Even in the middle of a pandemic, the Alabama State Bar exam is still scheduled for next week in Birmingham.
Yet the idea of hundreds of law students coming to the Magic City to take the test - which is a source of great anxiety even in the best of times - comes at the same moment Jefferson County has seen the highest COVID-19 case numbers in the state. That has many concerned.
The July exam will be administered next Tuesday and Wednesday at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC). An additional exam will take place Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2020, and examinees were given the option of sitting for the July exam or September. There’s also next February’s exam, but predicting the spread of coronavirus in 2021 is just as problematic. However, examinees must declare which exam they wish to take - July or September - by tomorrow.
“Preparing for the bar exam under normal circumstances is stressful, and we certainly understand and sympathize with those facing the added stress that this pandemic causes to our applicants,” Phillip McCallum, Alabama State Bar executive director, said.
Almost 300 people took the last exam in February, before the pandemic changed even the most routine plans.
The State Bar Association has already released a six-page list of COVID-19 protocols for the test. Attendees will get an assigned entrance and entry time to avoid congregating at the exits. Everyone will receive a temperature screening, and anyone with a temp above 100.4 Fahrenheit will not be allowed to enter.
Justin Aday, assistant executive director, said the biggest challenge to date has been determining how many applicants will opt for which exam.
“Once those numbers become final, we can refine our exam layout and plan for the exam day logistics, which will be much different than those of a typical exam,” Aday said. “Before the alternate exam date was announced we had already tripled the amount of venue space. With a group that will most likely be split in half we feel confident that we have space and logistics in place to safely administer the exam.”
Those coming can bring an analog wristwatch, since it will be impossible to provide a clock or timer visible to all examinees, according to the protocols. No one will be admitted without a mask, but those getting in will be provided hand sanitizer. Tables will be sanitized in between sessions. Those taking the test still have to sign a waiver that they won’t hold the State Bar Association liable if they should contract the virus.
That’s not good enough for some law students, one of whom appealed via Twitter to Michael Saag, an infectious diseases physician at UAB who also had COVID-19:
Other voices on Twitter echoed those concerns:
But at the same time Alabama is gearing up for the bar, its neighbors are moving the test online.
Today, the Georgia Supreme Court cancelled the in-person bar scheduled for early September in favor of an October online exam. Florida also moved its exam from late July to mid-August online, replacing it with 100 multiple-choice questions and three essay questions. Tennessee is setting up an online exam for October.
Mississippi’s bar exam is still scheduled to take place in-person, at the Jackson Convention Complex to allow space for social distancing, on the same day as Alabama.