Minimum Competence

About this Episode

Longtime listener, first time Oral Arguer Derek Muller joins us to talk about the bar exam, through issues particular (the great ExamSoft meltdown of 2014), large (the purpose and utility of the exam overall), and sartorial (Virginia). Joe makes a shocking confession.

This show’s links:

• Derek Muller’s faculty profile and writing
• The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners’ Mandatory Dress Code
• Derek Muller, Visualizing the Grim Final Numbers from the July 2014 Bar Exam
• National Conference of Bar Examiners, National Data for 2014 MBE and MPRE Administrations
• Reuters, U.S. States Extend Bar Exam Deadlines After Software Havoc
• Jerry Organ, What Might Have Contributed to an Historic Year-Over-Year Decline In the MBE Mean Scaled Score?
• Gary Rosin, Unpacking the Bar: Of Cut Scores, Competence, and Crucibles
• Oral Argument 12: Heart of Darkness
• Deborah Merritt, ExamSoft Update (including links to Merritt’s other posts on the topic)
• Karen Sloan, Software Maker Settles ‘Barmageddon’ Class Action for $2.1M
• Vikram Amar, Lower Bar Pass Rates in Some States Should Cause Us to Examine This Year’s Test, and the Bar Exam in General and Additional Thoughts (and Concerns) About the Low Bar Pass Rates in California and Elsewhere in 2014
• Derek Muller, Here We Go Again: February 2015 Bar Pass Rates Down over Last Year
• About the Daniel Webster Scholar Program and its curriculum
• Stephanie Clifford and James McKinley Jr., New York to Adopt a Uniform Bar Exam Used in 15 Other States
• Erwin Chemerinsky, It’s Time for California to Accept the Uniform Bar Exam
• About the Uniform Bar Examination