January 31, 2023 update: DREDF, Legal Aid at Work, and Disability Rights Advocates submitted comments to the State Bar of California.
January 12, 2023
Submit Comments to Oppose Proposed Amendments to the Rules of the State Bar Pertaining to Testing Accommodations
The State Bar of California, charged with managing the admission of lawyers practice law in California, has proposed a rule change that will impact candidates with disabilities. The proposed rules, if implemented, will make it even harder to obtain testing accommodations and be a step backward for disability access and inclusion. We deserve a diverse bar with lawyers of all backgrounds and statuses so we can facilitate access to justice, improve legal services, offer role models, and promote public confidence. We must let the State Bar of California know that we cannot go back in time.
The deadline to submit comments is Tuesday, January 31, 2023.
DREDF has prepared a sample comment letter and a simplified sample comment letter and main points below that you can use to craft your comments. In the sample letter, you may:
- fill in information about your organization (or if you are an individual, about yourself) that is highlighted in yellow and in brackets
- select which paragraphs you wish to include – the point made by each paragraph is set out in purple and in brackets at the beginning of the paragraph
- note: delete the text in brackets or convert the text into headings before you submit your comment letter
Submit comments via the online form
You can input your comments directly into a textbox or by uploading your comment letter and/or other attachments using the online Public Comment Form.
and via email
To get the comments circulated to the committee members in a different, more visible way than via the online form, you may send your/your organization’s comments to State Bar staff, Louisa.Ayrapetyan@calbar.ca.gov & Devan.McFarland@calbar.ca.gov
We invite you to email a copy of your comments to DREDF, Claudia Center at ccenter@dredf.org
Main Points:
- The State Bar must commit to diversity in the legal profession and eliminate access barriers, which continue to exclude disabled people from the legal profession
- Testing accommodations are a necessary and accepted means for including people with disabilities in the legal profession
- The State Bar regularly denies requests for testing accommodations on the bar exam, and the current proposal is a step backward
- The Board of Trustees should reject the staff proposal and instead adopt an alternative that includes the following:
- The rules should require timely responses – within two weeks – to accommodation requests
- The rules should retain an option for an independent review of accommodation denials
- The rules should allow a candidate an appropriate period of time – 30 days – to seek review
- The rules should make clear that candidates may seek more than one review
- The proposal should commit the State Bar to more and more diverse consultants; existing longtime consultants approach requests with unfair skepticism and bias
- The proposal should commit the State Bar to training and retraining to end its harmful and unnecessary “zero sum game” approach to accommodation requests
- The rules should require that the State Bar automatically grant candidates the same testing accommodations that they previously received on standardized tests – without convoluted and unfair restrictions
- The rules should also require that the State Bar automatically grant candidates the same testing accommodations that they previously received in college or law school
- The rules should require that the State Bar give deference or more weight to the documentation of a qualified professional who has individually assessed the applicant compared to the opinion of a consultant
- The rules should limit required supporting documentation to that which is “reasonable, limited, and narrowly tailored to the information needed,” and make clear the expensive comprehensive reports are no longer required
- The proposal should include an assessment and review of leadership, as a fair system requires leaders who embrace testing accommodations as a core component of equal opportunity.
Background materials:
- Proposed Amendments to the Rules of the State Bar Pertaining to Testing Accommodations, https://www.calbar.ca.gov/About-Us/Our-Mission/Protecting-the-Public/Public-Comment/Public-Comment-Archives/2023-Public-Comment/Proposed-Amendments-to-the-Rules-of-the-State-Bar-Pertaining-to-Testing-Accommodations
- Memo by State Bar staff describing the proposal, first link here, https://board.calbar.ca.gov/Agenda.aspx?id=16831&tid=0&show=100034380, with Attachments A to E, https://board.calbar.ca.gov/docs/agendaItem/Public/agendaitem1000029889.pdf (A. Proposed Rules (redline); B. Proposed Rules (clean); C. High-Level Framework; D. Testing Accommodations Request Form; E. Qualified Professional Certification Form)
- U.S. Dep’t of Justice, ADA Requirements: Testing Accommodations (2014), https://www.ada.gov/regs2014/testing_accommodations.html
- Consent Decree in Dep’t of Fair Emp’t & Hous. v. Law Sch. Admission Council Inc., No. 12-CV-01830-JCS (N.D. Cal., May 29, 2014); https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/legalrecords/consent-decree-in-dfeh-v-lsac/, and https://clearinghouse.net/doc/69024/
- DFEH v. LSAC, Best Practices Panel Report, https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/LegalRecords/final-report-of-the-best-practices-panel/ & 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104751 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 7, 2015)
- Additional filings in DFEH v. LSAC including contempt motion, https://clearinghouse.net/case/12446/
- 42 U.S.C. § 12189, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/12189
- 28 C.F.R. § 36.309, https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/36.309
- 28 C.F.R. Part 35, App. A, Other Issues (section 36.309 “is useful as a guide for determining what constitutes discriminatory conduct by a public entity in testing situations”), https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/appendix-A_to_part_35
Remember, the deadline to submit comments is Tuesday, January 31, 2023.