2021 NCBE Annual Bar Admissions Conference
The NCBE Annual Bar Admissions Conference is an educational event designed for members of the bar examining and admissions community. Attendees include justices from the states’ highest courts, bar admission administrators, and member of boards of bar examiners, all of whom direct the bar admissions process in their jurisdictions. The Conference focuses on the issues that influence the licensing of lawyers both today and in the future.
NCBE held its 2021 Annual Bar Admissions Conference virtually on April 15 and 16. Fifty-one jurisdictions were represented by the 411 attendees, which included 121 first-time attendees and 37 state high-court justices.
Thursday’s Program
The program began on Thursday, April 15, with a plenary session entitled “A Vision of the Profession,” in which William Henderson—lecturer, author, and expert on changes in legal education and the legal marketplace—gave form to the images and ideas that will shape the future of the legal profession.
Two breakout sessions followed the initial plenary session. “Social Media and the First Amendment,” led by David Hudson, Jr., examined the relationships between free speech, social media, and the standards of behavior expected from future members of the bar. “Redefining Wellness in the Covid-19 Era,” led by clinicians John Schneider and Diana Uchiyama, PhD, explained the impact on law students and practicing attorneys of the events of the last year and how they have altered both the present and future path and meaning of wellness.
Beth Hill, Joanne Kane, PhD, and Hon. Cynthia Martin next delivered an update on the next generation of the bar exam, discussing the results of NCBE’s Testing Task Force’s three-year study and subsequent recommendations, which have been approved by the NCBE Board of Trustees, and the plans for redesign and implementation of the new bar exam. Test administration considerations and the importance of fairness, accessibility, and inclusion across all implementation activities were also addressed.
David Byers, John Lund, and Hon. Ann Scott Timmer—regulatory leaders from Arizona and Utah—presented a session entitled “Envisioning Foundational Regulatory Change,” reporting on past, present, and future regulatory movements and changes they have sought in their jurisdictions to foster innovation, improve access to justice, and integrate nontraditional legal service providers into the marketplace.
Thursday’s program ended with a rousing game of Jeopardy! hosted by Sophie Martin, in which participants competed against one another to answer trivia questions.
Friday’s Program
On Friday, April 16, the program began with a plenary session entitled “Shifting Patterns.” It was presented by Cliff Johnson, director of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center and professor of law at the University of Mississippi, and Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who provided perspectives on systems and policies that are true obstacles to diversifying the bar.
Two breakout sessions followed. “Measuring Competence: Global Developments and Comparisons,” presented by Jordan Furlong, Paul Philip, and Laurel Terry, explained that measuring competence is one of the tasks at the heart of bar admission rules and revealed how other jurisdictions identify and assess the skills and knowledge required of newly licensed lawyers in a rapidly evolving legal profession. Robert Burgoyne presented an “ADA Update,” sharing his overview of the past year, including recent cases of interest to bar examiners and developments on the ADA regulatory and enforcement fronts.
Rafael Langer-Osuna, litigation partner at Squire Patton Boggs, and James Leipold, executive director of the National Association for Law Placement, then presented a session on “Legal Employment and Expanding Diversity” in which they focused on general legal employment trends as well as on the representation of nonbinary individuals in the legal profession.
William Adams and Meera Deo, PhD, followed with “The Academy: Institutions and Individuals,” a session rich with information on two fronts: data on current enrollment, graduation rates, and the overall health of educational institutions, and an analysis of current diversity in legal academia, how it contributes to a healthy, representational bar, and strategies for improvement.
Friday’s program concluded with “A Closer Look at Integrated Exam Design,” presented by Diane Bosse, Beth Donahue, and Mark Raymond, PhD. The panelists explained the definitions and purposes of selected-response and constructed-response items in an integrated exam and also addressed scoring and scaling of mixed-format exams.
New Bar Admission Administrators Mini-Seminar
On May 19 and 20, 2021, NCBE hosted a virtual mini-seminar for new bar admission administrators. The goal of the mini-seminar was to familiarize new bar admission administrators with the resources and services offered by NCBE.
Topics covered:
- Introduction to NCBE and to the Council of Bar Admission Administrators (CBAA)
- Information technology services for jurisdictions
- The NCBE Secure Site
- NCBE publications and exam statistics
- NCBE social media
- NCBE meetings and educational offerings
- Character and fitness: NCBE investigation services, procedures, and current issues
- The basics of measurement
- The MBE, MEE, and MPT: exam development, administration, and test operations
- The MPRE: exam development, accommodations, and candidate services
- Update on NCBE’s redesign of the bar exam
- Diversity, inclusion, and fairness
Each day’s program concluded with a wrap-up, and a question period was included on the second day of the seminar.
