TaxProf Blog: Black And BarRed: The Bar Examination’s History Of Exclusivity And ABA Standard 316

Nicola A. Boothe (Dean, Illinois-Chicago), Black and BarRed: The Bar Examination’s History of Exclusivity and the Threat of Further Exclusion Posed by ABA Standard 316, 74 S.C. L. Rev. 179 (2022): 

Amid all the dismay, hardship, and loss caused by the pandemic and the social reckoning in this country, the legal profession is uniquely poised to address the disparate impact caused by the bar exam and its encapsulation in Standard 316. In light of a new forthcoming bar exam format, as a start, the ABA should consider implementing the previous version of Standard 316 which utilized multiple methods of compliance, took into account the variations in law schools, and gave strong consideration to schools’ missions, particularly those schools of access and opportunity. 

The current unbending, one-size-fits-all standard does not equitably account for the diversity and inclusion that the legal profession claims to so desperately seek in its ranks. It is the responsibility of all of us who have reached any level of success in the legal profession to do the difficult work to disrupt the systemic inequities generated by a system that purports to value diversity, equity and inclusion.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2023/09/black-and-barred-the-bar-examinations-history-of-exclusivity-and-aba-standard-316.html