California Bar Exam Officially Scheduled For September
Any student engaged in online, distance learning at a progressive law school like California Desert Trial Academy College of Law, has the freedom to study whenever and wherever, at their utmost convenience. In these current troubled times, CDTA students are at an advantage based on the online resources available to them on campus and at the CDTA website.
On April 27, the Supreme Court of California postponed the July California Bar Exam to September 9-10. Applicants registered for the July exam will automatically be registered for the September exam. However, applicants must still submit all eligibility documents to the State Bar. The California First-Year Law Exam (Baby Bar) is still scheduled for June and October below. In the California Supreme Court’s news release of April 27, it mentioned the possibility of postponing the October First-Year Law Students’ Examination to November to maximize grading resources for the Bar Exam.
At this time, the California State Bar has published nothing further on its website or made any other public announcements about the California First-Year Law Exam. The State Bar was going to make an effort to administer the June 2020 First-Year Law Students’ Examination online with remote and/or electronic proctoring. But nothing firm has been announced yet. One change resulting from the pandemic restrictions is that students now have four opportunities, instead of the current limit of three, to pass the Baby Bar exam to be eligible for law school credit beyond the first year.
The important deadlines for the currently scheduled California Bar Exam and California First-Year Bar Exam are as follows:
| Examination | Exam Date(s) | Application Availability | Timely Filing | Final Filing Deadline |
| June 2020 FYLSX | June 23, 2020 | March 1, 2020 | April 1, 2020 | May 15, 2020 |
| September 2020 CBX | Sept. 9 & 10, 2020 | March 1, 2020 | May 13, 2020 | July 16, 2020 |
| October 2020 FYLSX | Oct. 27, 2020 | July 1, 2020 | August 3, 2020 | Sept. 15, 2020 |
Withdrawal, Late Fee, & Partial Refunds
Applicants who decide to withdraw from the postponed bar exam will receive a full refund of testing fees. Testing fees consist of the General Applicant, Attorney Applicant, Laptop Computer, and any late fees. Any credit card processing fees paid are not refundable. Applicants who plan to take the September exam but were previously charged a late fee are eligible for a refund of the late fee.
Applicants who withdrew from the exam before this full refund policy was announced may receive a full refund instead of the partial refund previously granted. For both full and partial refunds, applicants must submit a request to withdraw through the Applicant Portal. All refunds will be issued in the order they are received, and applicants should allow 2-4 weeks for processing. Fees will not be transferred from this examination to any examinations in 2021 or thereafter.
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which administers the Multistate Bar Examination, announced its plans for the MBE in April and, to follow through, will make additional sets of exam materials available for the fall administrations for those jurisdictions that have delayed their July exams or decided to offer an additional administration in the fall in the event they must limit seating for the July exam.
The CDTA was founded with the philosophy of not only teaching students the substantive law, but on training, educating, and developing students to be exceptional attorney-advocates. The development of trial advocacy tools is essential to success in any judicial or administrative setting. Call us today at (760) 342-0900 or find out more online here.