectives, such as maintaining score portability without compromising competence, and promoting transparency and engagement with other key stakeholders
- By recommending a course of action, at the appropriate time, for the Court to consider
Next Steps
Although the Illinois Supreme Court has announced its intention to adopt the NextGen exam beginning in 2028, there are issues still to be resolved. These include setting a passing score for applicants taking the NextGen exam (including applicants from other jurisdictions beginning with the July 2026 exam) and deciding whether to first administer the NextGen exam in Illinois in February or July 2028. As it considers these issues, the Board plans to continue promoting and utilizing stakeholder engagement whenever practicable. Among other activities, the Board is planning a listening tour for stakeholder groups of judges, lawyers, and law schools. The Board also plans to participate in the prototype NextGen exam administration in October 2024 and in the standard-setting exercise scheduled for May 2025. Illinois looks forward to these opportunities and to administering the new exam in 2028.
Eric Lohrenz is Director of Administration for the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar.
Suzanne J. Schmitz serves as president of the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. She is also Professor Emerita at Southern Illinois University School of Law, where she served as a clinical faculty member and as director of the Academic Success Program.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, and they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Illinois Supreme Court or the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar as a whole.Contact us to request a pdf file of the original article as it appeared in the print edition.