Thirteen administrators attended, representing 10 jurisdictions
Attendees:
- ALASKA: Danielle Bailey, Executive Director, Law Examiners Committee, Alaska Bar Association
- CONNECTICUT: Starr Carroll, Program Manager, Connecticut Bar Examining Committee, and Lisa Valko, Director, Connecticut Bar Examining Committee
- GEORGIA: John Earles, Director of Admissions, Supreme Court of Georgia Office of Bar Admissions
- KENTUCKY: Valetta Browne, Director and General Counsel, Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions
- MISSISSIPPI: Wendy Smith, Interim Bar Admissions Administrator, Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions
- NEW MEXICO: Victoria Garcia, Interim Executive Director, New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners, and Lita Sandoval, Admissions Administrator, New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners
- OKLAHOMA: Cary Pirrong, Administrative Director, Oklahoma Board of Bar Examiners
- TEXAS: Nahdiah Hoang, Executive Director, Texas Board of Law Examiners, and Mike Sullivan, Director of Admission, Texas Board of Law Examiners
- WASHINGTON: Renata Garcia, Chief Regulatory Counsel, Washington State Bar Association
- VIRGIN ISLANDS: Janelle Browne, Director of Bar Admissions, Committee of Bar Examiners, Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands
CBAA 2021 Annual Meeting and August NCBE Board of Trustees Meeting
The 2021 Annual Meeting of the Council of Bar Admission Administrators (CBAA) was held virtually over a series of dates in August. Nine CBAA committees met over the first three weeks in August, three plenary sessions were held on August 19 and 20, and the meeting concluded with the CBAA business meeting on August 20. Welcoming attendees to the meeting were CBAA chair Sahbra Smook Jacobs of New Jersey and NCBE president Judy Gundersen.
The August meeting of the NCBE Board of Trustees, typically held during the same weekend, was held on August 12–15 in Portland, Maine.
Annual Meeting Plenary Sessions
August 19: Implementing the Next Generation of the Bar Exam
(137 attendees)
- Kellie Early, Chief Strategy Officer, National Conference of Bar Examiners
- Hon. Cynthia Martin, Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District; Chair, National Conference of Bar Examiners Implementation Steering Committee
- Rosemary Reshetar, EdD, Director of Assessment and Research, National Conference of Bar Examiners
August 19: Independent Medical Examinations and Bar Admission-Related Issues from a Lawyer Assistance Program Expert’s Perspective
(137 attendees)
- Robyn Hacker, PhD, Clinical Manager, Colorado Lawyer Assistance Program
August 20: Exam Misconduct in the Era of the Remotely Administered Bar Exam: Case Studies, Tips for Reviewing July 2021 Monitoring Files, and Cautionary Tales from Other Institutions
(107 attendees)
- Gicine Brignola, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners
- Sherry Hieber, General Counsel, New Hampshire Office of Bar Admissions
- Christine L. Kenefick, Deputy Executive Director, New York State Board of Law Examiners
- Lisa Perlen, Executive Director, Tennessee Board of Law Examiners
- Nancy Vincent, Executive Director, Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar
Recognitions and Leadership Changes—CBAA Annual Meeting
The CBAA Annual Meeting is the occasion at which a CBAA member is recognized for outstanding service to the bar admissions community. This year’s CBAA honoree administrator was Emily J. Eschweiler, Director of the Minnesota State Board of Law Examiners, who served as CBAA chair from 2017 to 2018.
The Annual Meeting also marks the change in leadership of the CBAA Executive Committee. Sahbra Smook Jacobs, Counsel to the Committee on Character for the New Jersey Board of Bar Examiners, was recognized for her service on the Executive Committee during the past year. Bradley W. Skolnik, Executive Director for the Indiana Office of Admissions and Continuing Education, was welcomed as CBAA chair for the 2021–2022 term.
Recognitions and Leadership Changes—NCBE Board of Trustees Meeting
The August NCBE Board of Trustees meeting marks the change in leadership of the NCBE Board of Trustees. At the Board of Trustees Annual Recognition Dinner on August 14 in Portland, Maine, Hulett H. (“Bucky”) Askew of Georgia, who has served on the Board since 2012, was recognized for his leadership during the past year. Suzanne K. Richards of Ohio was welcomed as chair for the 2021–2022 term.
The August Board meeting is also the occasion at which a former NCBE chair is honored for exceptional service to NCBE; this year’s honoree was Hon. Cynthia L. Martin of Missouri, who served on the NCBE Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2021 and as its chair from 2019 to 2020.
Also recognized at the Annual Recognition Dinner was Sahbra Smook Jacobs for her service as 2020–2021 CBAA chair, and Emily J. Eschweiler as the honoree administrator for her service as 2017–2018 CBAA chair.
