July 27, 2020
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye
The Honorable Ming Chin
The Honorable Carol Corrigan
The Honorable Goodwin Liu
The Honorable Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar
The Honorable Leondra Kruger
The Honorable Joshua Groban
Supreme Court of California
350 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Re: Retroactive Application of Reduction of Bar Examination Passing Score
Dear Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the California Supreme Court:
I am writing first and foremost to commend you for the action you took earlier this
month to provide reasonable options to the 2020 law school graduates contending
with both a global pandemic and an economic collapse by (1) providing an online
bar exam in October; (2) offering them a provisional licensure to practice law
temporarily; and (3) most importantly in the long run, permanently lowering the
passing score of the bar exam to 1390. As chair of the Assembly Judiciary
Committee, I have, for the last three years, requested that you reduce the passing
score, and I am grateful that you took that action now.
I am writing again to urge you to take one additional step – make the reduction of
the passing score retroactive for at least the last five years. If a 1390 passing score
supports minimum competency to practice law today, it certainly did so in the past.
Moreover, scores in the last five years are recent enough to ensure that applicants
will still retain much of the knowledge they demonstrated on the exam. The Bar and
the Supreme Court recognize this by allowing those seeking admission to the Bar to
base admission on a bar exam taken within the last five years. (Rules of the State
Bar of California, Rule 4.17(A).) In fact, State Bar rules allow the five-year period to
be extended if there is good cause shown, so the Court reasonably should also allow
for the recognition of older bar exams scores, provided the applicant can show that

 they have stayed current in their legal knowledge. (Rules of the State Bar of
California, Rule 4.17(B).)
The retroactive recognition of older bar exam scores benefits both law graduates
and the state as a whole. It will provide more fair and humane treatment of the law
graduates who have demonstrated sufficient proficiency to practice law by reducing
artificial barriers to entry which have disproportionality harmed law graduates of
color. Additionally, since the pandemic has only increased the legal needs of
Californians, providing more competent and diverse attorneys to represent them
should help increase their access to justice.
Thank you for the strong leadership you have shown on bar exam options and relief
for 2020 law graduates. I ask you to again exhibit that same leadership for all bar
exam takers who have scored from 1390 to 1439 in at least the last five years and
make the reduced passing score retroactive to at least the July 2015 bar exam. With
all the uncertainty in the world today, it is simply the right thing to do.
Sincerely,

MARK STONE
Chair, Assembly Committee on Judiciary