40-percent of the people who took the Indiana bar exam this year flunked it. The Indiana Supreme Court wants to know why.
The court has tapped former Chief Justice Randall Shepard to lead a study of whether the test is properly weeding out the unqualified, or if the content or grading scale is unnecessarily tough. The 14-member commission will also look at whether Indiana should join the 32 states which administer the Uniform Bar Exam.
The current version includes six essay questions about Indiana law, but Shepard says state laws are more uniform than they’ve ever been. A standardized test makes it easier for law firms to hire candidates across state lines.
Passing rates for would-be lawyers have been declining nationally, not just in Indiana. Shepard says that’s prompted concern within law schools over whether they’re collecting tuition from law students who won’t be able to practice. And I-U Maurer School of Law Dean Austen Parrish says if there aren’t enough qualified lawyers, it creates the potential for unequal access to the courts, especially in rural parts of Indiana where attorneys may be scarce.
Four current or former judges, six attorneys, and the deans of Indiana’s three law schools — I-U, I-U-P-U-I and Notre Dame — will serve on the commission, along with the Supreme Court’s chief administrator. The panel will make its recommendations next December.
