State Bar awarded $515K grant for job analysis study

The State Bar has been awarded a $515,000 grant to conduct a job analysis that will inform possible future changes to the California bar exam.

AccessLex Institute announced its funding of the study Wednesday and said the review will allow the bar “to collect detailed, empirical data about how attorneys in their daily routines use their knowledge and skills to perform their tasks with competency.”

The data will be a foundation for further review of different facets of the bar exam, such as the content and passing score. The state Supreme Court decided in 2017 to maintain the existing cut score, and the bar determined — based an outside review — not to seek any immediate changes to the content of the attorney licensing test.

“Last year, the State Bar conducted a groundbreaking series of studies into the California bar exam, and the upcoming Job Analysis Study is a critical next step,” Bar Executive Director Leah T. Wilson said in a statement. “Together this body of research will help us better determine whether adjustments may be needed on the content or other aspects of the California bar exam.”

A final report on the findings of the job analysis is expected in the summer of 2019.

AccessLex Institute is a nonprofit that provides financial education resources and services to students and schools. The institute says it has awarded more than $6 million in grants for legal education research since 2014.

“AccessLex Institute strongly believes in the power and application of quality data to best ensure that legal education and admissions to the bar evolve to meet the needs of aspiring lawyers and the world in which they will practice,” AccessLex President and CEO Christopher P. Chapman said in a statement. “We applaud the State Bar of California for showing the courage to comprehensively evaluate its current licensing exam and follow the data to its logical end, whatever that may be.”

The institute previously provided a $125,000 grant to a research team examining whether a “productive mindset intervention” for bar applicants would boost their performance on the July 2018 California exam. The results for the July exam are typically released in November.