NY bar exam faces a test on Long Island, needs new protocols

It's hard to avoid the suspicion that the state's bar examiners failed a test last week.

A woman taking the two-day, 12-hour exam required for admission to practice law in New York suffered an apparent heart attack. But the test went on, even as she fell to the floor of a room full of anxious prospective attorneys at Hofstra University.

The Fordham Law School student collapsed shortly before the lunch break on the exam’s second day. She received medical assistance, including CPR and defibrillation from staff until paramedics arrived. Brought to Nassau University Medical Center, she was reportedly recovering.

John McAlary, executive director of the Board of Law Examiners, which runs the exam but rents space at the Uniondale campus, said it's too soon to know if procedural changes will be carried out before the February exam. Someone should rule that new protocols must be in place by then.

McAlary told Newsday it would not have been practical to halt the test, though at least one proctor believed a brief delay wouldn't have had to compromise the process. Clearly, the facts and timing need to be investigated and emergency plans reconsidered.

The emotional reaction and distraction for bar candidates on hand was natural judging from accounts posted on social media.

Some test-takers said they stood up urging 911 be called but were told to quiet down and continue. Others said it took at least eight minutes for emergency workers to respond. Officials should find out what proctors, administrators, candidates and responders said to each other if only to assess the level of chaos that resulted.

McAlary said: "The Board is gathering information, including which candidates may have been impacted by the event, and it will carefully review the information and will formulate an appropriate response in due course."

So it's unknown if those affected, assuming they don't pass, will be allowed to retake the exam in whole or in part. It's seems only fair that they get consideration for the difficulty of continuing the test under those circumstances.

James P. Joseph, president of Nassau County Bar Association, made a salient point. He said: "I don't think it's fair to the proctors, nor obviously to the students taking the exam, to not know how they're supposed to handle a situation like that."

And New York is not alone facing bar-exam woes. California has been scrambling to give first-time test-takers who encountered technological problems through no fault of their own a chance to act as supervised lawyers pending a second chance at the test.

The whole system of admitting lawyers to the bar may need broad revision. These exams should measure knowledge and timely thinking — and not become endurance contests. 

Bar exams are serious milestones. Candidates prepare for months to endure grueling hours concentration and rapid thinking. It would be difficult to spontaneously cancel or postpone the tests.

But all that becomes secondary in a life-and-death emergency like the one that happened.