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Good morning. After all the hullabaloo about the new bar exam, the old one is sticking around for a while – the National Conference of Bar Examiners just pushed back the plan to phase out the old test in favor of the Next Gen Bar Exam. Plus, a $2.76 billion settlement of antitrust claims against Blue Cross gets the 11th Circuit’s OK, and a new survey of law students shows that first-generation students are saddled with more debt. Let’s get this Thursday started.
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Anthony Kwan/Pool via REUTERS
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The current version of the bar exam won’t disappear in July 2027 after all, Karen Sloan reports.
Although the National Conference of Bar Examiners had originally planned to phase out the Uniform Bar Exam after the July 2027 test date, the organization said that it will continue to offer the existing exam through February 2028 while also offering the new Next Gen Bar Exam starting in July 2026. That means states will have the option to use either bar exam for two years.
An NCBE spokesperson said that the organization had received feedback from some courts that they needed more time to adopt the new exam and to give law schools ample notice of which test their graduates would be taking. The NCBE also said that based on feedback, it will restore family law to the list of subjects tested on the next gen exam.
The NCBE has spent the past year trying to educate states about its revamped exam, which is intended to emphasize legal skills and rely less on the memorization of laws. No jurisdiction has thus far committed to using the Next Gen exam when it debuts in July 2026, though the NCBE said it expects several states to do so soon.
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- Members of the Texas Supreme Court appeared open to reinstating legal claims by Dianne Hensley, a Christian elected Texas justice of the peace, who was rebuked by a judicial ethics commission after she refused to officiate at same-sex weddings. Hensley claimed in her lawsuit against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct that her religious rights had been violated.
- A new legal artificial intelligence startup called Eve launched with $14 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures. The company, which says its product helps automate tasks like document review and legal research, is the latest in the evolving legal AI market to woo investors.
- Illinois bar officials have recommended a one-year suspension for a former McHenry County prosecutor who allegedly misstated and exaggerated his trial experience during job interviews. Scott Ian Jacobson had claimed he served as first-chair prosecutor in felony drug cases in Cook County when he was actually working as a law clerk, according to an Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission panel. Jacobson admitted to exaggerating his trial experience but denied committing misconduct.
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That is the percentage of first-generation law students nationwide, according to the Law School Survey of Student Engagement. The annual survey, which is part of Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research, found that first-generation law students–those whose parents didn’t graduate from college–on average spend more time studying, earn slightly lower grades, and graduate with higher debt loads than classmates who were not first-generation, Karen Sloan reports. Read more from the survey.
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“It’s not irrational to testify, if you think you are going down because the evidence is so overwhelming.“
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—Defense attorney Ilene Jaroslaw, who spoke with Reuters about FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s decision to testify in his criminal case. Experts like Jaroslaw, who is not involved in the trial, told reporter Jody Godoy that Bankman-Fried’s decision to take the stand may be a bid to convince even one juror that he did not intend to commit fraud.
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- The 6th Circuit will hear arguments from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a case against the SEC over its reversal under Chair Gary Gensler of rules governing shareholder voting advice businesses. The move last year was the latest installment in a long-running battle over how to regulate proxy advisers that guide investors on how to cast their ballots on issues including the election of directors, merger transactions and shareholder proposals.
- Trial begins today in federal court in Gainesville, Georgia, in voter advocacy group Fair Fight’s lawsuit against Texas-based voting group True the Vote, over claims True the Vote sought to intimidate Georgia voters in the 2021 runoff for two Senate seats in Georgia. Fair Fight, which is represented by Elias Law Group, is asking for True the Vote to be banned from operating in Georgia. True the Vote, which is represented by Greenberg Traurig, has said that Fair Fight hasn’t proven its actions impacted any voters.
- The Supreme Court of Maryland is holding a special session for the posthumous bar admission of Edward Garrison Draper, who was denied admission in 1857 because he was Black. At the time, Baltimore Superior Court Judge Zachaeus Collins Lee considered the admission of Draper, who went to Dartmouth and studied the law for two years under a Maryland attorney, finding him qualified for the bar in all respects but for the color of his skin.
- The U.S. Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules is slated to consider whether to take up a proposal by a group of Democratic lawmakers to allow the rare broadcast of a federal criminal case, in the trial of former president Donald Trump on charges that he tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election. The trial is scheduled to begin in March.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- The 2nd Circuit ruled that a former Yale University student can proceed with a defamation suit against a fellow student who accused him of rape. The three-judge panel’s unanimous ruling follows a ruling by Connecticut’s top court that statements that the accuser made in a university disciplinary hearing were not shielded by a kind of legal immunity that applies to court proceedings. (Reuters)
- A 3rd Circuit panel sharply questioned whether a recently enacted New Jersey law restricting where people may carry guns was constitutional in light of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that expanded gun rights. U.S. Circuit Judge Cheryl Ann Krause noted that the law not only barred carrying guns in various public settings but also prohibited gun owners from having firearms on private property without the property owner’s permission. (Reuters)
- Chief U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Nevada dismissed a consumer lawsuit accusing MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and other hotel operators in Las Vegas of conspiring to overcharge for room rates in violation of U.S. antitrust law. The judge’s order said the lawsuit suffered from “ambiguity,” without ruling on the underlying antitrust claims. (Reuters)
- Sportswear maker Wooter sued Dick’s Sporting Goods over similarities between Wooter’s infinity-symbol logo and the logo for Dick’s women’s clothing brand Calia. Wooter asked the court for at least $8 million in damages and an order blocking Dick’s alleged infringement. (Reuters)
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- Former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who faced controversy over his investigation into election ballots cast in the state’s largest county in 2020, joined Boies Schiller as a partner in Los Angeles. The firm also hired partners Joshua Stein, who worked in-house at Twitter, the social media platform now called X, and Benjamin Waisbren, a bankruptcy litigator who has had a second career as a film producer and financier. (Reuters)
- Holland & Knight added Birmingham-based litigation partner Cason Kirby from Campbell Partners. (Holland & Knight)
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