In response to the widespread failures that plagued the February 2025 California bar exam, the State Bar’s board of trustees voted Friday to endorse a provisional licensing plan for 3,000 affected candidates—1,700 who failed and 1,300 who withdrew prior to sitting for the test. The proposal must now be approved by the California Supreme Court.

Passed in an 8-3 vote, the trustees backed a recommendation from the Committee of Bar Examiners to issue supervised, time-limited provisional licenses for up to two years, or until the recipient passes the bar exam. The plan also extends by two years an existing provisional licensing framework created during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is no perfect solution,” said trustee Raymond Buenaventura. “But in the end, I think this really comes down to fairness… and I think this provisional license program does just that.”

As reported by The Recorder, the trustees went further than the committee’s original recommendations, requesting additional reforms, including:

• An appeal process for those who came close to the 1390 passing score;
• A policy awarding the higher of two scores in cases where applicants received a second read between 1350 and 1390;
• Investigations into allegations of denied accommodations and misgraded essays.

Bar officials confirmed they are actively reviewing complaints, including reports that some examinees were graded using essays submitted by other test-takers. These concerns come as the exam posted a record 56% pass rate an unusually high figure for a February administration, aided by the Supreme Court’s decision to lower the raw passing score following the exam’s technical meltdown.

Not all trustees supported the plan. Court-appointed trustee Sarah Good opposed the move, citing concerns about maintaining the integrity of the licensure process. “What’s the purpose of the bar exam if you let everybody be provisionally licensed who failed?” she asked. All three court-appointed trustees voted against the proposal.

In a separate vote Friday, trustees also supported the Committee of Bar Examiners’ proposal to create an admission-on-motion pathway for attorneys licensed in other states—similar to rules in jurisdictions like New York and Illinois. The new pathway would require legislation.

A related bill, AB 1522, is currently pending in the state Legislature. It seeks to offer expedited bar admission to out-of-state attorneys in good standing—particularly former federal lawyers displaced under the Trump administration. The proposal has attracted opposition from some California attorneys, who argue the bill’s reach may go beyond its intended scope.

The Committee of Bar Examiners is expected to revisit the proposals in June, while the California Supreme Court has yet to publicly comment on whether it will approve the licensing reforms.